mile high:  the new york city pavilion

For the New York City Pavilion for the 2015 World’s Fair on Governor’s Island, we propose the construction of a mile high viewing platform.  Two stage-sized high-velocity platform lifts will propel visitors to the height of 5,280 feet above sea level, where they will gain a 100-mile view, conditions permitting.  Thus, like the 1964 New York City Pavilion in Queens, with its Panorama of the City of New York, this pavilion will give visitors an actual panorama view not only of New York City, but also the entire surrounding region.  And like the Unisphere of the 1964 Fair, the mile high will represent the triumph of technological advancement, a tradition of World’s Fairs throughout their history.

Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the London Eye, whose only pragmatic purpose is to gain a view high above the city, the mile high will remain, after the World’s Fair of 2015, a distinct part of the New York City skyline.

The experience of lifting up into the sky is further enhanced by the skin of the pavilion, which is made out of stainless steel panels alternating with glass.  At the higher elevations the percentage of glass to stainless panels is increased, striating and heightening the sense of movement and view.