Underground World Home
Underground World Home | |
---|---|
Flushing Meadow Park | |
Town or city | Queens |
Country | U.S. |
Opened | 1964 |
Closed | 1965 |
Demolished | 15 March 1966 |
Cost | Exhibit: $1 million[1] |
Client | Expo |
Owner | Girard B. Henderson |
Height | |
Architectural | Underground |
Technical details | |
Material | Concrete and steel |
Floor count | 1 |
Floor area | 6,000 sq ft (560 m2) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Jay Swayze |
Other designers | Interior designer Marilyn Motto[2][3] |
The Underground World Home was an exhibit at the
History
The home/bomb shelter was designed by architect Jay Swayze.[4] Swayze, a proponent of underground living, constructed and lived in his own underground bunker-house in Plainview, Texas, which he named Atomitat.[5][6]
Built during the
Exhibits were contractually required to be dismantled and removed after the fair. Swayze eventually wrote a book, Underground Gardens & Homes: The Best of Two Worlds, Above and Below, but the building's fate was not mentioned.[10][8] The New York Public Library held archives on the expo, however, and in 2017 it was found that the demolition of the home had been completed on 15 March 1966. Only its foundations, if anything, remain.[11]
Design
The ten-room home featured backlit murals to create the illusion of outdoor space and preclude
The home was 6,000 sq ft (560 m2). The walls were 20 in (51 cm) of steel and concrete,[4] and the roof supported by 18 in (46 cm) steel beams rated for a load of two million pounds (910,000 kg) of soil (which provided the insulation). There were three bedrooms;[14] the ceilings were of gypsum. There was a "snorkel-like system" for air conditioning[8]— an apparatus which purportedly enabled the home to be dusted monthly.[14]
The
Reception
In a 1964 New York Times piece science fiction author Isaac Asimov speculated what the 2014 World's Fair would look like. He deemed the Underground World Home a "sign of the future" with controlled temperatures which allowed occupants to live free from the weather.[16] The home was not a draw, however, and was scarcely to appear in popular memory.[4] Priced at $80,000 (approximately four times the cost of an average home that year), none were commissioned.[4][8]
Pop Culture
The
References
- ^ Living It Up Way Down (Vol. 56, No. 17 ed.). New York, New York: Life Magazine. 24 April 1964. p. 56. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ^ "Model Homes at Fair; Wide Range of Sizes and Shapes Shown In Varying Stages of Completion". New York Times. 23 April 1964. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- – via CrossRef.
- ^ ISBN 978-0415788489. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
- ^ "Whatever Happened to the Atomitat?". A Gray Media Group, Inc. KCBD. 6 August 2002. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ^ "'Atomitat' Boasts Comforts Of Home". Volume 71. No. 95. Madera Tribune. 26 September 1962. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ISBN 978-0192846167. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
- ^ a b c d Hirshon, Nicholas (17 October 2012). "The Secret Spot Hidden Below New York". Narratively. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
- ISBN 978-1476676562. Retrieved 24 April 2022.
- ISBN 978-1452161365.
- ^ a b c Carlson, Jen (20 March 2017). "Is The 1960s World's Fair Underground Home Still There? An Investigation". Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- ^ McClure, Wanda (9 March 1964). "Muralist to Feature Work at New York World's Fair". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- ISBN 978-0815609568. Archivedfrom the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ^ a b "Looking for Pure air, Privacy and Quiet? It's Here, So Come on Down, Underground". The Herald-News. 21 May 1965. Archived from the original on 25 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- ^ McDonough, Doug (12 October 2013). "Looking Back: 1964 World's Fair featured Swayze underground home". Plainview Herald. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
- ISBN 9781312115873. Retrieved 24 April 2022.