Ever since 9/11, there has been an increasing push in New York City toward "out there" architecture. Sadly, these designs so rarely seem to come to fruition. First, of course, you had the redesign for the World Trade Center itself (which has been changed so much that the original intent seems quite lost in the red tape). Then there were two Santiago Calatrava ideas (for a gondola to Governor's Island and an East River apartment building) that were ultimately nixed. And the Frank Gehry vision for the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn is far from certain to be completed.
On the plus side, a few notable funky designs have been built. These include the Gehry IAC Building on the far west side, the curvy Sculpture of Living on Astor Place, and the sleek BLUE tower on the lower east side.
The latest "out there" idea is for a truly mind-bending building that would mimic towers that are now being erected in Dubai and Moscow. Designed by Italian architect David Fisher, the Dynamic Tower would have somewhere on the order of 70 or 80 floors (based on the existing Dubai and Moscow designs), and each of the floors could rotate 360 degrees about a central axis. The result? A building in motion that would fluctuate in look between undulating waves and a gigantic Jenga game. Check out this video to see how it would work.
All things considered, I kind of doubt this thing will get built. But what a sight to behold if it did... ∞
"At first, as Fred the window washer began his new job, he thought that maybe it was just the hangover... but things just didn't look right."
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