Map of the Month Jun 09 – Horizonless Manhattan

Kevin, our designer, takes the biscuit for his suggestion of Here & There a horizonless projection in Manhattan as our Map of the Month.

This map was produced by the Schulze & Webb creative design consultancy. It was inspired by walking maps, satellite imagery, route-mapping, computer games, 3D modelling, urbanization and the super-abilities of comic book characters. Illustrating our current obsession with place, it is a map, a projection, a visualisation, a graphic and art.

Schulz, himself offers an explanation:
'The projection works by presenting an image of the place in which the observer is standing. As the city recedes into the (geographic) distance it shifts from a natural, third person representation of the viewer’s immediate surroundings into a near plan view. The city appears folded up, as though a large crease runs through it. But it isn’t a halo or hoop though, and the city doesn’t loop over one’s head. The distance is potentially infinite, and it’s more like a giant ripple showing both the viewers surroundings and also the city in the distance.' Here & There influences (4 May 09).

The map must be even more effective as a 3ft tall by 2ft wide high resolution image. A limited run of 1,000 uptown and 1,000 downtown prints are available to purchase.

Although I’ve never seen a ‘map’ like this before, it put me in mind of another map I saw recently which invokes similar feelings. It is the visually stunning, Pictorial Plan of London, printed by Bartholomew in 1897. It was featured in a recent article on the National Library of Scotland’s Bartholomew Archive blog 15 May 09 (where the map can be zoomed and panned to see the incredible detail). It too gives the impression of looking over a city with the important buildings and features standing out as well as feeling inside the city within your own personal space.



Image reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the National Library of Scotland.

Comments on the visual impact of the Mahnattan ‘map’, is it a map, and comparison with Bartholomew’s London Pictorial please.