Mark Cuban just donated a trove of World Trade Center drawings to the Cooper Hewitt

2021-09-10T11:56:00-04:00

In 1962, Diniz was hired by architect Minoru Yamasaki as part of the team designing the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. His drawings in the WTC portfolio show viewers the experience of monolithic structures in the context of Lower Manhattan and inside the buildings themselves. The drawings were intended to illustrate Manhattan as a center of international business.

Carlos Diniz' drawings occupy a revered place in architectural history, and his World Trade Center drawings have been by and large kept out of public collections until now. The illustrator was first hired by Minoru Yamasaki in 1962 to give the public a sense of place and scale caused by the architecture that would later become the domineering experience for users of the buildings after they were completed in 1973.

"It strikes an emotional chord with every American," Cuban told Axios. "I wanted the actual drawings to be where any American can see them, and the Smithsonian was the right home."

The Dallas Morning News has more on the billionaire's gift here.

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Mark Cuban just donated a trove of World Trade Center drawings to the Cooper Hewitt