Like some sort of Island of Misfit Toys, an entirely different New York City could be created purely out of the structures that were designed for the city but never built. Buckminster Fuller’s giant Dome Over Manhattan, I.M. Pei’s Hyperboloid, or Frank Lloyd Wright’s plans for Ellis Island would, individually, have significantly altered the City That Never Sleeps. Together, however, these projects, and hundreds of others that were never realized, would have created a New York City that is drastically different from the one that exists today.
A new exhibition, coming to the Queens Museum in September 2017, will create a gallery dedicated to rarely seen models, sketches, and drawings of dozens of structures designed for New York City but never built. As part of the exhibit, more than 70 models will be installed to the museum’s Panorama of the City of New York, a scale model of Manhattan originally commissioned for the 1964 World’s Fair.
A small portion of the Panorama of the City of New York. Image courtesy of Metropolis Books
The Queens Museum launched a Kickstarter campaign in an effort to reach a goal of $35,000 to support the installation of the gallery. In addition to showing some of the more imaginative concepts that were never built, the exhibition will also “explore the backstory behind how and why New York City came to look the way it does,” according to the project’s Kickstarter page.
The goal of the exhibit is to showcase many of the fascinating New York projects that never came to fruition and to show how issues such as ecological sustainability, population displacement, and economic inequity are linked to the built environment
Buckminster Fuller's Dome Over Manhattan. Image courtesy of Metropolis Books
Greg Goldin and Sam Lubell have curated the exhibit with models designed by Studio Christian Wassmann. The models are being purpose-built by students in Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. Goldin and Lubell previously created a Never Built Los Angeles exhibit in 2013 that was on display at the A+D Architecture and Design Museum in Los Angeles.
Rufus Gilbert's Elevated Railway. Image courtesy of Metropolis Books
Related Stories
| Apr 9, 2014
5 important trends shaping today’s hotel construction market
AEC firms, developers, and investors worldwide are bullish on hotels. Our hospitality Giants share what’s new in this fast-morphing sector.
| Apr 9, 2014
Steel decks: 11 tips for their proper use | BD+C
Building Teams have been using steel decks with proven success for 75 years. Building Design+Construction consulted with technical experts from the Steel Deck Institute and the deck manufacturing industry for their advice on how best to use steel decking.
| Apr 8, 2014
Gehry, Foster unveil plans for Battersea Power Station redevelopment [slideshow]
Phase 3 of the massive redevelopment of the London landmark will include more than 1,300 residential units, a 160-room hotel, and 350,000 sf of retail space.
| Apr 8, 2014
Fire resistive curtain wall helps The Kensington meet property line requirements
The majority of fire rated glazing applications occur inside a building to allow occupants to exit the building safely or provide an area of refuge during a fire. But what happens when the threat of fire comes from the outside? This was the case for The Kensington, a mixed-use residential building in Boston.
| Apr 8, 2014
First look: Zaha Hadid reveals design for dreamy sculptural hotel
Hadid's design, which will become the fifth hotel tower in the City of Dreams entertainment hub in Macau, features a latticed exoskeleton enveloping the building's exterior.
| Apr 8, 2014
Understanding value billing vs. conventional billing
Every company is a sum of the value it delivers to its clients. What differs from one company to the next is how that value is delivered and perceived. All too often, it is based solely on the fee you charge.
| Apr 8, 2014
Science, engineering find common ground on the Northeastern University campus [slideshow]
The new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building is designed to maximize potential of serendipitous meetings between researchers.
| Apr 8, 2014
40 Under 40 winners: Meet the contractors
Of the up-and-coming AEC professionals to be named to the class of 2014, nine make their living as contractors.
| Apr 7, 2014
40 Under 40 winners: Meet the architects
Of the up-and-coming AEC professionals to be named 40 Under 40 winners by the editors of Building Design+Construction, 21 make their living in the architecture profession.
| Apr 4, 2014
$25 million Orion Jet Center designed by SchenkelShultz now open
As the centerpiece of the 45-acre campus, which is its first phase of a planned 215-acre mixed-use development, the 18,000 square foot executive terminal facility offers spacious passenger areas, administrative space, an executive suite, rental car kiosk, catering and a cafe.