An Approach to Conservation and Presentation of the Terrazzo Map Pavement of the New York State Pavilion in Queens, New York
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Philip Johnson's New York State Pavilion, is one of the few remaining structures from the 1964-1965 World's Fair in Queens New York, and retains one of its main attractions, the terrazzo map pavement depicting a 1960's Texaco road map of New York State. The design for the terrazzo pavement consisted of 567 4'x 4' terrazzo tiles, depicting all of the features found on the map including the roads, signs, bodies of water, place names, and the locations of the Texaco gas stations in the State of New York. The Pavilion was designed to showcase exhibitions about New York State, and included three observation towers, a cylindrical movie theater called the Theaterama, and the Tent of Tomorrow, where the terrazzo pavement was located. Additionally, the Theaterama showcased art work by emerging Pop Artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein as part of the first public, large scale exhibition of Pop Art, of which the terrazzo map pavement was and still is the largest example. Although the Pavilion and the pavement were intended to be temporary, they remain standing today in a state of deterioration, awaiting a decision regarding their future and hopefully their preservation.