[左图，1962年，一位女士正在全景图前手绘一栋建筑。由Lester & Associates公司赠。右图，如今的全景模型，照片来自Max Touhey]

来自专筑编辑李单仕郎的报道。让我们换个角度看来看纽约风景。在纽约的皇后博物馆里，作品“纽约全景”占了将近10000平方英尺。这意味着它相当于“卡内基57”大厦中一个亿刀顶层公寓的面积，二者仅相差一两个壁橱的大小。该模型十分宏伟，甚至可以说是一件令人敬畏的作品。如此赞扬它的原因，不仅仅是因为建成于1964年世界博览会前的它曾经将它的浮华艳丽闻名于世，更重要的地方在于：它给来自纽约以及全世界的游客们一个上帝般的视角去观看纽约城。通过这个视角，游客可以直观地看到城市中的街区和地段，轻松地将它们区分开来。整个496平方英里的纽约城按照100英尺比1英寸的比例缩放成了这个作品。帝国大厦的全景模型在这里仅仅是15英寸；而自由女神像，在这里看起来不到2英寸。

To put it into perspective, the Panorama of the City of New York at the Queens Museum covers nearly 10,000 square feet; that means it is very nearly the same size as the$100 million penthouse of One 57, give or take a closet or two. The thing is massive and it is, quite literally,awesome. Not because it is flashy or showy—it was built in the years before the 1964 World's Fair, but more on that later—but because it gives its visitors, from New York and the world over, an omniscient view of a city that is so readily segmented, defined by its boroughs and neighborhoods. New York City covers 469 square miles. At ascale of one inch to 100 feet, the panorama's Empire State Building stands a mighty 15 inches tall; the Statue of Liberty, less than two.



“纽约全景”的建设是由当时倍受争议的纽约州务卿罗伯特•摩斯批准的。它抢在了1964年世界博览会前完工。建造“纽约全景”是为了向公众展示纽约的城市公共工程和设施功能，尤其是许多由罗伯特•摩斯主导的改善公共基础设施项目，比如三区大桥。

The Panorama of the City of New York was commissioned by contentious New York City public figure Robert Moses in the years leading up the the 1964 World's Fair. It was meant to display the public works of the city and their functions, and not least Moses' many improvements to city infrastructure like the Triborough Bridge.



罗伯特•摩斯邀请了建筑模型开发商Lester & Associates公司来给这微小的城市带来生气。根据皇后博物馆的注册员兼档案经理路易斯•温伯格女士表示，“纽约全景”动用了100名工人花费超过三年的时间来创造城市的地形图和手工制品。他们收集了来自Sandborn火灾消防保险公司的消防地图信息，以此手绘了有895000个建筑的图纸。苛刻的罗伯特•摩斯对建造师们强调：建造过程要在细致到毫米的标准中进行。当全景模型的前期部分完成时，罗伯特•摩斯声明如果建筑模型有所偏差，哪怕是细微地偏离于原型的真实比例，他将拒绝展示整个作品。

“纽约全景”最终按时完工。35000个建筑模型用木材逐个手工雕刻和绘制完成。在曼哈顿，摩天大厦的玻璃窗是用荧光涂料上色的，这样可以在黄昏时分营造出一抹应景的灯火辉煌。行政区外的建筑模型并没有得到特别的关注，它们和一些小公寓、教堂等模型一起存放在了Lester & Associates公司的一个塑料大桶里。在这里，等待它们的是被绘画上色，然后被定位到全景的256块10乘4英尺的面板上。虽然在过去的50年里“纽约全景”一直被更新，但是更新上的新建筑模型不再是手工制造的。新的模型一般是镭射蚀刻或者塑胶玻璃制造。虽然这样的模型同样有着艺术美感，但在一片木材、黄铜制造的模型林立中，它们看起来多少有些突兀。

Moses tapped architectural model makers Lester & Associates to bring the miniature city to life. According to Queens Museum Registrar and Archives Manager Louise Weinberg, it took 100 people over three years to create the city's topography and hand-craft and paint its 895,000 buildings using information gleaned from scouring Sandborn Fire Insurance maps. Being the exacting individual Moses was, he held the firm to a millimeter standard; ahead of the panorama's completion, Moses made clear that if the buildings strayed even the slightest bit from their true scale, he was willing to reject the entire panorama for show.
The finished product was and is a testament to its time: some 35,000 buildings were crafted individually out of wood and painted by hand. In Manhattan, the windows of skyscrapers were touched with phosphorescent paintso that they cast a glow in the panorama's twilight hours. Structures in the outer boroughs didn't receive as much individual attention and small apartment buildings, churches, and things of the like were stored in giant plastic tubs in the Lester & Associates offices awaiting painting before their positioning on the panorama's 256 ten-by-four-foot panels. Although updates to the panorama have been sparring in the past 50 years, new buildings are no longer made by hand. They're made of laser-etched plastics or plexiglass, and while also aesthetically pleasing, they are a visual hiccup in the expanse of wood and brass and model shrubbery.



值得注意的是，世贸双子塔仍然屹立在曼哈顿岛尖上，毕竟它们曾经是纽约最高的建筑。当博物馆被问到是否会考虑“纽约全景”相应于城市变化而改变作品的轮廓时，温伯格女士表示他们有着同样的疑惑：“这是一个哲学上的问题，我希望‘纽约全景’是固定于一个时间点的，那么问题来了，它是一个单纯的艺术品吗？显然它已经改变过了。那什么时候作为它永恒的时间点呢？”从1964年以来，纽约城市的组成已经发生了巨大的变化，上一次城市大翻新是1992年。巴特利公园城和布鲁克林大桥公园已经新出现了，同样出现的还有新城溪沼气厂的巨蛋建筑。通过一个类似“模型认购”的项目，实体公司也可以通过付款来使自己的建筑竖立在全景模型上。比如洋基队和花旗球场支付了费用，让自己的新体育馆出现在全景模型上。除此之外，“纽约全景”在过去的50年里几乎没有改动，没有捐赠来维护这个巨大的模型。据温伯格女士解释，在全景模型上增加新建筑模型是相当昂贵的，增加单独一个建筑模型的花费曾经一度要高达3000美金。

Notably on the panorama, the Twin Towers still stand tall at the tip of Manhattan and are, as they were once the city's, its tallest buildings. When asked about whether the museum will account for the city's changing skylinein the panorama, Ms. Weinberg explained that the hesitation is twofold. "It's a philosophical question," she said, "I want it to be frozen in time. The real question is, is this an artifact? It's already been altered, but when's the cutoff point?" Of course the city's composition has radically changed since 1964, and even since it was last significantly updated in 1992. Battery Park City and Brooklyn Bridge Park have arrived, as have Newtown Creek'sdigester eggs. Through a program similar to the museum's Adopt-a-Building initiative, entities can pay to have their buildings erected on the panorama. The Yankees paid to have their new stadium added, likewise the Mets with Citi Field. Other than that, things have largely remained the same in the past 50 years. Upkeep of the panorama is not endowed, and Ms. Weinberg explained that it's actually quite pricey to add new buildings. At one time, a single new building could cost up to $3,000.



温伯格女士表示她和博物馆的其他同事们也无法得出统一结论：它应该是一件艺术品?一个纪念物？还是一个会呼吸有生命的雕塑？ “如果地产富商唐纳德会打开他的钱包说：‘这是10万美金作为今年的维护费用。’那就太好了。” 温伯格女士说道，她这样说的时候声音充满了疑惑。她不认为“彻底改变‘纽约全景’，让它与现实同步更新”是最好的处理方法。

Ms. Weinberg says she and the rest of the Queens Museum staff haven't yet come to a decision about how to treat the panorama; whether it should be an artifact, a memorial, a breathing and reflexive sculpture. "It would be great if a Donald Trump figure could reach into his pocket and say, 'Here's $100,000 a year for upkeep,'" she said, although her tone was riddled with doubt. Ms. Weinberg isn't convinced that radically altering the panorama in the ways it would require to be up-to-date is the best course of action.



在满载儿童的校车来到博物馆的每一天，“纽约全景”给予了孩子们欢乐与教育，开拓着孩子们的眼界。“博物馆是艺术、梦想与愿望的宝库” 温伯格女士说道，只要“纽约全景”不被偷盗，只要它仍然在这里，无论它的命运如何，“纽约全景”就会发挥它最有意义的一面。

Meanwhile, loaded school buses continue to roll up to the museum "every day of the week" and entertain and educate wide-eyed kids. "Museums are repositories of artifacts and dreams and aspirations," Ms. Weinberg said, before stealing away to her desk. That they are. Whatever its fate, the panorama is in good hands.
















































[全景模型大厅的北面景。当时正值建筑大师Rafael Viñoly大师对此翻修。（当时模型已经被移置Lester & Associates公司进行翻新）摄影师Phil DiDomenico拍摄于1992年11月17日，现保存于皇后博物馆。]


[1961年交付的全景模型的水粉设计绘图。由Lester & Associates公司赠，现存于皇后博物馆。]


[1962年，纽约尼亚克，Lester & Associates公司里的工作人员。由Lester & Associates公司赠，现存于皇后博物馆。]


[1962年，纽约尼亚克，Lester & Associates公司里的工作人员。由Lester & Associates公司赠，现存于皇后博物馆。]


[1962年，纽约尼亚克，Lester & Associates公司里的工作人员。由Lester & Associates公司赠，现存于皇后博物馆。]


[Raymond Lester, Lester & Associates公司总裁，乔治华盛顿大桥的控股人。拍摄于1963年。由Lester & Associates公司赠，现存于皇后博物馆。]



出处：本文译自ny.curbed.com，转载请注明出处。