Paul Rudolph, Lower Manhattan Expressway, New York, c. 1970 (via cooperunion)
“The Lower Manhattan Expressway (LME) was first conceived in the late 1930s as an innovative multi-use expressway system running across Lower Manhattan. Had it been constructed, this major urban design project would have transformed New York City’s topography and infrastructure. Rudolph’s proposal for the LME consisted of a Y-shaped highway running from the Holland Tunnel to the Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges, using Broome, Delancey, and Chrystie Streets and the Bowery as the main corridors. The LME was one of the last large-scale urban planning initiatives in New York, building on the concept of the “megastructure,” which gained prominence throughout the 1950s and 60s. Rudolph envisioned an approach to city planning that would conceive of movement throughout a city as the most common shared experience; multi-use transportation networks would be integrated into one design that would replace plazas as the prevailing urban design element. Plans for the LME therefore included not only an underground highway but also elevators and escalators connecting to the subway system, living spaces, a moving walkway, parking lots, and shared public spaces. Rudolph’s remarkably detailed sketches use single-point perspective, cross-sectional diagramming, and collage to illustrate every detail of the plans, from physical elements such as material and finish to more dynamic variables such as furniture, landscaping, and human activity. Using a trademark large-scale presentation technique, he brought hand-rendered two-dimensional sketches to life with a level of accuracy that has been compared to that of Victorian etchings. The exhibition design will integrate Rudolph’s innovative interior design sensibilities with his conceptualization of space; a selection of work will be presented in a freestanding modular display system that recalls the framework of his famed Lucite chair, designed in 1968.”