New York State Pavilion

On my most recent trip to New York City I was fortunate enough to travel out to the site of the 1964 World's Fair. Once the site of futuristic architecture as well as the hopes and dreams of a utopia dubbed the "World of Tomorrow." Now all that is left is a giant steel world sculpture, the Queens Art Museum, some statues, and the decaying New York State Pavilion. When I first saw the abandoned State Pavilion I was very confused as to what it was. Unlike most architecture that is able to give the viewer at least a hint to its purpose and function, this structure does nothing of the sort. Its giant concrete columns hold up a steel ring that has angular dagger-like blades fixed to it. This ring also holds up a series of cables that support a central, smaller steel ring that hangs above the center of the structure. At the base of the columns is a curved wall that creates the inner structure and is painted with white and red vertical strips that all have different widths. If this is not strange enough, the front of the building has three towers each topped with what appear to be circular viewing decks, which would be awesome if there was any visible means of getting up to these decks. The towers look too skinny to house an elevator or a spiral staircase for that matter. The only other logical purpose these towers could have is a stand for a UFO and the writers of Men In Black would agree with me. The final scene in MIB I takes place at this very structure when the cockroach alien crawls up the tallest tower and attempts to fly away in one of the "viewing decks." Finally, even though the pavilion is in decay it is still an important feature to the park and I only hope one day someone will be able to bring it back to its former glory. The two images are both vertical panoramas I created from several photos of the pavilion.