How the UN Popularized Modernism in NYC

This is the only place in the world

where nearly 200 nations meet under just one roof

and it essentially represents the birthplace

of international diplomacy as we know it.

[soft music]

I'm Michael Wyetzner.

I've been an architect in New York City for over 35 years.

And today, we're going to be doing a walking tour

of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City

[soft upbeat music]

During the height of World War II,

the nations of the world, other than the Axis powers,

Germany, Italy and Japan,

sought to establish an organization for diplomacy

and peaceful collaboration.

In a private meeting

with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1941,

U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt brought up the idea

of using the name the United Nations.

After the war in 1947,

an international team of architects were brought together

to design the headquarters

of the United Nations in New York City.

The end result stands as an international symbol

for post-war optimism,

and the first major building in New York built

in the International Style.

The campus was completed in 1952

and it was composed of three buildings,

one of which is the Conference Building,

which can only really be seen from the East River,

but it's the other two buildings

that the UN is really defined by.

And they stand in seeming contrast to one another,

the tall glass Secretariat Building

and the low-slung General Assembly Building.

So how did the UN end up here in Turtle Bay

on the East River?

So there were a number of other sites considered.

One was on the Palisades in New Jersey,

another was outside of San Francisco

and yet another was in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens.

But serendipitously,

Architect Wallace K. Harrison was already working

on this site for another development.

So Harrison was personally connected to the Rockefellers,

and in fact, as a young man, led the design team

for Rockefeller Center.

And he recommended that the Rockefellers donate

$8.5 million to the United Nations

to buy this site in Turtle Bay.

And that's exactly what they did.

And that led to Harrison being selected

to lead the international team of architects.

That team consisted of 10 architects from around the world,

including Oscar Niemeyer from Brazil

and the renowned Swiss born French architect, Le Corbusier.

And in fact, the overall design and arrangement

of these buildings was configured by Le Corbusier,

known as Scheme 23A.

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Over my shoulder, you could see the Secretariat Building.

This 39-story tower was the first major

International Style building in New York City.

Because of its height,

it could be seen from a great distance,

which makes it the architectural emblem

of the United Nations.

So what is the International Style?

It originated in Europe in the 1910s and 1920s.

As architects explored new materials and technologies,

which allowed for more light and air,

they were also concerned with an honest expression

of structure and designs that were stripped of ornament.

So it started as a notion by Adolf Loos

where he questioned the need for ornament at all.

And that is picked up by architects like Walter Gropius,

Mies van der Rohe and Corbusier,

and turned into a whole new style of architecture.

But although the International Style began in Europe,

it actually got its name right here in New York City in 1932

with an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art,

which was curated by Philip Johnson

and Henry-Russell Hitchcock.

The International Style is also known as modernism,

and the two terms

for all practical purposes are interchangeable

when describing architecture.

The reason why it's so appropriate

for this international organization is that

any other style of architecture would've had its roots

in a national culture.

It rejected historical references like Greek columns

and Roman arches and it started with a clean slate,

which is in a sense what the UN was trying to do.

And so because it looked out of place everywhere,

it could sort of look at home anywhere.

So this is what I love about this building.

A big part of modern architecture was liberating the plane

from its embedment in buildings.

Spaces were typically made up of four walls

and planes didn't stand free on their own.

That is until Frank Lloyd Wright broke open the box

with this free plan and open space.

With these two solid stone bookends

with glass stretching between them,

the building almost reads as if it's two dimensional,

which it wouldn't if it were all glass.

So the fact that this tower is so narrow,

almost like a thin wafer allows all the spaces within

to be filled with sunlight.

You're never far from a window,

which makes it a very pleasant place to be,

especially compared to other office buildings at the time.

This is really the first glass curtain wall in New York,

and what that means is that the glass hangs off

the structure like a curtain.

Lever House would be the first all glass curtain wall

just a couple of years later.

The downside of all this glass is that it allows

solar heat gain inside the building,

which requires cooling to offset it.

Corbusier originally wanted to add

external shading devices sticking out to block the sun,

but they ended up going with this thermopane glass.

The other unique thing about this building is that

they tried to incorporate the most modern

HVAC systems of the day.

And that is expressed with these horizontal vented bands

at the mechanical levels about every 10th floor.

[soft music]

Behind me, you could see the General Assembly Building.

So if the Secretariat is the recognizable face of the UN,

by contrast, unless you've been here,

many people don't even know

what the General Assembly Building looks like,

and yet, this building is the literal home

of global diplomacy.

Once a year, delegates of the 193 member states gather here

under one roof to discuss global issues.

In a sense, this makes New York the capital of the world.

So as the famous writer, E. B. White said,

and I'm paraphrasing here, New York is not a state capital,

it's not a national capital,

but because it's the home of the UN,

it becomes the capital of the world.

When you think about it, this is an incredible achievement.

This modern idea that almost 200 nations get together

and meet under one roof to discuss global issues.

And because the United Nations was only founded in 1945,

this has only been happening for less than 80 years,

and the scale of the UN has continued to grow in that time,

where it started out with 51 member states,

now it's grown to almost quadruple that size.

So because it serves a very different purpose,

the General Assembly Building is very different

from the Secretariat,

which is essentially an office building.

So Corbusier was also a painter,

and the way he arranged these buildings is almost like

a still life.

The way the low-slung

General Assembly Building is juxtaposed

against the slab of the Secretariat Building.

As far as the General Assembly is concerned,

there were a few hints

that Wallace Harrison was more involved

in the design of this building.

This saddle-shaped building

with its concave curves is very reminiscent

of another building that Harrison designed,

the Hall Auditorium at Oberlin College.

These curves actually create

a sort of asymmetrical hourglass plan for the building.

You can also see on the roof this large dome,

which indicates where the General Assembly Hall is.

That dome was not originally part of the design,

but was actually insisted upon by a U.S. senator

to convince Congress

to appropriate more funds for construction.

He was concerned that Congress wouldn't appropriate

the funds unless a dome was incorporated into the design.

Every big governmental building in the U.S. had one

like the U.S. Capitol and many state capitals.

And he was afraid that they couldn't conceive

of a governmental building without a dome.

So the cost associated with building this campus

also led to some other changes to the original design.

The Secretariat was originally designed

to be 45 stories tall, but was cut down to 39.

And the entire General Assembly Building was intended

to be made from the same marble

as the sidewalls of the Secretariat.

But because of the cost,

they used Portland stone from England instead

and only used marble for certain details.

The inside of the General Assembly Hall was partially

inspired by Alvar Aalto's Finnish Pavilion

from the 1939 World's Fair

with these very tall canted walls of wood slats.

And it's probably the most recognizable part of the building

since it is so often shown on television

when the General Assembly is in session.

Another famous interior portion

of the building is the south lobby

where delegates entered the building,

which is all glass.

And the north lobby is for press and other visitors

with its alternating vertical bands of glass and marble.

The inside of the north lobby is an incredible space,

and it's one place where you could clearly see

Oscar Niemeyer's influence on the project.

Niemeyer was known for graceful curves

and also these very particular ramps,

which were a signature of Corbusier,

which influenced Niemeyer.

And actually, the two had worked together previously

on the Ministry of Education and Health Building in Brazil.

[soft music]

Even though these buildings are relatively young,

there's an incredible amount of history attached to them.

If you'd like to hear more

international architectural stories,

let us know in the comments below.

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