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Sun and Wu’s motivation behind New York Horizon was to “make Central Park available to more people…to reverse the traditional relationship between landscape and architecture, in a way that every occupiable space has direct connection to nature.” They claim that excavation would allow for the construction of a 1,000-foot-tall megastructure that wraps around the perimeter of the 1.3-square-mile park for a total floor area of 7 square miles. Highly reflective glass walls would offer the illusion of infinity and provide all tenants of the building views of the park.

Related: World’s Largest Landfill Transformed into Freshkills Park 3X the Size of Central Park

Despite the noble intentions to bring city dwellers closer to nature, the New York Horizon proposal is downright silly and an abomination to landscape architecture and history. By excavating the 159-year-old park, the designers are advocating the destruction of the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, the Central Park landscape architect who helped pioneer urban park design to bring people closer to nature. Furthermore, the proposal ironically compromises access and views to the public green space by surrounding it with soaring glass walls—no explanation is given to how non-tenants of the mega-structure would actually access the park.

+ New York Horizon

Via Curbed

Images via eVolo