With this entry I hope to highlight another intended use of this blog [to come: an entry describing the intended uses!]: to share information about places and events with family, friends, colleagues. In this instance, I describe a museum that I happened to come across while walking around downtown Manhattan and which I found to be fascinating. I don’t think many people would really know about it unless they heard it from a friend or acquaintance; I think this would be interesting for anyone.
I love skyscrapers. No idea why. The taller the building, the cooler-looking it is, I’m simply all over it. It feels a little like my obsession with the largest commercial jets. I can’t wait to see Chicago’s Spire when it’s finished (although I lament the design changes to make it fatter and more like London’s pickle rather than a slender spiral going upwards [http://www.thechicagospire.com/, with an early design at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chicago_Spire_early_project.jpg). The Freedom Tower too will be interesting once it’s built, although again the design changes render it a little less dramatic-looking [original: http://www.felixsalmon.com/000311.html, one of the very few I could find; revision: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Freedom_Tower_New.jpg]. There’s also a massive construction project underway in Dubai to build the Burj Dubai, a building of over 200 stories [http://www.burjdubai.com/]. And many years off there’s a development planned for Riyadh where they would like to build a mile-high skyscraper [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-550548/Mile-high-tower-Saudi-prince-promises-5bn-desert-spire-TWICE-tall-nearest-rival-built.html].
I’d also wondered about the design of the World Trade Center towers A and B that fell during the September 11 attacks. Completed in 1973, why did they look so staid, plain, boring?
The answer would come soon. Walking around downtown Manhattan one day a couple of weeks ago after taking a ferry trip to/from Staten Island (just so I could see the Statue of Liberty for free and see if there was anything interesting to do on SI), I walked around Battery Park and ended up on its western edge. Then I followed the curve of Battery Place and happened to look to my right at precisely the right moment to catch an unassuming door with the following etched on it: “Skyscraper Museum.” Being the middle of the day, I reached for the door but it wouldn’t budge – glancing to the side, I saw that this museum was closed Monday and Tuesday. The day I stopped by was Monday.
When I finally made it in on Wednesday after meeting my friend Lance downtown for some frozen drinks (and a walk around the Trinity Church graveyard), I headed over and spend probably two to three hours at the Museum. It’s really quite small, just one floor, but it’s packed with what look like permanent exhibits and also a seasonal exhibit. The seasonal exhibit when I visited centered around Hong Kong, as a city that approached, met, then surpassed many characteristics of Manhattan city living and construction. There is a fierce skyscraper rivalry that exists between the two cities, and Hong Kong in its densest districts is more heavily populated than any other city (if I remember correctly, around 90,000 people per square mile, versus Manhattan/New York where it’s around 70,000). Simply amazing.
The Museum has its share of nifty models, including wind-tunnel testing models for the Burj Dubai and also the World Trade Center. There’s also a scale model of the original design to the Freedom Tower, with tiny details and miniscule plastic persons, going about their daily business.
In the end, I probably spent 2.5 or three hours at the museum, reading every label and explanation.
Almost forgot to mention: admission is only $5, and for students the price is $2.50. For skyscraper enthusiasts who live in or visit New York, this place hits the spot. And as for the design of the Twin Towers, you’ll have to visit the Museum to find out …
Anyone know of similar museums around the world?
