JHK’s Three-Act Play
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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.
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WOW! Angel Hair to the sky.
Ahh, to be a fly-on-the-wall at the client presentation.
or elevators.
Represents the U Turn of civilization right into hell!
I found out alot of these buildings require pumps to even just sit there ,if theres alot of water etc ,or they can fall.over ,and least one does in San Fransisco ,
I always wonder why no planners ever just said one style of building? Then citys might actually look really nice instead of the hodge podge of the whims of some rich guy .
Why do people with power always want to build stupid looking buildings?
its like all those insane churches all over the world that go way back–i doubt if you would ever find god in any one of them but for sure man’s ego is on display in very one of them,insanity….
Looks like a Ford Edsel. Was this designed by Women?… ‘a sexist would say’.
Hi Jim,
Is it my imagination or is there some symbolism of an enormous phallus over looking the park in that design? If I were to draw such a thing on a wall, it would kind of look like that. And if the builders get the footings wrong, it might even end up being the correct angle for such a rendering. 😉
But on a serious note, I do wonder how lifts would work near to the top of the building? Surely people aren’t expected to climb stairs into the arc of the building, and how would they get furniture up there? And the windows on the underside of that arc I would find to be psychologically distressing. I would not sleep well up there.
Cheers
Chris
It’ll never happen, but the fact it’s even been proposed is scary. People actually get paid to propose this shit??
It’s a Metaverse building. That is all.
Central Park Tower was bad enough. What an idiotic, fatuous undertaking. “Big Bend” really offends on billionaire’s row and beyond. Enough of great views of the park, and more of from the park.
This resembles not so much a building that might have some function, as just a giant paperclip – which leads naturally to the next thoughts of “What? Why? Huh, never mind.”
What a lot of nonsense.
Maybe more of an earsore than an eyesore, if the name is anything to go by.
There is clearly some sly reference to Big Ben, that rings out loud over the city of London.
I suspect the designer expects this thing is likely to pump out its own unique frequencies, as it vibrates, like two prongs of a tuning fork, in the wind.
If this transfers to the base, the sound effect could be impressive, as impressive as the physical contortions through the connection over the top.
This could be more active, and edgy, than a Len Lye kinetic sculpture.
Looks to me like The World’s Most Expensive Paperclip
Looks like a giant fence staple to me. Or, they could build a whole series of them around the park and play Giant Croquet.
This distinctively-shaped architectural marvel overlooking the most iconic public park in the world will never become a high-value target.