NASA History Listserv Readers:

 

Please join us on Wednesday, May 19 at 12pm EDT for our NASA History Speaker:

 

Jeffrey S. Nesbit, “Architectural Modernity in NASA’s Remote South”

 

Link to Meeting: Click here to join the meeting

 

Abstract: In 1965 the Kennedy Space Center Headquarters facility in Florida is completed. The same year, Madison Square Garden is in construction. The same architect, Charles Luckman, designed both buildings. Madison Square Garden marks the rise of the architectural preservation movement in the United States, while the project is heavily criticized for the destruction of Penn Station, a place recognized as a national monument. Yet, Luckman’s KSC Headquarters building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now slated for demolition. This talk explores the role of architectural modernity, preservation, and image in the background of NASA’s spaceport launch complex.

 

Jeffrey S Nesbit is an architect, urbanist, and recently received his Doctor of Design degree (DDes) from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. He is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Office for Urbanization at Harvard and founding director of the research group Haecceitas Studio. His work focuses on processes of urbanization, infrastructure, and the evolution of "technical lands." Currently, Nesbit’s research examines the 20th-century American spaceport complex at the intersection of architecture, infrastructure, and aerospace history. He currently teaches as a Visiting Associate Professor in the School of Architecture + Planning at the University of New Mexico.

 

Best,
Brian

 

256-541-8974 (cell)