IBM Pavilion and Equitable Life ‘Demograph’ – New York World’s Fair 1964

This photograph shows two striking features of the fair: the bold and futuristic IBM Pavilion on the left and the ever-changing Equitable Life Assurance Society’s “Demograph” display on the right.

The IBM Pavilion was one of the most architecturally memorable structures at the fair, with its distinctive egg-shaped theater perched above a forest of slender supports. Visitors entered using the famous “People Wall,” a massive moving platform that lifted 500 guests at a time into the theater for a multi-screen presentation about the growing role of computers in modern life. The exterior surface of the pavilion is covered with the IBM initials repeated over and over — more than a thousand times — forming both texture and branding.

Across the water, the Equitable Life “Demograph” continuously updated in real time, showing the constantly increasing population of the United States. It reminded visitors that every 7½ seconds a baby was born, every 18½ seconds someone passed away, and roughly every 11 seconds the country grew by one more person. For many fairgoers, it was one of the first public displays to treat demographic data as something dynamic and alive rather than static numbers in a book.

The wide reflecting pool, broad walkways and flagpole helped give this part of the fair a civic, almost ceremonial feeling — a place where technology, information and national identity met.

Today, the futuristic buildings are gone, and the site is now home to a simple soccer pitch known as Field 3 — a quiet reminder that this was once one of the most forward-looking corners of the fair.