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===Planning=== After the 1964 fair was announced, Moses wished to make a symbol that represented the fair's theme of "Peace Through Understanding",<ref name="n82219504" /><ref name="NYC Parks Unisphere">{{cite web|title=Unisphere|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/flushing-meadows-corona-park/highlights/12761|access-date=July 26, 2021|publisher=[[New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]]|archive-date=December 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201230918/https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/flushing-meadows-corona-park/highlights/12761|url-status=live}}</ref> which would also have some "significance or meaning for the average person".<ref name="n82219504">{{Cite news|date=May 16, 1995|title=Queens History: the Unisphere|pages=10|work=Newsday|via=newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82219504/queens-history-the-unisphere/|access-date=July 26, 2021|archive-date=July 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726170228/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82219504/queens-history-the-unisphere/|url-status=live}}</ref> The symbol would also celebrate the beginning of the space age.<ref name="NYC Parks Unisphere" /> Moses first asked designer [[Walter Dorwin Teague]] to make a "Theme Center". Teague designed the center as a {{Convert|170|ft|4=-tall|adj=mid}} inverted cone surrounded by a spiral, rising from a reflecting pool. Moses declined the proposal, calling it a "cross between a part of a brake engine and a bed spring, or should I say between a Malayan Tapir and a window shutter".<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 1032">{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=1032}}</ref> Another proposal was devised by [[Paul Rudolph (architect)|Paul Rudolph]] on behalf of the [[Portland Cement Association]]. This plan called for a saucer measuring {{Convert|300|ft}} in diameter and tilted 18 degrees from the ground, with a restaurant, exhibits, educational and recreational facilities, and "planetary viewing stations".<ref>{{cite magazine|date=Jul 1961|title=Moon-viewing Platform Shows Concrete|url=https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1961-07.pdf|journal=Progressive Architecture|volume=42|pages=45|access-date=March 30, 2021|archive-date=June 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619022519/https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1961-07.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Rudolph Designs for the New York Fair|url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1961-07.pdf|journal=Architectural Record|volume=43|issue=7|pages=12|access-date=March 30, 2021|archive-date=June 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619022706/https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1961-07.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Moses also rejected Rudolph's proposal.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 1032" /> The idea for the Unisphere occurred in September 1960 as Clarke was doodling on an airplane from Ohio to New York.<ref name="p115522865">{{cite news|last=Robbins|first=William|date=August 16, 1964|title=Doodle Grew Into the Unisphere, With Help From a Rubber Ball|page=R1|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|id={{ProQuest|115522865}}}}</ref><ref name="p750198061">{{cite news|last=Campanella|first=Thomas J.|date=September 11, 2010|title=Leisure & Arts β Architecture: Icon of a Fair, a Borough, the World|page=W.13|work=The Wall Street Journal|issn=0099-9660|id={{ProQuest|750198061}}}}</ref> Clarke had sketched a metal armillary on the rear of an envelope.<ref name="NYC Parks Unisphere" /><ref name="p750198061" /><ref name="Rogers 2017">{{cite web|last=Rogers|first=Adam|date=May 23, 2017|title=What the Unisphere Tells Us About America at the Dawn of the Space Age|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unisphere-america-dawn-space-age-180963244/|access-date=March 30, 2021|website=Smithsonian Magazine|archive-date=April 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210413000106/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/unisphere-america-dawn-space-age-180963244/|url-status=live}}</ref> By the time he got to his office, Clarke had refined his plan into a revolving globe with rings of latitude and longitude. Clarke asked another architect working under his office, William S. Boice, to sketch the structure. Since the method of the sculpture's revolution had not yet been determined, Boice drew fountains to conceal the base.<ref name="p115522865" /> The Unisphere was conceptually designed in aluminum with metallic mesh continents.<ref name="NYCL p. 3" /><ref name="AR 1964">{{cite magazine|last=Schmertz|first=Mildred F.|date=July 1964|title=Architecture at the New York World's Fair|url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1964-07.pdf|journal=Architectural Record|volume=136|page=150|access-date=July 27, 2020|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727215444/https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1964-07.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The globe would be tilted 23.5 degrees and would measure {{Convert|160|ft}} across. Capital cities would be represented on the globe by three sizes of lights, with larger lights for capitals deemed more important.<ref name="p750198061" /> Clarke showed the plan to Moses, who approved of it.<ref name="p115522865" /> Moses announced plans for the Unisphere in February 1961.<ref name="nyt19610215">{{Cite news|date=February 15, 1961|title=A 120-Foot Steel 'Unisphere' Will Be Symbol of the '64 Fair|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/02/15/archives/a-120foot-steel-unisphere-will-be-symbol-of-the-64-fair.html|access-date=November 4, 2019|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=March 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308213052/https://www.nytimes.com/1961/02/15/archives/a-120foot-steel-unisphere-will-be-symbol-of-the-64-fair.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=February 14, 1961|title='Unisphere' Is Fair's Symbol|pages=4|work=Newsday|via=newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82192966/unisphere-is-fairs-symbol/|access-date=July 26, 2021|archive-date=July 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726015224/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/82192966/unisphere-is-fairs-symbol/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Unisphere would be erected at the site of the [[Trylon and Perisphere|Perisphere of the 1939 World's Fair]] which was dismantled after the Fair,<ref name="nyt19610215" /><ref name="PA 1961-03">{{cite magazine|date=Mar 1961|title=Plus Γa Change|url=https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1961-03.pdf|journal=Progressive Architecture|volume=42|pages=64|number=3|access-date=July 26, 2021|archive-date=July 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726185148/https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1961-03.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Moses commented that he "never understood" the Perisphere and its Trylon.<ref name="nyt19610215" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 1033" /> According to Moses, the Unisphere "illustrates, symbolizes and embodies man's achievements on a shrinking globe in an expanding universe".<ref>{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|pp=1032β1033}}</ref> The structure was to be constructed by [[American Bridge Company]], a division of [[U.S. Steel]].<ref name="NYCL p. 3" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 1032" /><ref name="AR 1964" /> Further refinements were made by another of Clarke's architects, Peter Martecchini, who decided to place three columns at the globe's pedestal after playing with a rubber ball belonging to one of his sons.<ref name="p115522865" /> Martecchini developed a working model for a moving platform, composed of three pegs, each topped by a pair of metal disks and a toothed disk with a bolt, supporting a plywood platform.<ref name="p115522865" /> A model of the proposed work was unveiled in 1962.<ref>{{Cite news|date=April 24, 1962|title=Unisphere at 1964 World's Fair to Be 12 Stories High|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/04/24/archives/unisphere-at-1964-worlds-fair-to-be-12-stories-high.html|access-date=November 4, 2019|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=March 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308232114/https://www.nytimes.com/1962/04/24/archives/unisphere-at-1964-worlds-fair-to-be-12-stories-high.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Clarke's idea underwent a further refined industrial design in stainless steel by industrial designers at [[Peter Muller-Munk Associates]].<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 1032" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Kracklauer|first=Beth|date=November 19, 2015|title=Mass-Market Masterpieces: The Designs of Peter Muller-Munk|language=en-US|work=The Wall Street Journal|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/mass-market-masterpieces-the-designs-of-peter-muller-munk-1447953339|access-date=July 27, 2020|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=October 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018033659/https://www.wsj.com/articles/mass-market-masterpieces-the-designs-of-peter-muller-munk-1447953339|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Gopnik|first=Blake|author-link=Blake Gopnik|date=July 9, 2015|title=Carnegie Museum to Open a Survey of the Designer Peter Muller-Munk|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url-access=limited|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/arts/design/carnegie-museum-to-open-a-survey-of-the-designer-peter-muller-munk.html|access-date=July 27, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=July 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727165537/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/arts/design/carnegie-museum-to-open-a-survey-of-the-designer-peter-muller-munk.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Some of the original design details were controversial. Several landmasses such as [[Cyprus]] and [[Crete]] had been left out of the original design, and the lights representing capital cities were criticized on the grounds that the process of selecting "important" capitals was subjective.<ref name="p750198061" /> U.S. Steel rejected the idea of a spinning globe due to high costs, though it did retain Martecchini's idea of a three-pointed pedestal.<ref name="p115522865" /><ref name="p750198061" /> In addition, the globe was reduced from {{Convert|150|to|120|ft}} after Clarke talked with U.S. Steel's board chairman [[Roger Blough]], who said the globe would only be as high as a ten-story brick building outside his office.<ref name="p115522865" /> The final design was similar to the original, but the fountains were arranged differently.<ref name="NYCL p. 3" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 1033" />
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