'Only a Model'

Remembering the Great World's Fairs


Here's the 'example' I built for a middle school workshop.

The 1964 Fair in New York was a memorable event for me. I'm doing a model making workshop at a local middle school and had a lot of fun 'creating' this pavilion to inspire the kids. I remember the models in the Futurama as being quite impressive. There were communities on the Moon and in the depths of the oceans in stunning dioramas. I would have loved to have worked on that project.

The Futurama was a sequal to the 1939 Futurama by Norman Bel Geddes. I've seen pictures of it. It pretty well predicts modern highways and aerodynamic vehicles, but there is one thing I really wish had come into being -- flying cars!

I wanted to get the kids' imaginations revved up, so I'm showing them some historic world's fair architecture and having them create their own pavilions. It should be fun!