June 2022 | Eyesore

Commentary on architectural blunders in monthly serial.

Behold, The Big Bend building from the super-ultra-trendy Oiio Studios design firm, a stupendous stunt proposed for 57th Street in New York City. The clever idea here is to substitute the longest building in the world for the tallest, to get around the two problems of New York’s zoning laws and the laws of physics. Personally, I doubt they have quite demonstrated how any of this will work — for instance, how to configure usable rooms up in the curved part at the top — but at this point, it’s just an attractive rendering. A few things to consider, though: the global economy is cratering, meaning (among other things) that there will be far fewer potential foreign buyers looking to park their wealth in NYC real estate. Likewise, we’re facing shortages of modular building materials and, most importantly, capital. So good luck taking this beyond the Tik Tok vanity stage of development. Also note: Civilizations embark on their most grandiose building schemes on the eve of collapse. Yeah, weird, I know, but it’s a thing.