This has been an enormous aid to environmental efficiency. Consider Theophilus Van Kannel, whose design for the revolving door created an opening into buildings that exchanged eight times less air than typical swinging doors. “The 99% Invisible City” is filled with hundreds of such fascinating tidbits, often hard to find in what could have been a better-organized book. Its purpose is to provide an escape route from the subway below in case of an emergency. But the house’s facade masks an empty interior. At first glance, the home at 58 Joralemon Street is just another Greek Revival residence in a row of similar structures. Brooklyn Heights, for example, is renowned for its 19th-century rowhouses. Meanwhile, you can only wonder what might have happened if a graduate student had not decided to observe rather than just to see.įake facades are another example of what the authors have in mind when they describe looking past the surface of things. Mercifully, nature cooperated, the powerful wind that might have toppled it did not materialize while the structure was being reinforced and it continues to stand. Rather than order immediate evacuation, the decision was to continue to operate as usual, to inform as few people as possible and to repair the building without arousing suspicions. What to do? The response of the owners, the bank and the architects is almost as stunning as the original mistake. The architects who designed it reluctantly confirmed her findings that the structure was a catastrophe waiting to happen. She determined that the calculations that justified its particular design - with single supports carrying the weight of the structure - were wrong and that under certain wind conditions the giant building would fall, possibly killing thousands of occupants. It had a hidden design flaw.ĭiane Hartley, an architecture student, wrote a term paper on the building after it was finished. The enormous structure is dramatic because it seems to be balanced without adequate support on the ground. Mars and Kohlstedt explore the mysteries behind certain buildings, like the Citicorp Building, which opened in 1977 at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue. Why are manhole covers round? Why do the Japanese infuse them with elaborate decorations? What do painted yellow symbols on streets tell us? Why are traffic lights red on top and green on bottom? What might we notice about the designs and support systems of buildings and bridges? Why have so-called love locks or love padlocks become a problem around the world? Why are some streets straight and others curvilinear? Compiled from episodes of their show, which has gained millions of listeners over the past 10 years, the book introduces us to mysteries that most of us have never considered. This is the focus of a new book, “The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design,” by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt, who are the creators of a podcast about design called 99% Invisible. The idea is to understand and to go beyond seeing into the realm of observation. Watson about the difference between just seeing and actually observing. Now, I understood more what Sherlock Holmes told Dr. Earlier, I had not really noticed even the large Roy Lichtenstein mural in the Times Square station. But in 2012 I took a tour of such installations.Īfterward, my perception of the underground world where I had spent so much of my life was transformed. I never noticed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Arts and Design program, which since the 1980s has been commissioning notable artists to create works that embellish otherwise bland subway stations. After all, I usually see nothing more than the backsides of the people standing directly in front of where I’m sitting or the gap I’m trying to mind as I get on or off. Most of those trips have disappeared from my memory. For example, in my half-century in New York City, I have ridden the subway perhaps 15,000 times. Some of us are more observant than others. THE 99% INVISIBLE CITY A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design By Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt
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