Nonexistent New York
November 3, 2016 8:27 AM Subscribe
The New Yorker reviews and shows images from Never Existed New York: plans and renders for megastructures and utopian fantasies that never came to pass. Atlas Obscura rounds up more designs and drawings
The first image on the Atlas Obscura article has spiral escalators which I thought sounded nifty but impractical and tricky. Turns out they're real, if rare, and are quite nifty!
I really like looking at The World Of Tomorrow from any era and these are nice because they're much more realistic than some of the Spaceport 1965 and flying car, robot butler examples. Nice post.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:50 AM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
I really like looking at The World Of Tomorrow from any era and these are nice because they're much more realistic than some of the Spaceport 1965 and flying car, robot butler examples. Nice post.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:50 AM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Why do cities not build on top of roadways? Seems like free (vertical) land waiting to be exploited over innercity freeways.
posted by Keith Talent at 8:54 AM on November 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Keith Talent at 8:54 AM on November 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
I really like the ABC building proposal, especially the interior layout of the tower.
posted by maxwelton at 8:55 AM on November 3, 2016
posted by maxwelton at 8:55 AM on November 3, 2016
Some of them look really great, and remind me of Millenium City from Alan Moore's Tom Strong series. Others, I'm glad that they weren't built, especially the skyscrapers in the river or on bridges, as they would have obscured the view of Manhattan from places such as the Brooklyn Promenade, one of the best places to look at Manhattan. The AO link has at the end a link to a cartoon feature on Albert Speer's designs for "New Berlin/Germania", ironically enough.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:59 AM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:59 AM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
It takes little imagination to see how these would have turned into blighted dystopian nightmares about six weeks after completion. Or zero imagination if you've ever been to Albany.
posted by entropicamericana at 9:09 AM on November 3, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 9:09 AM on November 3, 2016 [6 favorites]
It takes little imagination to see how these would have turned into blighted dystopian nightmares about six weeks after completion.
I had that exact thought as I was flipping through. Precisely zero percent of Pittsburgh's mid-century large scale urban renewal projects became anything other than forbidding, deserted shells.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:24 AM on November 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
I had that exact thought as I was flipping through. Precisely zero percent of Pittsburgh's mid-century large scale urban renewal projects became anything other than forbidding, deserted shells.
posted by soren_lorensen at 9:24 AM on November 3, 2016 [2 favorites]
The pictures on Paul Rudolph's City Corridor are both amazing for their imagination of the future and terrifying in hindsight. Such massive projects tend to turn into complete wastelands when the needs of society change, but the structures can not.
I keep looking at the pictures and seeing scenes from J.G. Ballard's High Rise happening within its walls.
posted by Badgermann at 10:51 AM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
I keep looking at the pictures and seeing scenes from J.G. Ballard's High Rise happening within its walls.
posted by Badgermann at 10:51 AM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Not something I love to say but: there's an app for this! Otherfutures, from the Museum of the Phantom City. The app brings up renderings of (& little essays about) impossible/dreamy megaprojects when you're near the proposed site.
I found the app neato but pretty buggy & hadn't looked at it in a while till just now. Seems to now cover SF & Chicago too.
posted by miles per flower at 11:52 AM on November 3, 2016
I found the app neato but pretty buggy & hadn't looked at it in a while till just now. Seems to now cover SF & Chicago too.
posted by miles per flower at 11:52 AM on November 3, 2016
The pneumatic subway was actually built, albeit illegally. It is gone now, but the photographic evidence remains.
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:58 AM on November 3, 2016
posted by grumpybear69 at 11:58 AM on November 3, 2016
"Why do cities not build on top of roadways?"
That has been done many times, but there are a few major drawbacks.
First of all, it is very expensive.
Secondly, the noise and pollution are terrible. I remember reading a study of residents of public housing built like that. When it was built it was highly touted as being so futuristic, but the kids who grew up there had big developmental problems.
posted by bitslayer at 12:48 PM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
That has been done many times, but there are a few major drawbacks.
First of all, it is very expensive.
Secondly, the noise and pollution are terrible. I remember reading a study of residents of public housing built like that. When it was built it was highly touted as being so futuristic, but the kids who grew up there had big developmental problems.
posted by bitslayer at 12:48 PM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh no - they forgot Television City! I stared at this model all day every day for about a year when I was working at NBC; it sat right in front of my desk. I was kind of hoping they'd build it. Whatever happened to that guy?
posted by lagomorphius at 1:12 PM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by lagomorphius at 1:12 PM on November 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've always liked Lebbeus Woods' drawing of Lower Manhattan.
posted by Bron at 1:18 PM on November 4, 2016
posted by Bron at 1:18 PM on November 4, 2016
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posted by griphus at 8:30 AM on November 3, 2016