Althouse: "Designs for 'The Big Bend,' a slender tower that would transform Manhattan’s skyline have been unveiled."

March 22, 2017

"Designs for 'The Big Bend,' a slender tower that would transform Manhattan’s skyline have been unveiled."

"Described as the 'longest building in the world,' the project's concept drawings reveal a skyscraper reaching an apex then curving back down. And featuring an elevator system that can travel in curves, horizontally and in loops."

28 comments:

Fabi said...: The jumbo paper clip!; 3/22/17, 6:43 PM
rhhardin said...: Not so easy to knock down with a hijacked jet. Good thinking.; 3/22/17, 6:47 PM
madAsHell said...: It's Clippy from Microsoft Bob!!; 3/22/17, 6:49 PM
buwaya said...: "Not so easy to knock down with a hijacked jet. Good thinking."

Easier to knock down, maybe a bit harder to hit.
Still, its tall enough and distinctive enough to replace the WTC.; 3/22/17, 6:59 PM
Achilles said...: ""Designs for 'The Big Bend,' a slender tower that would transform Manhattan’s skyline have been unveiled.""

That looks stupid. This is not an actual plan is it?; 3/22/17, 7:00 PM
buwaya said...: "That looks stupid. This is not an actual plan is it?"

What looks stupid today can be distinctively endearing tomorrow.; 3/22/17, 7:02 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I rather like it.; 3/22/17, 7:03 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time *in* it, but I wouldn't mind spending a lot of time looking *at* it.; 3/22/17, 7:05 PM
Big Mike said...: Please tell me that the bottom floors up at the height of the curve will be glass!; 3/22/17, 7:06 PM
Big Mike said...: And featuring an elevator system that can travel in curves, horizontally and in loops.

The fact that something can be done from a technology perspective does not necessarily mean that it ought to be done.; 3/22/17, 7:42 PM
The Godfather said...: Why is the paper clip design better than two separate towers?; 3/22/17, 7:49 PM
YoungHegelian said...: The team explained: 'What was once considered to be the greatest challenge in elevator history, is finally becoming reality: the elevator that can travel in curves, horizontally and in continuous loops.

'The innovative track changing system allows for the horizontal connection of two shafts on the top and bottom to create a continuous loop.'

If I had a company that did elevator maintenance, there is no amount of money you could pay me to maintain that elevator configuration.

Well, maybe I would if you paid me several hundred million in advance. Then, I'd embezzle the money & run off to Brazil, before I'd have to spend every penny of it on maintenance of those &%*$ing elevators/; 3/22/17, 8:17 PM
Gojuplyr831@gmail.com said...: Cartoons have been building these since the 60s. Usually to the tune of Lizt's Hungarian Rhapsody.; 3/22/17, 8:21 PM
Drago said...: Big Mike: "The fact that something can be done from a technology perspective does not necessarily mean that it ought to be done."

Wonka-vator.; 3/22/17, 8:28 PM
Jay Vogt said...: inefficient floorplate > unfinanceable; 3/22/17, 8:32 PM
buwaya said...: "Why is the paper clip design better than two separate towers?"

Because its cooler than just two towers.

Why is this -
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2bShPwSH_U4/hqdefault.jpg

Better than this?
http://www.loupiote.com/photos_m/3479486404-general-warehouse-richmond-kaiser-naval-shipyard-san-francisco.jpg; 3/22/17, 8:44 PM
Kevin said...: Saint Louis already has an arch with curving elevators.; 3/22/17, 8:49 PM
Static Ping said...: This is really important stuff. There is simply insufficient living space for stock brokers, celebrities, old money, news anchors, and oddly wealthy politicians where they can be sufficiently close to their non-English speaking immigrant servants to keep transportation costs down while keeping said riff-raff out of walking distance. The paid help should live as far away as possible else they contaminate the snoot. Until they evolve wings there is no more elegant solution than live in the clouds. So what if it makes the skyline look like a mish-mash of hamster pipes.; 3/22/17, 9:09 PM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Junk. Now what they could have done, I advocated this after 9/11, was a mile-high catenary arch, one foot at Ground Zero and one foot at Newport, NJ. Now THAT would show those goat-rapists how we do!; 3/22/17, 9:19 PM
William said...: I live in NYC. I'd like to see a few WTF buildings dotting the landscape. There are some old buildings on CPW that have more frills and fripperies than a wedding cake. They're kind of lovable. Bad taste is humanizing. Too much glass and steel is alienating. It might turn out to be a bad idea, but every generation should make an effort to leave an enduring monument to its stupidity.; 3/22/17, 9:20 PM
David said...: Palisades Park! Cue roller coaster sounds.; 3/22/17, 9:36 PM
Lyle Smith said...: Don't do it!; 3/22/17, 10:30 PM
SukieTawdry said...: It looks, I don't know, insubstantial. I don't think I like it. But people didn't like the twin towers at first either or the Transamerica Pyramid but in time it was hard to imagine the NYC and SF skylines without them (until 2001, of course, when in New York you had to). And doesn't the St. Louis arch have a curved elevator?; 3/22/17, 11:22 PM
Achilles said...: buwaya said...
"That looks stupid. This is not an actual plan is it?"

What looks stupid today can be distinctively endearing tomorrow.

There isn't enough square footage in what I see in those drawings. The footprint at ground level is too small. Doesn't seem like it would be worth the trouble.

The other problem is once you connect 2 points on the ground you create an infinitely more difficult structural challenge. Normally the small shifts in the foundation are worked into the "flexibilty" of the frame. Once you have 2 anchor points in the ground I think there will be issues. We built a tree house between two very large trees that were very old. It was maybe a few years but there was a wind storm that wasn't record breaking but that you also don't get every year. The trees came down together. I think it was because they were forced to move together.; 3/23/17, 1:30 AM
Peter said...: Why not add a few high-altitude chevrons between the uprights? More rentable space, and it would stiffen the structure (although it would also add to the wind load).

And perhaps a decorative medallion dangling below that.

Or would modernist purists condemn these additions as junking up an otherwise pure Platonic form?; 3/23/17, 9:00 AM
Jason said...: COME BACK AL QAEDA ALL IS FORGIVEN; 3/23/17, 9:58 AM
TWW said...: Where are the other wickets?; 3/23/17, 10:50 AM
TWW said...: It' not only a terrorist target. How many unhinged amateur pilots will try to fly between the towers for the thrill?; 3/23/17, 10:52 AM