Paper Prospectus: Drafting Grounds
Poster Presentation: Drafting Grounds
This board represents the first public representation of some of the 35,000 drafted drawings and images used to design and build Expo ‘67- the 1967 World’s Fair held in Montréal, Quebec. With the considerate support of the Texas Tech library’s interlibrary loan staff we’ve been able to borrow the 72 microfilm reels from the National Archives of Canada and we’ve scanned almost 2000 of the 35,000 images on them.1
The optimism and futuristic vision that Expo ‘67 presented is well documented in books and television documentaries. The space race was at full throttle. Technology was to pave a path to prosperity. Yet, behind this positive exhibition of progress there were some tough questions being asked about what seemed an almost blind optimism and instrumental roadmap for the future. Critical and passionate answers came in the form, content, and success2 of Expo ‘67. The architecture of Expo was a primary expression of this rare moment of criticality, optimism, and passionate energy. Its expression was a macho fest3 of beautiful construction geometries, systems thinking, and exhibition innovations by architects like André Blouin from Montréal, McGill University graduate student Moshe Safdie, the USA’s Buckminster Fuller, West Germany’s Frei Otto, and western Canada’s Ron Thom and Arthur Erickson.
A beautiful thing about World’s Fairs is that they’re as much temporal as they are formal. The constructions for a world’s fair are temporary structures. Only a handful of the 82 pavilions built for Expo ‘67 remain today. For most of these we only have the detritus of the event- postcards and postage stamps- ashtrays and aprons. Much has been written about the event and its structures. What’s fascinating about these drawings is this is where the designer’s intentions and the reality of presentation, delineation, organizing, specifying, and diagramming is now primarily held. The buildings may no longer exist but the architecture is here and clear in this mass of drawings and specifications.
This board represents the first public representation of some of the 35,000 drafted drawings and images used to design and build Expo ‘67- the 1967 World’s Fair held in Montréal, Quebec. With the considerate support of the Texas Tech library’s interlibrary loan staff we’ve been able to borrow the 72 microfilm reels from the National Archives of Canada and we’ve scanned almost 2000 of the 35,000 images on them.1
The optimism and futuristic vision that Expo ‘67 presented is well documented in books and television documentaries. The space race was at full throttle. Technology was to pave a path to prosperity. Yet, behind this positive exhibition of progress there were some tough questions being asked about what seemed an almost blind optimism and instrumental roadmap for the future. Critical and passionate answers came in the form, content, and success2 of Expo ‘67. The architecture of Expo was a primary expression of this rare moment of criticality, optimism, and passionate energy. Its expression was a macho fest3 of beautiful construction geometries, systems thinking, and exhibition innovations by architects like André Blouin from Montréal, McGill University graduate student Moshe Safdie, the USA’s Buckminster Fuller, West Germany’s Frei Otto, and western Canada’s Ron Thom and Arthur Erickson.
A beautiful thing about World’s Fairs is that they’re as much temporal as they are formal. The constructions for a world’s fair are temporary structures. Only a handful of the 82 pavilions built for Expo ‘67 remain today. For most of these we only have the detritus of the event- postcards and postage stamps- ashtrays and aprons. Much has been written about the event and its structures. What’s fascinating about these drawings is this is where the designer’s intentions and the reality of presentation, delineation, organizing, specifying, and diagramming is now primarily held. The buildings may no longer exist but the architecture is here and clear in this mass of drawings and specifications.
posted by B.Rex at 12:09 a.m.
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