Great and Unbuildable Department: Floating a Missing Manhattan (1975)

JF Ptak Science Books LLC  Post 470

"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter..." John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn"

Agreeing with Mr. Keats or not, Robert Grosvenor had a delectable and memorable idea for a project in 1975:  testing the sea-worthiness of Manhattan island.  Grosvenor (b. 1937) was a well-known kinetic sculptor in Manhattan by the time of his detaching-Manhattan idea.  I found the summary of his project in Unbuilt America, by Alison Sky and Michelle Stone, of SITE, Inc. (seventh in a series called ON SITE), and published in 1976.  The book is a treasure trove of the unbuilt and the unbuildable, or the undoable, or the unnecessarily unattainable, though Grosvenor's part in this book is clearly one of the very few who did not (really) take his/her project seriously.  I do though like the simplicity of the presentation of the project, right down to the "Step 2" of preparation, which was the umbilical snipping of the bedrock of Manhattan and the attachment of the "flotation collar", which, I guess, would allow it to be moved around so long as flotation devices were attached. 

I'm not sure, but I don't think that Manhattan ever learned how to swim.  I'm also not so sure about where Manhattan would "go",exactly; but what would it matter, since the people living in Manhattan were already where they wanted to be?

Comments

[Jeff]

That's a marvelous idea, floating Manhattan. You're right, John. Nobody would notice, as long as deliveries continued. And the river views might become even more valuable. So, you've convinced me. I've ordered a copy of Unbuilt America for our library. Can't wait.