The Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens was nothing more than a swamp and ash heap before it was transformed in the 1930's by Robert Moses through force of will and political brinkmanship. Since that time, the Park has been something of an urban laboratory for bizarre architecture and grand spectacles. This project will require the designer to grapple with this intriguing legacy and its strange cast of remaining characters.

The site of this studio is within several hundred feet of the Unisphere and directly on the footprint of the former New York City pavilion of the '39 and '64 World's Fairs. The NYC building is the only remaining structure form the '39 event and was even the temporary home of the United Nations in the late 40's. A relatively undistinguished structure, the building is home to the Queens Museum of Art and is presently the subject of an international competition with regard to its expansion. One of the complexities of the competition is the need to maintain the Panorama, a 9000 sq. ft. model of the entire city that was commissioned by Moses to illustrate his mastery over the development of the City. This studio will involve the design of a completely new facility for the Panorama as well as a 100,000 sq. ft. urban study center and museum.

In addition to the design of an extremely complex building, topics to be engaged by this studio include:

1. the unique history of this site and ruins which are scattered across it
2. the legacy of Robert Moses and World's Fairs
3. contemporary procedures of display and viewing within museum culture and
4. map making as a demonstration of control

Students will visit the site in early September and are required to read "The Power Broker" the Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Moses, as well as other texts.