Friday, May 23, 2014

Look Familiar?

The top image is the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, designed by Eero Saarinen and finished in 1965.  The bottom image is the arch that was planned for the 1942 Universal Exposition in Rome, by Mussolini and his architects.

There was quite a debate when Saarinen entered the design competition for the Gateway Arch in 1947, with the image of Mussolini's plans not far in the past.  But the architect, and the jury, rejected the notion that there were any fascist ideological overtones that would poison the form which was to celebrate Jeffersonian democracy and the westward course of, well, empire. 








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