Architecture: Punctured Balloon

What might have been the most innovative building ever to grace an international exposition will not open at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan, two years from now. The United States Pavilion, a spherical, 130-ft. air structure commissioned last October by the U.S. Information Agency, is the casualty of a $6,000,000 congressional cut in appropriations for the exhibit. Expo Chief Architect Kenzo Tange calls it "an incalculable loss that will hopelessly upset Expo's overall plans."

Tange, who designed Tokyo's Olympic stadium, had laid out a trunk-and-branch design for the 815-acre site; the U.S. pavilion's balloon design was to have been echoed by surrounding pavilions, notably those of France and Japan. American Architects Sam Brody and Lewis Davis, working with Tange, designed the experimental complex. "Until now," says Brody, "air structures have been rather lumpish affairs on the ground. We wanted to introduce the airborne silhouette."

The pavilion would have consisted of four double-walled semispheres of fireproof nylon, inflated by air pumped between the walls. Inside, the semi-sphere walls would have served as huge, curved screens for a variety of films. Visitors would ascend on escalators and stand on graduated platforms, where they would feel almost as if they were suspended in space.

The USIA is equally unhappy. Expo 70 will be the first world's fair in Asia, and the congressional cutback will cause considerable loss of U.S. prestige. Last week architects and interior designers fought against deadline odds to come up with alternative plans for a new exhibit that will cost approximately $10 million. At the same time, a Soviet delegation dedicated the construction site of the $20 million Russian pavilion. In solitary splendor, it will soar 300 ft. high, just to the north of where its U.S. counterpart would have stood.