![This monochrome informational line drawing of vehicles is broken up into three distinct segments. The top third displays a car in profile shown from four different angles. The first, located on the left-hand side is a simple outline of the car with its front end pointing left. The middle two images consist of an outline view of the car from the rear with the car on the left slightly larger than the one on the right. The shape of both is virtually identical. A pair of curved lines is drawn on either side of the base of the vehicle (just outside of the tires) and a hollow arrow pointing in the direction the car would be moving is represented inside the two lines. The last image is an outline of two cars superimposed one on another, the smaller is drawn inside the larger. Both vehicles are oriented with their front ends pointing right. A set of vertical and horizontal lines with numbers and block capital letter text reads [PARKING MODULUS MINI-MAX 19.5’]. Just below there is additional written information, [39’ PARKING MODULUS STD.CAR]. This information seems to allude to measurements of space need to accommodate the cars. The middle segment contains a line drawing of a car “sliced” open exposing the interior space of the vehicle. A profile view of an individual wearing a suit is seated in the driver’s seat holding the steering wheel. The details of the exterior of the car are minimal, consisting of a simple outline of the basic shape of the vehicle. It is pointing front end facing left. The bottom segment is an interior view of the car from above, as if the roof was missing. The car is drawn on a diagonal front end facing slightly downward. Two individuals wearing suits are seated facing each other. A table-like surface separates them. Atop the table are a notepad and pen. A steering wheel is visible on the right although the person behind it is not facing it. This may indicate that the vehicle can be operated driverless. The exterior is simply rendered with details such as the front wheels, headlights and a small cylindrical-shaped object protruding between the headlights. Two lines of text below read [ELECTRO-MECHANICAL MINI GAP]. To the right of the car, underlined, is [MINI-MAX CAR] in uppercase letters.]( https://images.collection.cooperhewitt.org/343921_1576cd9ad140e7ec_b.jpg
"Drawing, Design for Mini-Max Car, Hub Cities System, 1966")
This object is currently on display in room 206 as part of Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection. See our image rights statement.
Object Timeline
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2017 |
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Drawing, Design for Mini-Max Car, Hub Cities System, 1966
This is a Drawing. It was designed by George Lawson. It is dated 1966 and we acquired it in 2017. Its medium is graphite, red color pencil on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.
In the 1960s, after a career designing automobiles for General Motors and American Motors Corporation, industrial designer George Lawson focused his attention on freelance designs and independent projects. This group of five drawings is part of Lawson’s proposal for Hub Cities, a radical design proposition that envisioned a restructuring of city systems across the United States to create better living through less densely-populated cities and safer, more efficient transportation.
Lawson’s utopian vision of better city living required a network of Hub Cities to be built across the country, each accommodating 50,000 residents and their sites of employment. For the ease of construction, Hub Cities would feature mass-produced and pre-fabricated buildings that could be implemented in a similar plan in a range of geographic sites. A building at the city’s center would house all utility and service offices, commercial retailers, and business offices. Perhaps most importantly, the central building would also house a parking lot for private cars and a marshalling yard for all subsurface transportation equipment.
Lawson considered congested traffic to be one of the most inconvenient problems of city living, and his innovative Mini-Max cars could safely transport one or two drivers traveling short distances—the small cars could easily be rounded up and returned to the center via double-decker buses or “tug and transit car platoons.” Industrial areas in Lawson’s Hub Cities were located at peripheral boundaries in order to eliminate any industrial waste from entering the city and to keep the streets safer by removing large and heavy motor vehicles from surface streets.
Lawson’s drawings present an important example of urban planning and a proposed design solution for the growing number of people, cars, and drivers in the United States. These issues and their consequences have become increasingly important to contemporary urban planners and designers.
This object was
donated by
Paul Herzan and Alexandra Herzan.
It is credited Gift of Alexandra and Paul Herzan.
- Wheelchair, Motivation Rough Terrain, 2005
- steel, wood, nylon, velcro.
- Purchased by the museum for the exhibition.
- s-e-2569
- Drawing, Design for Double-decker Bus, Hub Cities System
- graphite, red color pencil on paper.
- Gift of Alexandra and Paul Herzan.
- 2017-27-5
- The Shape Of Vehicles
- MOBILITY.030
Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.
- Drawing, Design for Convair 880 Airplane Lavatory
- airbrushed gouache, brush and gold paint, graphite on illustration board.
- Gift of Carleton Varney and Richard Hunnings.
- 1977-106-2
Its dimensions are
H x W: 46.5 × 32.1 cm (18 5/16 × 12 5/8 in.) Mat: 55.9 × 40.6 cm (22 × 16 in.)
Cite this object as
Drawing, Design for Mini-Max Car, Hub Cities System, 1966; Designed by George Lawson (American, 1907–1987); graphite, red color pencil on paper; H x W: 46.5 × 32.1 cm (18 5/16 × 12 5/8 in.) Mat: 55.9 × 40.6 cm (22 × 16 in.); Gift of Alexandra and Paul Herzan; 2017-27-2
In addition to Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection, this object was previously on display as part of the exhibition The Road Ahead: Reimagining Mobility.
