Insane Megaprojects that were Never Built

let's imagine new york city but with a massive  airport 70 meters above midtown manhattan while   this clearly sounds like a ridiculous idea in the  1940s this was an actual plan for a mega project   in today's video we'll look at incredible  mega project proposals that were never built   some of these were just insane ideas that didn't  seem practical while others were affected by   financial and political constraints which of  the following projects would you like to see   in reality let us know in the comments below  number six the dream airport above new york   everyone has an image in mind when they think  of new york with its cultural landmarks and   its iconic skyline but this image could have  looked quite different today with an insane plan   proposed in the 1940s that would have  completely changed midtown manhattan   in 1946 one of new york's most  successful real estate developers   william zechendorff proposed the idea for  a rooftop airport in midtown manhattan   along the shores of the hudson river dubbed new  york city's dream airport the megastructure would   span the length of 144 manhattan blocks with a  70 meter high deck roughly the size of central   park a series of 10 story buildings were to be  constructed underneath the deck for waiting areas   ticket offices and small businesses the airport  wouldn't just accommodate air travel the plans   included piers for ships from the hudson river as  well as roads and railways beneath the platform   estimated to cost 3 billion at the time it would  have been the biggest airport project of all time   the main motivation for this plan was to reduce  travel time in the 1940s new york already had   problems with traffic congestion and with all of  its major airports outside of manhattan reaching   these transit points was often difficult a midtown  airport would have erased the need for travelers   to drive to newark laguardia or jfk if built  the airport would have changed new york forever   some of the skyscrapers seen today lay in this  area for example hudson yards and wouldn't   exist today but also the surrounding area  would have been developed quite differently   while this idea looks crazy there are obvious  reasons why this plan didn't turn into reality   first of all an airport in the middle  of the world's busiest city would be a   nightmare for the residents this airport was  designed to accommodate 68 flights an hour so   people would essentially deal with aircraft noise  every minute of the day in addition the traffic in   new york was a major problem already and with  people flooding to midtown for their flights   it would add another congestion headache to the  city's planners but even if they got approval   it would present major engineering challenges also  acquiring the land for the project clearing up the   existing structures in a 144 block radius and then  rebuilding the whole area with an airport on top   would probably make it the largest and most  complicated mega project in new york's history   overall it's obvious that building an  airport 70 meters above new york with   surrounding skyscrapers and residents wasn't  going to happen so while there was excitement   for this unparalleled airport the ambitious  plans remained limited to the newspapers number 5 the most iconic hotel in the world  we stay in new york and look at another   impressive plan from the early 1900s at that  time the city was witnessing a skyscraper boom   in 1908 the singer building became the first  skyscraper to cross the height of 150 meters   and it would be followed by giants like the  chrysler building and the empire state building across the atlantic ocean the renowned  spanish architect antoni gaudi showed   a completely different architectural style  with attention to detail and curved shapes   his iconic designs for buildings like casamila  and casa battillo based on a celebration of   nature and catalan culture were unlike anything  seen in new york impressed by gowdy's genius   two businessmen went to barcelona in 1908 to  convince him to create a masterpiece in new york   gowdy was interested and proposed a grand  hotel that would soar 360 meters into the sky   the exterior of the building would shine using  alabaster glass and tiles while its interior   would house restaurants theaters concert halls  and an exhibition theater at a height of more   than 100 meters at the time the plans for such a  tall building were unprecedented and overwhelming   however gowdy was known for  accomplishing the unthinkable   in the end his plans were never finalized part of  the reason is that gowdy had dedicated his life   to barcelona's most famous landmark the sagrada  familia in the following years the hotel atraxion   was only at a very early stage and going to  new york would mean leaving behind the sagrada   familia a project that gowdy would work on for  a total of 43 years until the end of his life the project was ultimately abandoned but never  forgotten it was revived once again in 2003   when some spanish architects submitted the design  for the new world trade center design competition   while gowdy's original sketches remain  alive to this day it doesn't seem like   the project will ever be built but if  the hotel atraxion stood in manhattan   today it would certainly be one of the  most interesting buildings in the world number four the mile high illinois skyscraper  chicago is widely considered to be the birthplace   of the skyscraper and according to one famous  proposal it could have been the runaway leader   in the quest for building the  tallest skyscraper in the world   in 1956 architect frank lloyd wright presented  his vision for the illinois a mile high skyscraper   the idea was insane because at the time the  tallest building in the world was the empire   state building which was less than one-fourth  of what the illinois was proposed to be   lloyd wright was against the sprawling cities and  wanted to build something that would save space on   the ground and take the cities upward his 8 meter  tall replica of the illinois included 528 floors   atomic powered elevators and parking for 15  000 cars and 100 helicopters it was a whole   city in itself and wright said that it could hold  all government offices and eliminate the need   for other skyscrapers popping up around chicago  wright's proposal was impressive however it simply   wasn't doable at the time in fact to this day the  tallest building in the world is the burj khalifa   which isn't even half the height proposed for  the illinois realization of wright's design was   never considered which is why there are only  a few sketches and models of it still around   number three america's tallest failed skyscraper  we stay in chicago and take a look at a much   more realistic skyscraper which was even  under construction almost 50 years after   wright's proposal the chicago spire was to  become the tallest building in the country   and would have kept that record to this day it  was designed by another famous spanish architect   santiago calatrava who has designed other  impressive projects like the world trade   center transportation hub and sweden's turning  torso the spire was originally proposed in 2005   and was taken over by garrett kelleher of  the shelburne corporation for construction   the tower would have had a slender curved design  that would rise 610 meters into the chicago sky   with great enthusiasm the construction of this  project began in 2007 because of the slender   design the tower's foundations had to be very  deep so excavation went 22 meters into the ground   however just as the foundations were laid down the  progress came to a halt like many other projects   of the mid-2000s the great recession played a  key role in stopping the chicago spire the major   financier of the project the anglo-irish bank  was struggling for survival so automatically   there was no investment to take the construction  further this started a chain reaction of several   lawsuits of different parties and after ongoing  financial problems of the project developer they   were forced to suspend construction by that time  only the foundation of the spire was completed   in 2013 shelburne corporation underwent a  bankruptcy reorganization plan and this incredible   project that was supposed to rise over chicago  only left a hole in the ground three years later   related midwest took over the site and after  proposing several new plans the chicago city   council approved an updated design for the 400  lake shore drive in 2020 this project consists of   two staircase-like towers with a height of 267 and  233 meters according to the company construction   will begin this year so there is hope that the  site will not remain a hole in the ground forever   number two hitler's plan to build the largest dome  in the world the fall of nazi germany finally put   an end to hitler and his terrible cruel acts it  also spelled the end for some of its insanely   massive architectural projects one of which was  the planned capital city of germania and its   most important building the great hall berlin was  supposed to become the capital of the new world   named germania hitler wanted to reorganize  the city along a central five kilometer long   boulevard from the north to the south that  would cross with an east-west axis in berlin   at the north end of this new central axis was  supposed to be the great hall the sketches for   this colossal domed structure were made by hitler  himself he had visited the pantheon in rome during   the 1920s and was planning on building something  even more impressive and a lot bigger the dome   would rise to a height of 290 meters and was said  to be 250 meters wide making it the most prominent   building on the continent the huge hall on the  inside would potentially fit 150 000 people at   once it was so gigantic that the hall would have  been 17 times the volume of saint peter's basilica   by building insanely huge architecture hitler  wanted to perpetuate his empire according to   historian wolfgang bentz the great hall was  intended to enforce the structures of rule   according to him this type of architecture was  designed to subjugate overwhelm and seduce people   barely anything of the plans for germania were  ever built except for a few shell structures in   the end the great hall as well as other plans  came crashing down with the defeat in 1945 and   they are a reflection of the seductive delusions  of grandeur and the inhuman ideologies pervasive   in nazi germany number one the sphere vision of  the pyramids of giza for our last megaproject we   go further back in time to the 18th century in  france this project was said to be dedicated to   one of the world's most important scientists sir  isaac newton in his honor french architect etienne   louis boule proposed this 150 meter high cenotaph  that would even surpass the great pyramid of giza   while the great pyramid was the burial place of  egyptian emperor khufu the cenotaph was planned   to be a memorial for sir isaac newton who rests  in london's westminster abbey as an homage to   newton's scientific contributions moulay wanted to  build what was the world's first domed planetarium   boule dotted the interior of his spherical  structure with tiny holes reflecting the positions   of the constellations and the planets during the  night a majestic spherical lamp would illuminate   the structure and act like the sun in a universe  created by the arrangement of holes on the surface   however much like the other projects in this  video his proposal just wasn't doable at the time   boule himself would have been aware of that as he  saw architecture not just as a science of building   but more as a science of ideas and imaginations  so the cenotaph remained an incredible idea   that didn't get built if you enjoyed make sure  you like this video and subscribe to top luxury   for mega projects that actually get built  check out our video about the most impressive   mega projects under construction thank you for  watching and we'll see you in the next video

Channel: MegaBuilds

Views: 2,323,481

Keywords: top luxury, b1m, megaproject, massive builds, biggest mega projects in the world, construction, buildings that were never finished, skyscrapers, building, most expensive construction project in history, biggest megaprojects in the world, skyscraper construction, skyscraper concepts, chicago spire, volkshalle, new york airport, hotel atracción new york, The Illinois, illinois skyscraper, great hall berlin, megaproject concepts, abandoned mega projects, biggest mega projects in history

Id: K1ax8lxUBEg

Length: 12min 48sec (768 seconds)

Published: Sun May 15 2022