Fascinating Unbuilt Buildings

FASCINATING UNBUILT BUILDINGS CÉNOTAPHE À NEWTON 1784 ÉTIENNE-LOUIS BOULLÉE PARIS, FRANCE Day and night are introverted in this homage to Sir Isaac Newton; sunlight penetrates holes in the half-dome ceiling creating a starlight sky, then at night a suspended light illuminates the structure. Few of Boulee's plans were built, though he did become an influential academic. PYRAMID OF DEATH 1829 THOMAS LSON LONDON, ENGLAND This Primrose Hll mausoleum in London would have housed 5 million corpses, therefore aiming to solve London's lack of burial space while also incorporating fashionable Egyptian design. Necropolises were beginning to be seen as outdated, so public opinion stopped the project. Wilson claimed it would have raised a £10m profit but authorities doubted his figures. WATKIN'S TOWER 1890 STEWART, MCCLAREN LONDON, ENGLAND + DUNN Sir Watkin was in awe of the Eiffel Tower so he invited Gustav Eiffel to design a London equivalent, marketed as The Great Tower of London'. Eiffel rejected as his allegiance to the French people was too strong, so Watkin held a competition instead. The first 47m of the winning design was built in Wembley Park. Financial troubles, unsteady foundations and Watkin's death led to the tower's demolition. BEACON OF PROGRESS 1900 DÉSIRÉ DESPRADELLE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS A commemorative building for the 1938 World's Fair. Its apex would support a beacon of light, 13 obelisks represented the original colonies, and its base would house a 100,000 seat amphitheatre. Despradelle adapted his plans so that it could be engineered, but it was still wildly ambitious and remained unbuilt. ПП IMPERIAL MONUMENTAL HALLS + TOWER 1904 JOHN POLLARD SEDDON + EDWARD BECKITT LAMB LONDON, ENGLAND Westminster Abbey was becoming overcrowded with monuments, so this tower was designed as a potential solution. It was never built as it would have been monstrously expensive and other architects were critical of its size. THE CONEY ISLAND GLOBE TOWER 1906 SAMUEL FRIEDE N.Y.C. NEW YORK 11 floors were to include 4 circuses, a roller skating rink, a moving glass restaurant, the world's largest ballroom, a passenger train, amusement rides, an observatory, palm gardens, a hotel, etc. However, it was a scam! To drum up investment Friede held 2 lavish ceremonies, involving fireworks and speeches, but after 2 years of inactivity his deception was too obvious. HOTEL ATTRACTION 1908 ANTONI GAUDI N.Y.C. NEW YORK It would have been the US's tallest building and a pleasure centre for the elite, featuring 6 floors of restaurants and multiple galleries. A star-shaped dome at the summit was to offer skyline views. reported story suggests that Gaudi fell ill so he cancelled, another story is that his communist values opposed the investor's plans to cater for the wealthy. TATLIN'S TOWER 1919 VLADIMIR TATLIN ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA An iron, steel and glass monument to the Bolshevik Revolution. The 4 main structures were to house functional rooms and would rotate at different speeds, a full rotation would take 24hrs. Tatlin didn't attempt to solve the engineering issues. Like many utopian Soviet projects it never got past the planning stage. FRIEDRICHSTRASSE SKYSCRAPER 1921 LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE BERLIN, GERMANY The first design to propose the untried notion of a core steel structure that would free the exterior walls from load bearing, therefore allowing a building that was mainly glass and translucent. Mies van der Rohe consciously broke the rules of the Friedrichstrasse competition, so this design wasn't built but its style now dominates our cities. THE WOLKENBUGEL 1923 EL LISSITZKY MOSCOW, RUSSIA These 'cloud-irons' consist of 3 pylons that support a single horizontal J' shaped structure. 1 of the pylons was to extend underground to form a connection with the subway. It would be another 50 years before El Lissitzky's horizontal concept was put into practice by another architect. 180m WIDE LIVERPOOL'S CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL 1929 SIR EDWIN LUTYENS LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND Taller than St. Peters and twice the height of St. Pauls, it would have dominated Liverpool's skyline. Grey-pink brick and silver-grey granite would have given it a distinctive colour scheme. The crypt was the only section built as rising costs and the outbreak of the war halted the project. Luytens died in 1944 and the project was never completed. THE PALACE OF SOVIETS 1931 BORIS IOFAN MOSCOW, RUSSIA The winning design of Stalin's competition for a government hall incorporated a 260ft tall statue of Lenin, which alone would have been over twice the size of the Statue of Liberty. The foundation was built but WWII and then the Cold War took priority for materials and resources; its steel frame was reused to build fortifications, railways and bridges. PHARE DU MONDE 1937 EUGENE FREYSSINET PARIS, FRANCE A 3.5 mile long road would have wrapped around this tower, allowing cars to drive up to a garage. The Lighthouse of the World' was designed for the 1937 World Fair, its light would have been visible from England. Organisers of the fair doubted Freyssinet's budget and chose to invest in other projects. VOLKSHALLE 1938 ALBERT SPEER BERLIN, GERMANY Hitler wanted to rejuvenate Berlin with grandiose architecture after his self-anticipated victory in WWII. He was to stand underneath an 80ft silver eagle statue and address 180,000 followers. It would have been difficult to engineer and never got past the testing stage, thankfully the Nazi's loss in the war ended any chances of construction. HUNTING TON HARTFORD ATHLETIC CLUB 1947 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA This hotel was to be a 'play resort' overlooking Runyon Canyon, a waterfall was to spill out over a futuristic saucer. Wright spent 2 years fighting local opposition to the project but eventually gave up, saying, "There's no use casting pearls against swine." THE ILLINOIS 1956 FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Wright wanted 60mph atomic elevators to transport the 100,000 people accommodated in his mile-high skyscraper. Its 500 floors would far eclipse the scale of any previous building project. There was doubt that it was structurally possible. Wright died 2 years after he presented his plans and the project ended. THE MANHATTAN DOME 3200m DIAMETER 1960 BUCKMINSTER FULLER NEW YORK + SHOJI SADAO Fuller proposed a "geodesic dome spanning Midtown Manhattan that would regulate weather and reduce air pollution'. It would save on cooling costs in the summer and heating in the winter. Fuller was infamous for his radical designs though many were left unbuilt. LA TOUR SANS EIN 1989 JEAN NOUVEL PARIS, FRANCE The Tower Without Ends' was to arise from an excavation and be constructed from different materials, gradually becoming more translucent so that it appeared to disappear into the sky. The 1990s economic crisis coupled with technical issues ended the project. THE GREEN BIRD 1990 FUTURE SYSTEMS LONDON, ENGLAND This futuristic Battersea building would have topped London's skyline, it was designed to consume a minimal amount of energy. The project was cancelled with many commenting on its phallic appearance, which wasn't helped by the photovoltaic cells that form a rib around the façade. BANGKOK HYPERBUILDING 1996 OMA BANGKOK, THAILAND This self-contained city was intended to ease the strains of over-population in Bangkok. A series of towers and diagonal elevators were designed so that less land space was required. It was a hypothetical structure designed as an experiment so was never built. FOURTH GRACE 2002 WILL ALSOP LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND An ambitious part of Liverpool's European Capital of Culture 2008 bid, this building was to sit alongside the Three Graces on Liverpool's harbour. The council abandoned it due to 'spiralling costs', however Alsop publicly accused the council of deception. Many believe that local opposition may have forced their decision. GUGGENHEIM GUADALAJARA 2004 ENRIQUE NORTEN GUADALAJARA, MEXICO A floating tower was to reside over a mountain-top avenue, leading to a viewing platform over the Huentitlán gorge. However, the Guggenheim Foundation's estimated budget of $300m couldn't be met by investors. SHIMIZU MEGA-CITY PYRAMID 2004 SHIMIZU CORPORATION TOKYO, JAPAN A home to Im people suspended over Tokyo Bay. Conjoining elevators and walkways provide transport, while a vibration-controlled structure protects against earthquakes. Research into carbon nanotubes is expected to produce a new material, the design is based on the future availability of this strong yet lightweight material. THE CRYSTAL ISLAND 2008 LORD NORMAN FOSTER MOSCOW, RUSSIA The tee-pee like outer structure formed a second skin to retain heat for the main building underneath. It would have been a self-enclosed city. Shalva Chigirinsky was funding the project as well as Foster's planned 'Russia Tower' in Moscow, but he had to cancel after being affected by the global recession. NAKHEEL TOWER 2009 WOODS BAGOT DUBAI, U. A. E Four individual towers were to be adjoined by sky bridges containing 'sky villages', it would have been the world's tallest building. The Nakheel group were impacted by the financial crisis and the project was cancelled. SOURCES + REFERENCES archdaily.com miessociety.org bbc.co.uk moma.org bdonline.co.uk northwestern.edu curbed.com smithsonianmag.com libraries.mit.edu theguardian.com Treasures of Taliesin (Pfeiffer, 1999) RUBBERBOND RUBBERBOND.CO.UK - EPDM 1000m 213m 400m 495m 120m APPROX. 425m 1730m 1400m