World's Fair 2

My group was focused on looking at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) which explains why I understand and know most about that particular world's fair location. I am able to make some comparisons between my group's fair and another fair: the Seattle World's Fair or Century 21 Exposition. The PPIE has influences from other cultures and Spanish pieces. The fair was used as a way to bounce back from the fire and damage caused in the early 1900s. It uses lights in the evenings to light up the building to give them a whole new look. The light reflects off the jewels that are often portrayed throughout the fair. The big use of jewels explains why this is often referred to as the Jewel City. Jewels are seen on the centerpiece of the architecture, the Tower of Jewels, which stands as the tallest building in the fair and provides scale to the exposition. The lighting works with the jewels to create an overall illumination. The colors used in the PPIE had to follow a selected color scheme which included 8 different pastel colors. The architecture throughout this World Fair is very Spanish-like with the Adobe and domed shaped buildings. The iconic look of the PPIE features a dome-shaped building which gives the name of 'The Domed City." It is said that much of the architecture used is featuring stone, plaster and featured burlap as well.

The Seattle World's Fair features a different type of architecture and inspiration. This fair promotes more straight lines in their design. These straight lines, and often time symmetrical designs, compliment the Space Needle well. This fair promoted technology in a much bigger and more noticeable way through things such as the Monorail and featured Skyride. Science is an influential topic when designing the fair and featuring specific factors of the time period. This fair also used the same idea with lighting. At night, the lighting was able to show on the building to create a bigger emphasis on the scale and height of some of the buildings. Shadows would be casted representing the straight lines seen throughout the fair.

While both of these fairs are different, they represent a change in the world's fairs. The Panama-Pacific International Exposition features domed-shaped buildings and Spanish inspiration while the Century 21 Exposition features design based on straight lines and modern science and technology.