PDA

View Full Version : UN moves into windowless warehouse in New York



jetdawgg
01-13-10, 03:03 PM
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00671/UN_671025a.jpg
Ban Ki-moon at the ribbon-cutting ceremony to inaugurate the new North Lawn building


The UN secretary-general cut a blue ribbon with a pair of garden shears yesterday to open the warehouse-like new building that will serve as the world organisation’s temporary home while its famous Modernist headquarters are refurbished.

The 1952 marble-and-glass skyscraper on Manhattan’s East River and the surrounding conference buildings, designed by a team of architects that included Le Corbusier and Brazil’s Oscar Niemeyer, will be mostly closed until 2013 for renovation.

The 192-nation UN General Assembly, where presidents, princes and prime ministers gather every year, will meet in a largely windowless temporary building in the UN’s garden next to New York’s East River.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has already moved from his 38th floor perch to the Temporary North Lawn Building. He was forced to give up his river-view office to his deputy because of security concerns.

“A transition like this is never easy,” Mr Ban said at the ceremony yesterday. “This building was designed to serve for a limited period, to be functional and cost-effective. As you can see, it is no frills. There are no escalators. The windows are limited. We have simple concrete floors. No carpet.”

The five-year renovation project, called the Capital Master Plan, is expected to cost $1.9 billion. The bare-bones new building cost $140 million.

The original UN building has been the scene of some of the most celebrated incidents in international diplomacy, such as Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev banging his shoe on the desk in the General Assembly in 1956 and shouting at the US delegation – incorrectly as it turned out - “We will bury you.”

Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro, and Muhammad Ali have all made speeches in the building. In 1974, Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, appeared in the General Assembly wearing his holster. Last autumn, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi made his first appearance with a rambling 90-minute tirade.

The old UN building had large expanses of pink carpet and art-works donated by UN member states, ranging from French Impressionist works to an apparently life-sized Golden Dodo that is the national symbol of Mauritius.

But the art has been put in storage, and the famous tapestry of Picasso’s “Guernica” that has hung for decades outside the Security Council chamber has been moved to a gallery for safekeeping.

Diplomats are now grumbling about the décor of their new digs, with formica desks and concrete floors.

Some 7,000 UN staff have been dispersed to offices across midtown Manhattan, often requiring them to walk many blocks to attend meetings.

The 1,300 staff who have yet to move to new offices, however, are complaining that asbestos removal in the old building is taking place around them.

With the UN vowing to limit its carbon footprint, officials say the new temporary building will be recycled when it is no longer needed. It’s exterior walls will be taken apart and sold.

SlingerDun
01-13-10, 04:48 PM
aaawwwww poor milquetoasthttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0Q0C3Pa9xfQ/SzpX4qMG1qI/AAAAAAAAAgM/oOKLKjW0DlE/s640/Dacha_pout.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0Q0C3Pa9xfQ/SzpX4qMG1qI/AAAAAAAAAgM/oOKLKjW0DlE/s1600-h/Dacha_pout.jpg)