Designed by Richard Neutra, completed in 1962 and originally constructed to house a tableau of Pickett's Charge, the Cyclorama building at Gettysburg will be demolished by the National Parks Service. The modernist structure has had a 15-year battle on whether to keep or raze it. The decision from the NPS is to return the site to its 1863 state, a key portion of the Union battle line and important to the public understanding of what happened at Gettysburg.
In other news, check out a sculpture made from hundreds of bikes, and the Good Design Awards are announced. See the headlines after the jump.
• National Park Service Orders Demolition Of Richard Neutra's Cyclorama | Architizer
• 760 Bikes Make Up Ai Weiwei's Latest Brilliantly Simple Installation | Co.Design
• Good Design Awards announced in furniture, textiles | The Editor at Large
(Image: via Architizer)
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Shame!
Related to the monument mentioned in this article, be sure to check out the "Cyclisk" in Santa Rosa, CA!
Boo! I remember visiting the Cyclorama on a field trip in grade school. It's not exactly the coolest example of modernist architecture but I'm kind of sad to see it go.
Add me to the list of sad . . . building has great historic/aesthetic value . . .
thank god that thing is gone!! totally inappropriate there. who cares if Neutra did it. wrong place. architects have this thing of legacy and every single thing they do must last forever, good or bad.
I'm not very surprised they are tearing it down. I have spent a lot of time in Gettysburg, living fairly close. (Great place to hike, picnic, etc.) Though the building may have some intrinsic value, it really does not fit in with the "historic" vibe of the town, which has hardly changed in 150 years. The groundskeepers even strive to keep all the plants the same location and size as they were during the Civil War so that one's experience at Gettysburg will truly feel "authentic." Now if they could just get rid of the ridiculous segway tours.
Why yes lets sacrifice one history for another that makes sense.
Gettysburg is a shamble of "monument clutter" as one guide book described it. For the number who died (51,000 soldiers) it's really hard to get a good sense of the place compared to other Civil War sites. I'm personally for anything that allows people to better envision and understand the importance of the place. Sometimes inappropriate architecture needs to be taken away.
While it's sad to demolish the building, I do think it is out of place. There is something about standing on the very ground that soldiers once stood and fought. Hopefully, the NPS will make a new building in an appropriate place, with up to date display technology, as the Cyclorama was, back in 1961.
Noooooo!!!!! It is history in its own right!!
Wow. I've been reading a book about the battles and just re-watched Ken Burn's Civil war last week. I kept thinking about that mural that I had seen as a child. I don't remember the building well but, it's sad to hear it's going to go from the perspective of a childhood memory
Bring on the wrecking ball.