Mr Worf, I'm still goggling at Hotel Attraction, and that Future New York has steampunk potential.
On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 5:36 PM, Mr. Worf <hellomahog...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > Web Urbanist <http://weburbanist.com> > > <http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/WebUrbanist> > ------------------------------ > > Retro-Futurism: 13 Failed Urban Design > Ideas<http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/WebUrbanist/%7E3/X-7ptAyK2p8/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email> > > Posted: 30 Aug 2010 10:00 AM PDT > [ By Steph <http://weburbanist.com/steph> in Architecture & > Design<http://weburbanist.com/category/architecture/>, > History & Factoids <http://weburbanist.com/category/history/>, Technology > & Futurism <http://weburbanist.com/category/technology/>. ] > > Many an architect has dreamed up visionary plans for city centers, but few > have actually seen their designs come to fruition in a real live urban > setting. And while many such unbuilt concepts are technically viable, others > are wacky, fanciful or downright bizarre. These 13 retro urban design ideas > for the future, from perfectly symmetrical egalitarian communities to the > egotistical demands of a deranged dictator, will probably never become > reality – and in many cases, we’re better off that way. > Gillette’s Metropolis > > (images via: > io9<http://io9.com/5570345/how-an-imaginary-city-changed-the-twentieth-century> > ) > > Before his name was inextricably connected to safety razors, King Camp > Gillette had a utopian vision for the future which revolved around a > waterfall-powered tiered city he dubbed ‘Metropolis’. All residents of this > imagined city would have access to the same amenities including rooftop > gardens in the perfectly round, precisely divided multi-functional buildings > in which they would live, work, play and eat. Like many of Gillette’s ideas, > the design never went anywhere, but it’s notably similar to many very modern > 21st-century concepts for sustainable urban centers. > Broadacre City > > (images via: > mediaarchitecture.at<http://www.mediaarchitecture.at/architekturtheorie/broadacre_city/2009_broadacre_city_en.shtml> > ) > > Like Gillette’s Metropolis, Broadacre City was meant to be an urban utopia. > But when renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright imagined the picture-perfect > society of tomorrow, he saw not highly compact and efficient high-rises, but > sprawling self-sustainable homesteads. Originally conceived in 1932, > Broadacre City puts each homeowner in a self-built single-family home on an > entire acre of land brimming with gardens. Complete with multiple > cars<http://weburbanist.com/transportation>per family, it would almost be an > accurate prediction of future suburbia if > not for the airplane in every front yard. > Atomurbia > > (image via: > io9<http://io9.com/5534528/atomurbia-the-most-spaced-out-neighborhood-in-america> > ) > > If giving each and every family in America an acre of land seems > impossible, imagine what life would be like if ‘Atomurbia’ had come to pass. > This concept, published in a 1947 issue of Life magazine, detailed how to > atomic bomb-proof America by spreading the population across the land in a > geometric grid and relocating all industry into underground structures so > that any single bomb would do a minimum of damage. The whole plan would have > cost a measly 5 trillion dollars in today’s currency, and the authors – > atomic scientists from Chicago – thought it could be pulled off within a > decade. > Hotel Attraction > > (images via: wikimedia commons<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Attraction> > ) > > Antoni Gaudi’s architecture defines Barcelona, Spain even today with its > fluid curves, reflective surfaces and organic shapes – but it would stick > out like a sore thumb in the comparatively staid cityscape of Manhattan. > Perhaps that’s what he had in mind for ‘Hotel Attraction’, commissioned in > 1908 and also known as the Grand Hotel. The rounded, spaceship-like form > would have risen in the exact spot where the Twin Towers of the World Trade > Center were later built, but the idea was ultimately abandoned. Gaudi’s > unrealized design was actually considered as a > possibility<http://www.sinehead.com/Gaudi2.html>for the Ground Zero memorial > after the attacks of September 11th, 2001. > Welthauptstadt > > (images via: wikimedia > commons<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welthauptstadt_Germania> > ) > > We all know that Adolf Hitler had many an ambitious plan that (thankfully) > never came to pass – but few are aware of ‘Welthauptstadt’ (German for > ‘World Capital’), the Fuhrer’s design for a new Berlin to be constructed > after his expected victory in World War II. Taking elements from other > empires around the world, Hitler imagined a broad ‘Avenue of Victory’ down > the center as well as his very own ‘Arch of Triumph’. A test structure > constructed in 1938 to determine whether Berlin’s marshy ground could have > even held up such heavy Romanesque architecture (verdict: nope) still stands > today. > Palace of Soviets > > (image via: > adlhochcreative<http://adlhochcreative.com/blog/?tag=palace-of-soviets> > ) > > The Palace of Soviets > <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Soviets>would have been the > world’s tallest structure at 100 meters high and crowned > with a brightly lit hammer and sickle as a monument to Lenin on the site of > the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Savior, if only the Nazis hadn’t > invaded in 1941, putting a stop to construction. Its steel frame was > disassembled for use in fortifications and bridges, and its foundations > served as the world’s largest open-air swimming pool for a while before 1995 > when the whole thing was filled in so that the cathedral could be rebuilt. > Ville Contemporaine > > (images via: tommatthew <http://www.tommatthew.com/words/>) > > The architect known as Le Corbusier was an essential figure in the > development of what we now know as modern architecture, and his many > theoretical urban design projects aimed to make life better for residents of > cramped cities. Displeased with the chaos of big cities, Le Corbusier > designed ‘Ville Contemporaine’ as an orderly home to three million people > where housing, industry and recreation all occupied distinct areas connected > by roads that emphasized the use of personal vehicles for > transportation<http://weburbanist.com/transportation> > . > Seward’s Success > > (images via: > matthewspencer<http://spacecollective.org/matthewspencer/5961/Sewards-Success> > ) > > If it was Seward’s Folly to purchase Alaska from the Russian Empire in the > first place, perhaps Seward’s Success – a huge climate-controlled, > glass-enclosed city for 40,000 people – could have made up for it. Or not. > Proposed in 1968 and nixed in 1972, this unbuilt community was dreamed up > after the discovery of oil reserves at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska when developers > imagined droves of people coming to the area. The crowning jewel of the > perpetually 68-degree dome would have been a 20-story Alaskan Petroleum > Center, surrounded by housing, offices, retail space and an indoor sports > arena. > Triton City > > (images via: a place to > stand<http://a-place-to-stand.blogspot.com/2009/04/buckminster-fullers-40-year-old.html> > ) > > If not for a certain tell-tale 1960s aesthetic, Buckminster Fuller’s > ‘Triton City’ could easily fit among today’s designs for floating > eco-friendly cities. The futurist, architect and inventor was ahead of his > time as usual when he imagined this tetrahedronal metropolis for Tokyo Bay, > a seastead for up to 6,000 residents. Fuller wrote about the possibility of > desalinating and recirculating seawater “in many useful and non-polluting > ways” and using materials from obsolete buildings on land, which were hardly > popular ideas at the time. > Future New York, “The City of Skyscrapers” > > (images via: > io9<http://io9.com/5584049/future-new-york-the-city-of-skyscrapers1925> > ) > > By 1925, many of New York City’s skyscrapers were already present, but > futurists of the time envisioned not only a great deal more but a sort of > aerial civilization complete with elevated train platforms and perhaps a > rather unsafe number of aircraft flying around all at once. > New York City’s Dream Airport > > (image via: ptak science > books<http://longstreet.typepad.com/thesciencebookstore/2010/02/rootop-airport-east-river-nyc.html> > ) > > All the airplanes in that 1925 postcard would definitely require a > monumental airport in New York City, and what better location than right > smack in midtown Manhattan? This concept for “New York City’s Dream > Airport” featured an astonishingly large – and some say ugly – runway > platform. But for all of the prime real estate that this monstrosity would > have devoured, it seems as if it could only handle a handful of planes at a > time with absolutely zero margin of error, sending errant planes straight > into Central Park or the East River. > Slumless, Smokeless Cities > > (image via: bigthink.com <http://bigthink.com/ideas/21286>) > > How do you build a city so egalitarian that slums are eliminated entirely, > and nobody ever has to breathe in pollution? Sir Ebenezer Howard, the father > of the garden city movement, believed that a careful layout with six > satellite garden cities connected via canals to a densely populated central > city would do the trick. Thoughtfully, the design included specially > designated spaces for “Eplileptic Farms”, “Homes for Waifs”, “Homes for > Inebriates” and an insane asylum. > Boozetown > > (images via: modern drunkard > magazine<http://www.drunkard.com/issues/55/55-boozetown.html> > ) > > “Just imagine a resort entirely centered on the culture of alcohol. A > boozer’s paradise built expressly to facilitate drinking and the good times > that naturally follow. Where the bars, clubs and liquor stores never close.” > Mel Johnson’s ‘Boozetown’ was an entirely sincere proposal with street names > like “Gin Lane” and “Bourbon Boulevard” that would have begun as a resort > town in Middle America and eventually expanded into a full-sized adults-only > city with permanent housing and its own suburbs. After many obsessed years > of struggling for financing, Johnson gave up on his dream in 1960 and died > in a mental hospital in 1962. > ... > <http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fweburbanist.com%2F2010%2F08%2F30%2Fretro-futurism-13-failed-urban-design-ideas%2F&service=bit.ly> > [image: > Share on > Facebook]<http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fweburbanist.com%2F2010%2F08%2F30%2Fretro-futurism-13-failed-urban-design-ideas%2F&t=Retro-Futurism%3A+13+Failed+Urban+Design+Ideas> > [ > WebUrbanist <http://weburbanist.com> - By > Steph<http://weburbanist.com/steph>in Architecture > & Design <http://weburbanist.com/category/architecture/>, History & > Factoids <http://weburbanist.com/category/history/>, Technology & > Futurism<http://weburbanist.com/category/technology/>. > ] > > [image: Become a Fan on Facebook] <http://facebook.com/weburbanist> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Eff/WebUrbanist?a=X-7ptAyK2p8:j6xaZaAnhVI:yIl2AUoC8zA> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Eff/WebUrbanist?a=X-7ptAyK2p8:j6xaZaAnhVI:gIN9vFwOqvQ> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Eff/WebUrbanist?a=X-7ptAyK2p8:j6xaZaAnhVI:V_sGLiPBpWU> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Eff/WebUrbanist?a=X-7ptAyK2p8:j6xaZaAnhVI:cGdyc7Q-1BI> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Eff/WebUrbanist?a=X-7ptAyK2p8:j6xaZaAnhVI:I9og5sOYxJI> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Eff/WebUrbanist?a=X-7ptAyK2p8:j6xaZaAnhVI:7Q72WNTAKBA> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Eff/WebUrbanist?a=X-7ptAyK2p8:j6xaZaAnhVI:qj6IDK7rITs> > You are subscribed to email updates from > WebUrbanist<http://weburbanist.com> > To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe > now<http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailunsubscribe?k=6_GUM4HHOvO3WNemRypL3IdPfXM> > . 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