September 12, 2003 – April 18, 2004

Skyscrapers, subway systems, department stores, expansive airports — these structures are all possible thanks to elevators, escalators, and moving sidewalks. Indeed, these devices have transformed our buildings, our cities, and our lives. Up, Down, Across examined the architectural and cultural impact of such technologies, while documenting their history and exploring their possibilities for the future. Noted projects included Paris’ Georges Pompidou Center; the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta; and the Paul-Löbe Haus, Parliamentary Committee Chambers, Berlin. For a whimsical touch, visitors were greeted by an oversized “elevator,” with doors that opened automatically and videos of elevator ceiling-hatch escapes in the ceiling. An enormous “escalator” structure filled the second gallery space, and a “tunnel” showing an animated fly-through evoked an enclosed moving sidewalk in the next. Numerous movie clips where elevators, escalators, or moving sidewalks were used for comical or dramatic effect were also included in the exhibition — proving that these people-moving devices can be anything but mundane. The illustrated exhibition catalog includes several essays and a preface by best-selling author and civil engineer Dr. Henry Petroski.