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Joined: 13 Mar 2011
Posts: 198
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 Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 9:32 am Post subject: A projection |
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Kaufmann wanted a plan for the Point that was more urban and developed than the park others were imagining. In particular, Kaufmann was a major supporter of Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and wanted to provide it with a permanent building. He brought in Wright, by that time a preeminent architect, who had done numerous other projects for Kaufmann in the past, including Kaufmann's landmark home at Fallingwater and an unbuilt design for a parking garage.
The two met in the summer of 1945. Kaufmann suggested to Wright the following specifications for a design: 280,000 square feet (26000 m2) of office space, 100,000 square feet (9000 m2) of exhibition space, a sports arena and amphitheater, and parking for all these facilities. The two men agreed on a fee of $10,000, which was paid several weeks after the meeting. Cleary describes Wright as "enthused" by the concept.[6]
[edit] Cantilever Development
[edit] Plans for the megastructure
By April 1947, Wright finished his first set of architectural drawings for the site.[7] Wright's first concept, which he presented under the title "For the Allegheny Conference—Cantilever Development in Automobile-Scale of Point Park, Pittsburgh", called for a circular concrete and steel building of mammoth dimensions: one-fifth of a mile (300 m) in diameter and 175 feet (50 m) tall, the building would be capable of holding one-third of the city's population. The entire structure was wrapped by a spiraling roadway that Wright called the "Grand Auto Ramp", which accommodated traffic in both directions and would have been four and a half miles (7 km) long.[8] Even Wright's drawings for the project were enormous: Neil Levine describes them as "over eight feet [2.5 m] long by almost five feet [1.5 m] high".[9]
The decks of the Grand Auto Ramp were to be cantilevered from piers of reinforced concrete. The ramp enclosed the interior space, forming what Cleary describes as a vast atrium. Inside are individual structures supported by pylons, containing the main facilities of the building: the theaters, opera house, arena, and planetarium. Bridges and platforms connected the interior structures. The roof of the building was to offer a winter garden and gardens. The main structure was flanked by "Fast Ramps": ramps with a much narrower radius than the main ramp that allowed rapid movement from the higher levels of the Grand Auto Ramp to the bottom of the building.[10] The incorporation of the automobile into the building was a manifestation of Wright's expressed philosophy for the scheme: to provide "newly spacious means of entertainment for the citizen seated in his motor car Winter or Summer. A pleasurable use of that modern instrument is here designed instead of allowing it to remain the troublesome burden it has now become to the City."[11]
A projection from the central building toward the Point terminated in a 500 foot (150 m) tower, equipped for light shows. Multi-decked bridges over the Allegheny and Monongahela were attached to the central building. Pedestrians, cars, and trucks would cross on separate decks. Both bridges passed beneath the central structure, where traffic interchanges allowed travelers to head into the city, across either of the bridges, or up into the Civic Center itself. Open spaces on the site were occupied by parks, an outdoor concert area built to accommodate 15,000 people, and a zoo.Proposal software
production design |
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