Unisphere made from material stainless steel
2000s to present
The fountains at the Unisphere's base were shut off in 2001 due to citywide water restrictions; they were not reactivated until early 2003, seventeen months later. The pool around the globe was also drained because Mayor Michael Bloomberg had prohibited water from being used for ornamental purposes. By 2008, city officials planned to fix the pipes under the Unisphere. At the time, the fountains leaked excessively; to save money, NYC Parks only operated the fountains throughout the entire day whenever the US Open was being held. Due to concerns by city officials that people would wade into the pools, some officials had proposed several years prior that the Unisphere be surrounded by a fence or bushes, but former parks commissioner Henry Stern had expressed opposition to such proposals. Local media reported in 2009 that grass had begun to grow within the steel mass representing Antarctica. NYC Parks officials suspected that bird feces and an accumulation of leaves had contributed to an environment in which seeds could germinate.The Unisphere's fountains were rededicated on August 12, 2010, after a $2 million restoration of the pumps, valves, and paintwork. The refurbished fountains operated daily during the summer for the first time in more than two decades. In the September 2010 Brooklyn/Queens tornadoes, the landmass representing Sri Lanka was blown off the Unisphere. The piece was reinstalled the following year. After the fountains were turned back on, visitors often played within the pool and fountains, especially after a neighboring set of fountains to the east broke down. This was despite the fact that people were technically not allowed to enter the pool and fountains. To prevent people from being hurt by the powerful fountainheads, NYC Parks added barricades, opened fire hydrants, and hired patrol officers to deter people from going into the pool. Even so, some people still entered the pool.Design
Globe
The Unisphere is the world's largest globe. It measures 120 feet (37 m) in diameter, rises 140 feet (43 m), and weighs 700,000 pounds (317,515 kg). Including its 100-short-ton (91 t) inverted tripod base, which is made of sturdy low-alloy steel, the Unisphere weighs 900,000 pounds (408,233 kg). The globe is constructed of Type 304L stainless steel. The continents on the globe are fabricated with a special texture-pattern by Rigidized Metals Corporation. The horizontal beams on the frame are meant to represent longitude lines. Over five hundred pieces of steel were used in the construction of the globe. The Unisphere is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees, which is Earth's normal tilt.Three large orbit rings of stainless steel encircle the Unisphere at various angles. These orbit rings are believed to represent the tracks of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space; John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth; and Telstar, the first active communications satellite. The early design was to have a ring for each of a dozen satellites in place at the time of the World's Fair. This proved impractical, not only in the number of satellites but also in the height of their orbits and the fact that geostationary satellites had no orbit path. As a result, a symbolic number of three was chosen for aesthetic reasons. The three rings were connected with aircraft cable to the rest of the structure. Another proposal entailed having lights revolve around the satellite rings, but this idea was also decided against.The landmasses of the Unisphere are made of metal sheets that are laid in contours. The shapes had to be placed at regular intervals while also accurately representing the globe, and could not be cross-braced or overly thick; furthermore, wind was trapped by the shapes' concave inner surfaces. As such, a stress transfer pattern was developed, and the meridians and parallels were varied in dimension, thereby making the Unisphere structurally stable as well as accurate in design. U.S. Steel's administrative vice president Austin J. Paddock said that some 670 mathematical equations needed to be solved simultaneously to determine the exact layout of the Unisphere. The shape of the steel sheets was devised using a computer. The surface area of the landmasses totals over 13,000 square feet (1,200 m2), effectively acting as a large sail.
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