Urban Visions

A black and white photograph taken from an angle above an architectural model on a square base. The model consists of four identical towers arranged in a two-by-two grid. Each tower has a cruciform (cross-shaped) plan, with four equal wings radiating out from a central core.

A black and white photograph taken from an angle above an architectural model on a rectangular base. At the center of a model is a building that fills an entire city block. A flattened slab with setbacks rises up from a base that fills the entire block. Surrounding this main central building are other city blocks with lower, nondescript buildings.

Raymond Hood
City Under a Single Roof, model variants, 1929
Gelatin silver print
8" × 10" each
Raymond Hood Collection, The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania, by the gift of Mrs. Jacques André Fouilhoux

Toward the end of the 1920s, Hood began using models as a tool in his design process. Made of plaster, plasticine, or clay, these models afforded Hood the opportunity to work out his designs in three dimensions.

In these examples, we see Hood working through how the units of his “City Under a Single Roof” would relate to each other as well as the existing urban fabric.