United Nations General Assembly Building
The United Nations General Assembly Building is part of the headquarters of the United Nations in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It contains the main assembly hall of the United Nations General Assembly, the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the United Nations. The building was designed by a group of architects led by Wallace Harrison. It is connected to the other buildings in the UN headquarters, including the Secretariat Building and the Dag Hammarskjöld Library. Although the building is physically within the United States, it is exempt from some local regulations because the site is under UN jurisdiction.
The General Assembly Building is a four-story structure measuring, with concave walls to the west and east, as well as a concave roof with a dome. The building contains a lobby for journalists and the general public to the north, as well as a lobby for delegates to the south. The central portion of the General Assembly Building is the General Assembly Hall, which has a seating capacity of 1,800 and measures long, wide, and tall. Each delegation has six seats in the hall, which face south toward a rostrum and a paneled semicircular wall with booths. The building also contains other spaces, including a delegates' lounge and the president of the United Nations General Assembly's offices on the second floor; a meditation room on the ground floor; and various shops and conference rooms in the basement.
The design process for the United Nations headquarters formally began in February 1947. The General Assembly Building was the third building to be constructed at the headquarters, after the Secretariat and Conference buildings. Construction of the General Assembly Building's steelwork began in February 1950, and the building was formally dedicated on October 10, 1952. The rapid enlargement of the United Nations prompted the UN to modify the hall's layout several times in the 1960s. The General Assembly Hall was closed for renovation from 1978 to 1979 to accommodate additional delegations. The building started to deteriorate in the 1980s due to a lack of funding, and UN officials considered renovating the complex by the late 1990s, but the project was deferred for several years. As part of a wide-ranging project that began in 2008, the General Assembly Building was renovated from 2013 to 2014.
Site
The General Assembly Building is part of the headquarters of the United Nations in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It occupies a land lot bounded by First Avenue to the west, 42nd Street to the south, the East River to the east, and 48th Street to the north. Although it is physically within the United States, the underlying land is under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. The site is technically extraterritorial through a treaty agreement with the US government, though it is not a territory governed by the UN. Most local, state, and federal laws still apply within the UN headquarters. Due to the site's extraterritorial status, the headquarters buildings are not New York City designated landmarks, since such a designation falls under the purview of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.The General Assembly Building occupies the center of the United Nations site, stretching roughly between 44th Street to the south and 45th Street to the north. The building is directly connected to the Conference Building at its southeast, and it also indirectly connects with the United Nations Secretariat Building and the Dag Hammarskjöld Library to the south. The Japanese Peace Bell is just south of the building, and a grove of sycamore trees is planted to the side. On the western part of the site, along First Avenue, are the flags of the UN, its member states, and its observer states. Outside of the UN headquarters, Trump World Tower and the Japan Society are to the northwest, and One and Two United Nations Plaza are to the southwest.
Historically, the site was part of a cove called Turtle Bay. The cove, located between what is now 45th and 48th Streets, was fed by a stream that ran from the present-day intersection of Second Avenue and 48th Street. A creek from the southern end of modern-day Central Park also drained into Turtle Bay. The first settlement on the site was a tobacco farm built in 1639. The site was developed with residences in the 19th century. Slaughterhouses operated on the eastern side of First Avenue for over a hundred years until the construction of the United Nations headquarters. The UN purchased the site in 1946 under the sole condition that it could never slaughter cattle on the land.
Architecture
The General Assembly Building was designed in the International Style by a team of ten architects working under planning director Wallace K. Harrison. The Board of Design comprised N. D. Bassov of the Soviet Union; Gaston Brunfaut of Belgium; Ernest Cormier of Canada; Le Corbusier of France; Liang Seu-cheng of China; Sven Markelius of Sweden; Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil; Howard Robertson of the United Kingdom; G. A. Soilleux of Australia; and Julio Vilamajó of Uruguay. In addition, David Fine of United States Steel oversaw the construction of the General Assembly Building.Form and facade
The five-story massing of the General Assembly Building is shaped similarly to a saddle. The wide western and eastern elevations of the facade curve inward and measure approximately wide. The roof of the building also curves inward, leading Time magazine to compare the building to a tarpaulin. The narrower northern and southern elevations are flat and measure wide. There are no windows on First Avenue. The original plans for the building called for the facade to be made of marble, but the facade was ultimately built of Portland stone from England. The facade contains about of Portland stone. There is a double-level emergency exit ramp facing First Avenue.In contrast to the rectangular Secretariat Building, the General Assembly Building has a curving massing; even the walls and floors are not perpendicular. Le Corbusier, who had designed the building's massing, had intended for the curving shape to be the visual focal point of the entire headquarters complex. The center of the building, directly above the General Assembly Hall, contains a shallow dome above it. The building's roof was initially supposed to be an uninterrupted curve, but the dome was added after the chief of the United States Mission to the United Nations had suggested it. According to one account, the inclusion of the dome was intended to convince United States Congress to approve funding for the headquarters more quickly, at a time when there was not much funding available for the project.
The doorways to the General Assembly Building are on the southern and northern elevations of the facade. The south elevation measures about tall; it contains glass walls that are recessed within a marble frame and divided by a grid of metal window frames. The north elevation contains vertical marble piers interspersed with photosensitive glass. The architects wanted to create a lighting effect commonly seen in cathedrals, so they made the glass walls translucent. Heating ducts are embedded within these marble piers. The Canadian government donated seven nickel-and-bronze doors, which were installed at the main entrances of the building. Each door measures about wide by about tall. There are four bas relief panels on each door, which depict peace, justice, truth, and fraternity. The southern entrance near 44th Street is used by delegates, while the northern entrance between 45th and 46th Street is used by the public.
Interior
The building contains three levels of galleries; the delegates use the second level, while the public and members of the media use the first and third levels. The passageways used by journalists and members of the public were physically separated from the passageways used by delegates. In keeping with the UN's international character, the building's interior is decorated with furniture, artwork, and other fittings from around the world. For example, the governments of India and Ecuador donated rugs and carpets, while the Thai government donated seats. The building also contains artwork donated by the governments of Belgium and Brazil, as well as a Foucault pendulum donated by the Netherlands. In addition, the building contained over 3,000 specimens of plants, representing 20 species. The interiors retain some of their 1950s-era design details, such as synchronized office clocks and vintage exit signs.Lobbies
The north lobby was designed as the entrance for journalists and members of the public. Three balcony levels are cantilevered over the space. The lobby measures high and is topped by a circular skylight measuring about across. A statue of the ancient Greek god Poseidon, donated by the Greek government, stands in the middle of the lobby. The space also contains a scallop-shaped information kiosk. A stepped ramp leads from the ground level to the first balcony. It contained numerous species of plants, which were illuminated by concealed spotlights. There is a Foucault pendulum adjacent to the stepped ramp, donated by the Dutch government. The left wall of the north lobby contains a concourse leading to the south lobby, while the right wall includes a meditation room. The north lobby also contains passageways to meeting rooms, as well as space for exhibits.The south lobby is the delegates' entrance. There is a hospitality room next to the delegates' lobby, as well as two information desks in that lobby. Directly behind the south lobby's glass facade is a set of escalators for delegates. On the second floor is a tapestry designed by Belgian artist Peter Colfs, entitled Triumph of Peace. The tapestry depicts numerous allegorical figures on a blue-and-green background. Measuring wide and high, it was the world's largest tapestry when it was completed. Brazilian painter Candido Portinari also designed War and Peace, a pair of murals on the first floor. Each mural measures.