United Nations Secretariat Building, NYC, 2021.
All the pixels, with simultaneous translation into multiple languages, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/51381729335
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this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2024
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I have mixed feelings about Le Corbusier's architecture (to say nothing of his urban planning philosophy - he clearly influenced Robert Moses), but I think the UN Secretariat building was one of his successes.
An aside: If you look at the full resolution version (downloadable on flickr), you can see the HF amateur radio antenna on the roof. Nerds are everywhere, even/especially at the UN. There's also a family taking a group picture on the street in front.
@mattblaze@federate.social The vertical is for ham HF? Interesting. I could picture other reasons for HF, but wouldn't expect ham.
@auroran@mastodon.social Yeah, there's a small but active amateur radio club for the staff and friends there (4U1UN).
@mattblaze@federate.social @auroran@mastodon.social
Geopolitical-aware nerds at the UN, figures.
I would expect the station would be dual-use in a communications emergency. There's usually a reason besides staff morale to allow roof use like that: contingencies.
I wouldn't be surprised if they had a Rockwell full coverage 5kW 0-30Mc transceiver from the supply available to the state CD bunkers in 1950s-60s. Beautiful.
@n1vux@mastodon.radio @auroran@mastodon.social Way back when I visited a few times, it was just some higher-end Yaesu rig. I think the station is just amateur; the NY UN HQ isn't where most the operational stuff (peacekeeping, etc) is based.
@n1vux@mastodon.radio @auroran@mastodon.social Also, it's an off the shelf HF amateur-band-only vertical, not the monster wideband log periodic that you see on typical "real" gov't type stations.
@mattblaze@federate.social @auroran@mastodon.social
Looks really nice in your photo!
@mattblaze@federate.social @auroran@mastodon.social
Ah well, then it's at best a limited contingency for Secretary General to get a voice connection to some besieged capital. I expected better of a cold war institution.
(OTOH that would've been a decent contingency 50 years ago.)
@mattblaze@federate.social
I wouldn't blame LeC for the excesses of Moses but yes, his and contemporaneous urban planning violated his own 'human scale' critereon; planned dystopias. We're lucky so few visions were completed.
Is there a planned city drawn & built in the automobile era as successful as Paris or D.C., drawn & built for horse-carriages ?
@mattblaze@federate.social
Impressive fine detail!
@mattblaze@federate.social
This view of the Secretariat only focuses thought on your discussion, considering it by itself as a historic building.✅️
Usually it's reduced to straight-man for the GA building's punchline, a study in contrast.
Which is fine, that was the point C & N &al were making. ( Similar to unicameral Nebraska statehouse. )