Skyscraper Proposal Digs Out Central Park and Surrounds It With 1,000-Foot Glass Structure

March 24, 2016

Evolo has announced the winners of its 2016 Skyscraper Competition, and, somewhat ironically, the number-one spot goes to a proposal that doesn’t build up at all, but rather digs down.

New York Horizon was imagined by Yitan Sun and Jianshi Wu as a means to “reverse the traditional relationship between landscape and architecture, in a way that every occupiable space has direct connection to the nature.” The idea is to dig down, exposing the bedrock beneath Central Park and thereby freeing up space to build a horizontal skyscraper around its entire perimeter. The resulting structure would rise 1,000 feet and create seven square miles of interior space, 80 times that of the Empire State Building.

New York Horizon skyscraper, evolo competition winner 2016

Wondering where all that removed soil would go? That’s where things get even crazier, as it’ll be “relocated to various neighborhoods, which will be demolished and moved into the new structure.” Leveling existing sections of the city may not go over so well, but the building’s highly reflective glass certainly makes for a nice scene, described by the designers as “an illusion of infinity.”

New York Horizon skyscraper, evolo competition winner 2016

Learn more about the proposal on Evolo.

Images via Evolo

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  1. F

    Or, you know, fuck you and your building.

  2. A

    What a perfectly revolting idea.

  3. M

    I hope they don’t ever do that, that would spoil all of central park, I loved that place, to walk threw it, never walked the entire length though. Bad move, don’t do it…….smh

  4. G

    One of the most important questions one can ask about any development proposal, even one as ludicrous as this, is ‘Why?’ Why does such a preposterous design even deserve space on the ‘printed’ page?

    One of the many miracles of Central Park is that, in one of the most densely developed places on our earth, there is this increadable ‘openness’ and ‘accessibility’ of the park.

    You can walk through it, or it can be enjoyed from a distance.
    You can always walk along side it and still enjoy it.
    There are many places in the park where the sounds of the city are remote, and the city cannot be seen.
    You don’t need to thread your way through a private office building to see it.
    It doesn’t need to be viewed through a mirrored wall, like viewing it through a bathroom mirror, to seem like infinity.
    Worse, this bathroom mirror will reflect light and heat into the park, like being an ant under a magnifying glass.

    Anyone who has time for developing this foolishness has entirely too much time on their hands