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What is a scale model? Give some examples of scale models used in other contexts. |
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Why are bridges important to a city like New York? What are some of functions they serve? |
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Aerial: Seen from the air, as opposed to the ground, as if you were flying over what you are viewing. As you walk on the ramp around the Panorama you gain an increasingly higher aerial view of New York City.
Architecture: The art of building structures. Looking at the buildings of Manhattan on the Panorama, we can see a variety of architectural styles.
Custom-made: Made specifically for something or someone. Everything on the Panorama was made accordingly for a certain reason and to Robert Moses' and Raymond Lester's specifications.
Landmarks: Any structure that has been especially marked to be noticed (in the case of buildings, this is usually for historical reasons). One of the landmarks on the Panorama is the Empire State Building.
Model: An exact three-dimensional representation of an object in miniature. The Panorama is an exact scale model of New York City.
Skyscrapers: A multi-level building that gives the impression that it is actually scraping the sky, making it difficult to see the tops of the buildings when walking along the city streets. Manhattan is well known for its many skyscrapers.
Topography: A detailed description of the surface of a land area. Looking at Staten Island from the ramp, one can see the changing topography of the borough; it is extremely hilly in parts.
Urban: Of or belonging to a city. The Panorama is the world's largest scale model of an urban area.
The Panorama took three years to build (1961-1964).
Over 100 workers were involved in the making of the Panorama.
The glass floor lookouts are composed of 30" panels of shatter-proof glass, which are composed of two ½ inch pieces of glass securely laminated and resting on steel beams.
The span of the Verrazano Bridge model is close to 6 feet in length.
Only one borough, The Bronx, is connected to the mainland of the United States. The other boroughs are islands (Manhattan, Staten Island) or parts of an island (Brooklyn, Queens.)
La Guardia Airport is approximately 1/9 the size of John F. Kennedy Airport.
Manhattan was once a hilly borough. (It's name comes from Manhatta, the Algonquin word for "island of hills." ) Most of these were leveled in 1811 to allow for the grid system of streets (readily apparent on the Panorama, especially from the Bronx vantage point.)
Robert Moses, who was behind the creation of the Panorama, as well as many of the bridges and highways in New York City, did not himself drive a car.
Cameron, Robert. Above New York. San Francisco, California: Cameron and Company, 1988.
Dolkart, Andrew. Guide to New York City Landmarks. National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1992.
Jackson, Kenneth, ed. The Encyclopedia of New York City. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.
Jakobsen, Kathy. My New York. New York: Little Brown & Company, 1993.
MacKay, Donald. Building of Manhattan. New York: Harper & Row, 1987.
Wolfe, Gerald. New York: A Guide to the Metropolis, Walking Tours of Architecture & History. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983.
