The politics of Pan Am.

THE PAN AM BUILDING AND THE SHATTERING OF THE MODERNIST DREAM

By Meredith Clausen. London: MIT Press. 2005. [pounds sterling]29.95

In the early 1960s my father, a construction worker, would come home from work complaining about a moral quandary. He was making good money working on a building that he felt would diminish midtown New York. As a teenager, I knew little about what he was referring to. With the publication of Clausen's book about the Pan Am Building, now I do. As Clausen points out, it was a building few wanted yet was built: the triumph of unalloyed capitalism over the Modernist ideals of rationality and functionalism.

Clausen's discussion covers much in a clear, readable way: the history of Grand Central Station and the suggestions for its redevelopment, and the role of architects, developers, engineers, and clients who were instrumental in realising the Pan Am Building. Clausen covers the politics of the development process, the rise of Emery Roth, the role of Walter Gropius and Pietro Belluschi and the effects the final design had on their careers, the unique and difficult engineering and construction efforts that made the building possible and a detailed discussion of the final design and building itself.

Most critically, we learn about the political manoeuvering and manipulation crucial to the development process and the angry and anguished debate among architects and critics about the social, cultural and aesthetic advisability of such a large, imposing structure. These debates dealt broadly with everything from the social impacts of the design, the responsibilities of designers, the dangers of allowing market considerations to define the urban landscape, to discussions of the overall effect the building would have practically, formally and aesthetically. What a difference from today's debates about such projects as Ground Zero in New York where the discourse revolves around either puff pieces about the celebrity designers or politicians involved in the process, gossip about their infighting, or debates about formal and aesthetic issues alone.

Read Clausen to discover what architectural debates can and should address. But also read this excellent book because it is a most engaging informative narrative about how important projects, for better or for worse, come to fruition.

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