Visiting the Candela Structures

From Urban Omnibus:

The structures are minimal surfaces, a topic that Candela researched extensively. But beyond looking like they might have been designed by him (though they weren’t), we never found any solid connection. They were, in fact, designed by Peter Schladermundt, an architect and industrial designer, and were made of prefab panels — a sandwich construction of fiberglass reinforced resin surrounding a 2-inch foam core — that snap together. As far as I was able to determine, they are the oldest standing fiberglass structures in the city.

Despite that, I know these structures aren’t central to the history of architecture or the history of New York (and they don’t even appear to have made the cut for the new AIA Guide—drat), but I love them nonetheless. They’re so unexpected, so unlike anything else in New York City, and so utterly charming. They’re not pretentious, they just stand guard by the bay, watching the sailboats come and go, the planes take off and land at LaGuardia, and the cars drive by. They were there long before I arrived in New York in 1993, waiting to be discovered. How many other pieces of New York history are hiding in plain sight, with stories to tell? Architecture is just another kind of storytelling, and stories are what make a space into a place and connect all the disparate pieces of the metropolis.

The mystery of the Candela Structures

From the NY Times:

If you’ve ever parked by the marina in Flushing to see a Mets game, you may have been struck by the whimsy and drama of two white shelters that sit by the bay, structures that look as if their creator had been issued the challenge to design igloos that could take wing. Futuristic and fiberglass, they are too small and fanciful to rise to the level of something you would call a building, but they have a functional feel that suggests they are not pure sculpture.

Maybe you’ve wondered exactly what they are doing there, or even gone so far as to read the parks department sign nearby, which says they were once bus shelters at the 1964 World’s Fair. Perhaps you went a step further, wondering why two bus shelters would be so far from the road.

Upon seeing the shelters for the first time, on her way to a ballgame with Mr. Lukas, Ms. Hively jumped up and down with delight. Mr. Lukas snapped a few dozen photos with a camera he carries. Some couples take their relationships to the next level by adopting a pet. Ms. Hively and Mr. Lukas adopted a pet project: to unearth the story behind the shelters, which the parks department sign informed them were called the Candela Structures, after the Spanish architect Felix Candela, who, the sign said, designed the Mexican Pavilion at the fair.

They discovered that Mr. Candela had not designed the Mexican Pavilion (it was Pedro Ramirez Vásquez), and that the structures were never bus shelters, but instead, hospitality and information centers at the fair for the Coast Guard and a couple of outboard-motor brands.

“We eventually learned that every piece of information on the sign was wrong,” said Mr. Lukas...

You gotta love a Parks Department that doesn't know the history of one of its own flagship parks.