Never built New York: the city that might have been – in pictures

[ChuckMcM]

I really like the optimism of the early 20th century. So often architect envisioned multiblock structures that would sit above the existing landscape to provide new spaces. A recent idea like that in Cupertino went down in flames at the voting booth but the Apple 'spaceship' campus continues apace.

[cavemanmike]

Beautiful, makes me want to build alternate history fiction around these buildings.

[emmanuel_1234]

Woah, the "hyperboloid" looks very much like Guangzhou Tower.

Google Images: http://goo.gl/Q4zf9t

[Animats]

The Pan Am building (now MetLife?) was built there instead. Much more rentable floor area than I.M. Pei's skinny tower.

[jonbaer]

Would have been great to see a dome built by Buckminster Fuller in Brooklyn

[Animats]

Fuller's 1960 plan for a two mile dome over Manhattan isn't mentioned in the parent article.[1] That was an impressive concept.

[1] http://www.ecoredux.com/archive_project03_01.html

[qohen]

Would have been great to see a dome built by Buckminster Fuller in Brooklyn

You might want to check out the recent SNL sketch, "The Bubble" (2 min, 20 sec), if you haven't already seen it:

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKOb-kmOgpI

[icegreentea]

Even though some of these are pretty old, they look fascinating. The human imagination is really something. That skyscraper bridge would look so badass in real life!

[shmerl]

> Henry Gilbert’s design was a hybrid of Alfred Beach’s air-powered underground and Charles T Harvey’s cable-powered elevated railway. Passengers would be moved through a double row of ‘atmospheric tubes’ suspended from wrought-iron Gothic arches, held on slender Corinthian columns.

An early idea of hyperloop?

[sreenadh]

I once saw some drawings of plans for Moscow under USSR. They where just marvelous. Its a pity that I forgot to bookmark it and could not find it again.