In the 1970s, a real-estate developer proposed a futuristic tower with a giant stock-trading floor. Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Getty Images/Tony Shi Photography
- A new book, "The Atlas of Never Built Architecture," explores the world as it could've been.
- Authors Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin explore never-built designs from over 300 global architects.
All buildings begin as ideas — but not all of them make it off the page.
Unfortunately, some architects' dreamy ideas are shelved due to a lack of funds, complex political maneuvering, or the death of a major financial supporter.
It was this lost library — a collection of buildings that offer glimpses into how some corners of the world could have looked — that inspired Los Angeles-based writers Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin to write the recently released book "Atlas of Never Built Architecture."
"As we unearthed each treasure, shaking off the dust clouds of memory and the inscrutability of faded ink, we were reminded that our reality is far less fixed than we think," Lubell and Goldin wrote in the introduction. "Every decision could have resulted in something different."
Lubell and Goldin assembled the sketches for and stories behind more than 300 lost skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, government buildings, cemeteries, and even a "floating theater boat that resembles a UFO," according to a press release. The proposed structures span over 100 years and 80 countries.
Below are five building designs once proposed for sites across the world, alongside a breakdown of what currently stands where they were set to rise.
Are we better off? You decide.
In 1975, an investment group called the Xanadu Corporation proposed a new hotel on the Las Vegas Strip modeled after Shangri-La, the mythical Himalayan paradise.
The proposed Xanadu hotel for the Las Vegas Strip. Special Collections and Archives / University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The fantastical design for the proposed Xanadu hotel included a circular bar suspended in the air. It would have been supported by tucked-away columns to appear like it was floating.
Though the Xanadu hotel's original plan was approved by Las Vegas authorities, disputes over utilities and sewer lines kept it from being built.
The Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas. Sergii Figurnyi
The site intended for Xanadu is now occupied by the Excalibur Hotel & Casino. The medieval-inspired property, which opened in 1990, was once the largest hotel in the world.
In 1961, real-estate developer William Zeckendorf acquired Manhattan's historic Singer Tower, planning to knock it down and build a new home for the New York Stock Exchange.
Illustration of Finance Place, 1963. Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
The proposed 45-story tower, called Finance Place, was described as a "beautifully tapered Mayan temple," with a massive trading floor dominating the bottom of the tower.
Designer Henry Cobb ingeniously drew a steel structure with floors suspended from the roof, allowing the trading floor to be entirely free of columns.
Zeckendorf claimed he had the support of the stock exchange, but the building never materialized.
An aerial view of One Liberty Plaza in Manhattan's Financial District. Getty/Tony Shi Photography
Today, the square block is occupied by One Liberty Plaza, the black structure in the left foreground of the photo above.
Tenants of the 54-story building include law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, New York City's Economic Development Corporation — and Business Insider.
In the densely populated Indonesian capital of Jakarta, Indonesia, plans were unveiled in 2012 for an 88-story tower that made the most of vertical space.
Illustration of Peruri 88. Courtesy of MVRDV
A complex of Tetris-like structures, Peruri 88 included spaces for offices, townhouses, a luxury hotel, movie theaters, a wedding chapel, and a mosque.
Plans for a mall included designs for escalators spanning 15 stories.
But funding never materialized for Jakarta's "city in the sky."
Present-day Jakarta, Indonesia. Shutterstock/Toto Santiko Budi
Instead, the space is occupied by much smaller commercial buildings in the Kebayoran Baru neighborhood of South Jakarta.
The photo above is from the neighborhood proposed for Peruri 88.
Kenyan paleontologist Richard Leakey announced plans for a "Museum of Humankind" in 2019 to honor his discovery of the most complete skeleton of an early human.
Illustration of the Museum of Humankind © MAQE / Courtesy of Studio Daniel Libeskind
Architect Daniel Libeskind's designs for the museum were inspired by hand axes, tools used by human predecessors over 1.8 million years ago.
Unfortunately, Leakey died in 2022 and the museum's proposed site in Kenya's Great Rift Valley was deemed no longer suitable.
Great Rift Valley, Kenya Shutterstock/Roger de la Harpe
The design was pulled and no new plans have been announced.
In 2007, Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid was announced as the designer for the first opera house in the Persian Gulf.
Illustration of the Dubai Opera House, proposed by Zaha Hadid. Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
Hadid's rendering for the futuristic complex in Dubai included the 2,500-seat opera house, a smaller 800-seat theater, an art gallery, and a performing arts school.
The swooping peaks were inspired by the shape of sand dunes.
The global financial crisis in 2009 thwarted plans for Hadid's Dubai Opera House complex. Hadid died suddenly in 2016.
The Dubai Opera House, designed by Janus Rostock, was completed the same year Zaha Hadid died. Shutterstock/Efired
New designs were instead completed by Janus Rostock, who took inspiration for his version of the building from a dhow, a traditional Arabic sailing boat.
The Dubai Opera House was completed in 2016.
Thelife
