Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
User submission
11K
228.3K
There’s A Proposal To Build 1,000 Ft Walls Around An Excavated Central Park
Designers Yitan Sun and Jianshi Wu want to make New York’s Central Park available to more people by digging down to the bedrock of the park. The idea is to create a 1000-feet tall, 100-feet deep mega structure that provides a total floor area of 7 square miles, which is about 80 times greater than the Empire State Building.
“The ambition is to reverse the traditional relationship between landscape and architecture, in a way that every occupiable space has direct connection to the nature,” – say the authors of the proposal that was awarded first place in eVolo’s annual skyscraper competition.
“With its highly reflective glass cover on all sides, the landscape inside the new park can reach beyond physical boundaries, creating an illusion of infinity. In the heart of New York City, a New Horizon is born.”
RELATED:
“Central Park, a 1.3 sq. mile urban park, [gives] New Yorkers a chance to escape the busy urban life. However, only a fraction of them can enjoy [it]”
To make it available to more people, designers want to dig down to reveal the bedrock beneath Central Park
The 1000-ft tall, 100-ft deep mega structure [would provide] a total floor area of 7 sq. miles, which is ~ 80 times greater than the Empire State Building
Its highly reflective glass on all sides would create an illusion of infinity – giving birth to a New Horizon
228Kviews
Share on Facebook
What do you think ?
AniaUchnast 9 years ago
How many birds will die hitting "highly reflective glass cover" which is "creating an illusion of infinity"? :(
LaurensPilger 9 years ago
Haha, but somehow the birds have no problem with the rest of New York?
Load More Replies...
MelodyLanzatella 9 years ago
Yeah, they will DEFINITELY fly into it, because its going to look like a continuation of air space. You are right.
PhillipeKnippel 9 years ago
I am a biologist and i totally agree with you. It looks for me more like a megalomaniacal construction. It must look more like a park, the reason for urban parks is to bring peace and help the mental health and FIRST OF ALL, help the biodiversity like birds and insects like the f*****g important bees. So lets have more trees and flowers on it, not try to make New York into a new Dubai. Hugs!
AshleyBell 9 years ago
EXACTLY! It's already NYC's most charming feature...Why not take something ugly and useless and make something beautiful out of it like they did with the old HighLine train track that goes down the west side from 33d to 14th...Now HighLine Park
AndrzejŚnigórski 9 years ago
No so many I presume - since it is going to be reflective the bird will avoid its own reflection. They're hitting transparent surfaces.
AniaUchnast 9 years ago
When birds fly away from Poland for winter and hundreds of them pass my garden, then some of them hit my window. They see there reflection of tree at which sit many birds (they always take rest there).
པདྨ་ལྟ་འུཔོ 9 years ago
Why fix something that ain't broken. The present central park is on my bucket list.
MatthewPandaenchanter 9 years ago
Not only will birds hit the glass, people will deface it into infinity too. Not mention that it would become a breeze-less solar oven and the perfect place to explode a bomb, generating shock-waves that knock out everyone/thing while destroying ear-drums. I cannot say it is conceptually stupid, persay, and I would not insult the 'imagineers' behind this idea, but, um, the good thing about drawing-boards is that you can always go back to them. You really can't dig your way towards this being something viable. I imagine many-a-NYCer who've been smoking joints in the park had similar 'good ideas' from time to time, which nature promptly let evaporate into the ethereal brain box we all have labeled "What the hell was I thinking!? LOL." They might as well build a cave-system or bunker under the bedrock itself, which can be secured and monitored, and activate the space as a reprieve from summer's heat and/or a giant subterranean forest or farm-scape. Double down, don't dig-down, dudes.
SarahJoyce 9 years ago
Great comment! Plus, the F line and the future Q line subways run under the park. There are tons of tunnels below the park, including utilities and one of the water mains that supply the city. Pretty on paper, completely impractical irl.
Load More Replies...
Richard Stafursky 8 years ago
Does anyone remember what was learned from the Biosphere 2 result. It was a very good experiment. It showed us just how difficult it is to create man-made species' forest. We do not yet know how to return acres while still using them as play things. The non-profit Species' Forest, Conway, MA US is an model for returning a species' forest for zero to no cost.
SarahGarland 9 years ago
Neither this article nor the linked article says who hosted the (contest/RFP/day dream) that this proposal won. This is a silly idea either way. "Let's dig to below sea level and then create 1000 ft tall walls that still somehow allow a beautiful sunset at normal hours. Also, we could totally host the Hunger Games here."
starla4 9 years ago
evolo magazine/journal hosted it. http://www.evolo.us/competition/winners-2016-evolo-skyscraper-competition/
Load More Replies...
KristianClancy 9 years ago
But why? Does Central Park need to become so self centred that it's constantly looking at itself with a "infinite reflection"? There is a beauty about the park with how it connects an insanely busy city life with nature. Don't close it off.
AshleyBell 9 years ago
There's that thicket in the north end of the park where you'd SWEAR you were deep in the country, then round a bend in the path the beautiful city emerges...Quite a delicious disconnect
Load More Replies...
CarolineHuisman 9 years ago
I don't understand how digging is going to make it available to more people.
JurgenZiesmann 9 years ago
You are wrong. It is not about the increase of space because it is no longer level. That what appears as "wall" is in reality 1000s of apartments and office spaces all around the park - so that a few more of the super rich 0.1% can have a nice view. That is, what they mean with "more people could enjoy the park". Come on - these super rich do "so much" for the general public, we should let them have this new toy, 100% paid by our tax money.
Arty 9 years ago
by digging you will have a landscape more steep and thus more place...Yet there is a lot a ecological/architectural constraints that would make this idea impossible I think
Load More Replies...
TravMay 9 years ago
Not really sure that's more open space is needed. I've never been, but from all the countless pics and videos that I've seen, it's hardly appeared to be over crowded. Honestly, I can't see the citizens of NYC being thrilled at the idea of the one major wooded area in the city being torn up for this, and for no telling how many years. Also, unless you're at an entrance, depending on how high the 1,000 ft walls rise from the ground, from street level you'll either be staring at a wall, or a vast hole to the other side.
CraigWright 9 years ago
People can fall to their deaths from the top of the structure now. That option just wasn't available before.
WendyBradford 9 years ago
Im laughing as this is the most ridiculous thing ever. We already got this, its called the Grand Canyon. Without walls.
ElizabethMacTavish 9 years ago
They better f*****g fix the bridges and roads first before they put all these tax dollars in the dirt. Remember people there is entire rest of the state above ny city it's called UPSTATE NY and it ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!! Upstate has the largest national park in the United States yes that is bigger than yellowstone!( Nothing against you YellowStone I love yah <3) All they need to do is apply themselves to the rest of the state but the city is one big giant lamprey sucking everything from the rest of the state. I am entirely sick of everyplace I have been on this earth no one even considers (one person in germany) that I could be from upstate NO ONE EVER HEARS ABOUT UPSTATE NY!!! I'm in Texas now and everyone looks at you like a f*****g circus freak when you say you're from the country!! People look at what the rest of state has to offer. And mirrors create heat people......
CarolineHuisman 9 years ago
I don't understand how digging is going to make it available to more people.
WindyGirl 9 years ago
People can climb the "mountains" and roll on down for the sh!ts and giggles, I guess. Strangely enough, it looks like a Chinese landscape too, so there's always that.
Load More Replies...
ElleCee 9 years ago
This seems to be more of a contest about conceptual design rather than an actual proposal, which is good because these two designers are pretty clueless. For one, the statement that "only a fraction" of people are able to enjoy the park is ludicrous. For another, their "relocation" plan for tons of soil is to just kinda dump it into the surrounding city blocks. I think this was more an exercise isn conceptualizing the use of space rather than something someone actually thinks could work.
TammyPoirier 9 years ago
Why exactly is it, that only a 'fraction' of people can enjoy it now? And how is it that many more would be able to do so it if it were excavated? Just wondering.
MariyaNavazio 9 years ago
The park is a lovely, historic site and I really hope that this is all an exercise. I can't imagine how that would function at all!!
lanceboil11 9 years ago
Added benefit-- When Manhattan floods central park will become central lake.
AshleyBell 9 years ago
what a stupid idea. The 'skyline' from within the park is one its loveliest features...
RandallEpp 9 years ago
From absolutely every point of view (ecological, aesthetic, moral, ethical, economic, and rational) this has got to be the worst, most preposterous proposal ever made. I only hope the people who were responsible were trying to be satirical the way Jonathan Swift was in his "Immodest proposal." If they were serious, well they really need to seek help. I don't think even Trump could have come up with a stupider idea. (Who also, by the way, seriously needs to seek mental help.)
Richard Stafursky 8 years ago
Yes, it is the opposite of a species' forest. Species' Forest, Conway, MA US
UlyUrsula 9 years ago
Leave it up to man to ruin something already perfect. So basically you want to build a giant terranium where animals and humans will be trapped in a highly reflective (READ HOT) environment. How much, pray tell, will it cost to keep this highly reflective (bird killing) wall clean so that the "illusion" can be maintained. What will the illusion look like from the outside? Why don't we just enjoy the reality...I suppose later we will have to add admission fees (thus negating the access argument) to cover the costs of maintaining the glass....no thank you!
Richard Stafursky 8 years ago
This does not help the species' forests. Nature must be returned, not played with.
AshleyBell 9 years ago
The skyline from within the park is one of its loveliest features....Why would anyone mess with that...Also not so sure you wanna have an area THAT far below sea level what with AGW threatening the very city itself
JackieYale 9 years ago
I love this idea, its a perfect place where we can hold the first hunger games when Trump wins the white house. He'll be able to watch from his window. Its perfect!
Bill White 8 years ago
What a waste of money and effort. Just because you CAN do something does not mean that you SHOULD do something. It's as though the human race if running out of things to screw with...
Richard Stafursky 8 years ago
Human access seems to be unstoppable as some developers would have us believe. It only seems to be. Altering the land for a view is anathema to the natural landscape and the ability of the natural systems to correct climate change. This 21st century we must serve the species' forests and not modify it for theme parks. Architects have extreme egos and, like Frank Lloyd Wright, are frequently narcissists. Nature cannot afford these people.
Brent Kaufman 8 years ago
It can get to over 127 degrees on a baseball field in a stadium shaped like a bowl because the heat is trapped in an area. Now add mirrors to that and magnify the summer sun inside a walled area and not much life would survive the burn.
Haruki Chou 8 years ago
"To make it available to more people, designers want to dig down to reveal the bedrock beneath Central Park" -- How does this make it available to more people?
Paul Gomes 8 years ago
Excelente artigo e dicas! Marketing digital é, sem dúvida, a grande jornada para quem busca presença e sinergia com seu mercado. Eu costumo falar muito sobre este assunto em http://agenciadepublicidade.net.br/ http://agenciawys.com.br/
okillmeier 8 years ago
i really hope they don't do this. i have visited new york many times and central park is my favorite. i love the beauty it brings in the middle of the caos.
BridgetWhitney 8 years ago
It's like putting ketchup on filet mignon, you could but doing so would ruin it.
EmmaGryffindor 8 years ago
What a terrible idea!! God I would hate how it would look if it does get made, and then what sort of 'genius' artwork will start appearing??
MarciaBrenner 8 years ago
This is by far the most disappointing and stupid idea I've ever seen on this sight....or really anywhere. Hahaha
Bookercounts 8 years ago
I find this incredibly stupid, i live in New York City and enjoy going to central park quite often, and building all wall round it is just going to make it look like another building and not the beautiful park that its is. Plus you would be removing everything that is inside central park, and it would would cost billions to do, adding tax to the already high tax rate of New York City, I'm not paying more for you to ruin one of New York's biggest landmarks.`
JohnMartin 9 years ago
In theory it sounds great, but how about use the proposed money for things New Yorkers could REALLY benefit from, say.... I don't know, affordable housing?
PaulCorsetti 9 years ago
Central Park was co-created by Fredrick Law Olmsted ... considered to be the Father of Landscape Architecture... why destroy it?
ElizabethButler 9 years ago
What a HORRIBLE idea! Man's destruction of nature carried to the ulitmate!!!! Cantral Park in its current form is very very important to the citizens of New York's vast artificial environment. Even if the final result gave access to nature, the destruction during the work would deprive people of much needed access.
CampSunsetGirl 9 years ago
This concept fails miserably and is insulting to New York City. Perhaps this design can be used in a combo Jurrasic Park and Planet of the Apes futuristic remake.
SheileaghLeens 9 years ago
No wonder our country is going broke! whomever came up with this idea needs to re-think priorities. I spending money on this scheme (which will no doubt put lots of 'dough' in the pockets of the perpetrators) really in the best interests of the PEOPLE of the area or will it actually do what most similar grandiose schemes like this one accomplish = make the rich richer??? Bah humbug!
HerbertNenenger 9 years ago
Blech. And I have no idea what they mean that only a fraction of people can enjoy it. Do they mean that only the people in the buildings surrounding it have a view? What about just walking into the park? There are tons of people just walking around, enjoying it. Looks like this glass wall c**p would inhibit just walking in you'd probably have to walk through some tunnel and arxhway and then some paid ticketed turnstile deal to get in. No, please don't make NY into a Dubai . It's really cold and ugly looking. I hate it.
PeggyWallingfordButherus 9 years ago
What are these guys smoking? Not only do they want to destroy the park by exposing all the rock, they want it closed off to what they believe is the "riff/raff" of society? In other words a private park for the privilege of society!
JoAnneKlein 9 years ago
WHY? This is among the most stupid ideas of the century! It's not practical! It will cause irreparable damage to the general ecological balance of the park! And it smacks of greed by those who want to physically build it!
GingerShows 9 years ago
To me the natural beauty of Central Park is perfect. How many birds would die flying into the glass? No, just no,
AnthonyO'hara 9 years ago
How exactly dose rain drain away from a hole that has been excavated all the way down to the bedrock? Worlds largest urban park, doubles as 7 sq. mile swimming pool in winter!
ValerieMarcotte 9 years ago
Interesting take on skyscrapers, given that that's what they were doing: "Awarded first place in eVolo's annual skyscraper competition". This idea is sort of a skyscraper in reverse, adding depth around the tall buildings to have them seem huge. What a lot of time and talent put into this that is never going to be built. Maybe some other future new building project will take off from this idea and something will come of it then.
StevenvanEck 9 years ago
Interesting concept, but what about the shadow being casted of that wall and the availability of sunlight throughout the park? Seems to me a lot of shadow plants are required for this concept.
StevenvanEck 9 years ago
Interesting concept, but I don't think it will be put to practice. My only concern about this idea is that I haven't read anything about the cast of shadow and the available sunlight that would reach throughout the lowered park.
AlexVics 9 years ago
One company of eternal teenagers has proposed to build airport in the Central Park. It was right after 9/11. It seemed to them that they are very witty. And I think that anyone who suggests such projects must necessarily materialize it with his own hands. On Mars. ...\\\\·›
TinyDynamine 9 years ago
Another thing (even though my last comment has disappeared), this will be way below sea level so it would just fill up with water immediately. The island is barely above sea level as it is.
HeatherAlisse 9 years ago
looks like a cool idea, but I'm wondering how they'll keep it from flooding...
TashaHarris 9 years ago
Great imagination guys ,I love this idea on an artistic level, I can imagine apartments in the giant walls with views of the park.
JanaNovotná 9 years ago
Do you need more green in NYC? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocissus_tricuspidata And leave the trees in CP alone. This is madness, Who would change trees for rocks nowadays?
DavidSchwartz 9 years ago
What would this do to the temperature inside the mirrored enclosure?
SherrieLooper 9 years ago
Why ruin something that so many people love & enjoy already, by essentially taking that away to expose the rocks underneath. Someone else already said it here, Why fix what ain't broken?
RobynScott 9 years ago
I thought they were going to build a 1000 ft wall around Trump..........
starla4 9 years ago
I like the uniqueness of the idea (compared to just another skyscraper...Dubai pretty much ruined the fun in that), but the practicality of it is off putting. Elevated land had more surface area than level land, so that's how it would accommodate more people. I live in Florida, so all I can think about is how hurricane Sandy rocked NYC and wonder how a storm of any size would affect the park. I can't help but wonder how people can enter/exit...in an emergency, this could get pretty awful. Keeping it clean would create some jobs, I suppose. Mostly it just touches my claustrophobia in a weird way.
SarahTrapasso 9 years ago
I bet a ton of people would just trash the wall and spray paint it and it would look awful
TiffanyWaltari 9 years ago
This seems dangerous... What if there's ever a storm and water gets in from the ocean? I don't know it just seems like a bad idea.
KatinkaMin 9 years ago
And so much fun for everybody to climb down into a hole full of shade at any time of the day except noon. What a daft idea. I'd be interested int he cost, though, and what it would cost - in comparison - to build green walkways across all the major roads in New york.
AustinWallace 9 years ago
It would be better if the built housing into the wall so thousands of people could live on the edge of the park.
HariKarKataka 9 years ago
It is on an island that means having to deal with the water level if you dig down. So much of New York ground already receives next to no sunlight, lowering the park increases the problem of reduced sunlight. And yes the birds will hurt/ kill themselves on that highly reflective surface.
TinyDynamine 9 years ago
I can't believe they wasted their time on this. The practicalities of doing this would leave it largely impossible to achieve. How long would that take to dig out? How expensive would it be to put that wall in? Where would all the earth go to? They live in cloud cuckoo land.
sneakcollector 9 years ago
Well, that is "art" ... No need to be functional, just needs to be new, drastic, shocking...
MatthewPandaenchanter 9 years ago
Is that why you're voting for Trump and trying to bring back slavery too, while coating your body in deer-urine-scent on the daily? Because I hate those ideas, probably like a lot of people on here. ;-) Just messin'
KonstantinsJaunzems 9 years ago
i imagine walking outside the park on the street along nevernending depressing wall
almostgeniusgaming 9 years ago
I don't think you got it; they are digging down, not bring up a wall
AniaUchnast 9 years ago
How many birds will die hitting "highly reflective glass cover" which is "creating an illusion of infinity"? :(
LaurensPilger 9 years ago
Haha, but somehow the birds have no problem with the rest of New York?
Load More Replies... MelodyLanzatella 9 years ago
Yeah, they will DEFINITELY fly into it, because its going to look like a continuation of air space. You are right.
PhillipeKnippel 9 years ago
I am a biologist and i totally agree with you. It looks for me more like a megalomaniacal construction. It must look more like a park, the reason for urban parks is to bring peace and help the mental health and FIRST OF ALL, help the biodiversity like birds and insects like the f*****g important bees. So lets have more trees and flowers on it, not try to make New York into a new Dubai. Hugs!
AshleyBell 9 years ago
EXACTLY! It's already NYC's most charming feature...Why not take something ugly and useless and make something beautiful out of it like they did with the old HighLine train track that goes down the west side from 33d to 14th...Now HighLine Park
AndrzejŚnigórski 9 years ago
No so many I presume - since it is going to be reflective the bird will avoid its own reflection. They're hitting transparent surfaces.
AniaUchnast 9 years ago
When birds fly away from Poland for winter and hundreds of them pass my garden, then some of them hit my window. They see there reflection of tree at which sit many birds (they always take rest there).
པདྨ་ལྟ་འུཔོ 9 years ago
Why fix something that ain't broken. The present central park is on my bucket list.
MatthewPandaenchanter 9 years ago
Not only will birds hit the glass, people will deface it into infinity too. Not mention that it would become a breeze-less solar oven and the perfect place to explode a bomb, generating shock-waves that knock out everyone/thing while destroying ear-drums. I cannot say it is conceptually stupid, persay, and I would not insult the 'imagineers' behind this idea, but, um, the good thing about drawing-boards is that you can always go back to them. You really can't dig your way towards this being something viable. I imagine many-a-NYCer who've been smoking joints in the park had similar 'good ideas' from time to time, which nature promptly let evaporate into the ethereal brain box we all have labeled "What the hell was I thinking!? LOL." They might as well build a cave-system or bunker under the bedrock itself, which can be secured and monitored, and activate the space as a reprieve from summer's heat and/or a giant subterranean forest or farm-scape. Double down, don't dig-down, dudes.
SarahJoyce 9 years ago
Great comment! Plus, the F line and the future Q line subways run under the park. There are tons of tunnels below the park, including utilities and one of the water mains that supply the city. Pretty on paper, completely impractical irl.
Load More Replies... Richard Stafursky 8 years ago
Does anyone remember what was learned from the Biosphere 2 result. It was a very good experiment. It showed us just how difficult it is to create man-made species' forest. We do not yet know how to return acres while still using them as play things. The non-profit Species' Forest, Conway, MA US is an model for returning a species' forest for zero to no cost.
SarahGarland 9 years ago
Neither this article nor the linked article says who hosted the (contest/RFP/day dream) that this proposal won. This is a silly idea either way. "Let's dig to below sea level and then create 1000 ft tall walls that still somehow allow a beautiful sunset at normal hours. Also, we could totally host the Hunger Games here."
starla4 9 years ago
evolo magazine/journal hosted it. http://www.evolo.us/competition/winners-2016-evolo-skyscraper-competition/
Load More Replies... KristianClancy 9 years ago
But why? Does Central Park need to become so self centred that it's constantly looking at itself with a "infinite reflection"? There is a beauty about the park with how it connects an insanely busy city life with nature. Don't close it off.
AshleyBell 9 years ago
There's that thicket in the north end of the park where you'd SWEAR you were deep in the country, then round a bend in the path the beautiful city emerges...Quite a delicious disconnect
Load More Replies... CarolineHuisman 9 years ago
I don't understand how digging is going to make it available to more people.
JurgenZiesmann 9 years ago
You are wrong. It is not about the increase of space because it is no longer level. That what appears as "wall" is in reality 1000s of apartments and office spaces all around the park - so that a few more of the super rich 0.1% can have a nice view. That is, what they mean with "more people could enjoy the park". Come on - these super rich do "so much" for the general public, we should let them have this new toy, 100% paid by our tax money.
Arty 9 years ago
by digging you will have a landscape more steep and thus more place...Yet there is a lot a ecological/architectural constraints that would make this idea impossible I think
Load More Replies... TravMay 9 years ago
Not really sure that's more open space is needed. I've never been, but from all the countless pics and videos that I've seen, it's hardly appeared to be over crowded. Honestly, I can't see the citizens of NYC being thrilled at the idea of the one major wooded area in the city being torn up for this, and for no telling how many years. Also, unless you're at an entrance, depending on how high the 1,000 ft walls rise from the ground, from street level you'll either be staring at a wall, or a vast hole to the other side.
CraigWright 9 years ago
People can fall to their deaths from the top of the structure now. That option just wasn't available before.
WendyBradford 9 years ago
Im laughing as this is the most ridiculous thing ever. We already got this, its called the Grand Canyon. Without walls.
ElizabethMacTavish 9 years ago
They better f*****g fix the bridges and roads first before they put all these tax dollars in the dirt. Remember people there is entire rest of the state above ny city it's called UPSTATE NY and it ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!! Upstate has the largest national park in the United States yes that is bigger than yellowstone!( Nothing against you YellowStone I love yah <3) All they need to do is apply themselves to the rest of the state but the city is one big giant lamprey sucking everything from the rest of the state. I am entirely sick of everyplace I have been on this earth no one even considers (one person in germany) that I could be from upstate NO ONE EVER HEARS ABOUT UPSTATE NY!!! I'm in Texas now and everyone looks at you like a f*****g circus freak when you say you're from the country!! People look at what the rest of state has to offer. And mirrors create heat people......
CarolineHuisman 9 years ago
I don't understand how digging is going to make it available to more people.
WindyGirl 9 years ago
People can climb the "mountains" and roll on down for the sh!ts and giggles, I guess. Strangely enough, it looks like a Chinese landscape too, so there's always that.
Load More Replies... ElleCee 9 years ago
This seems to be more of a contest about conceptual design rather than an actual proposal, which is good because these two designers are pretty clueless. For one, the statement that "only a fraction" of people are able to enjoy the park is ludicrous. For another, their "relocation" plan for tons of soil is to just kinda dump it into the surrounding city blocks. I think this was more an exercise isn conceptualizing the use of space rather than something someone actually thinks could work.
TammyPoirier 9 years ago
Why exactly is it, that only a 'fraction' of people can enjoy it now? And how is it that many more would be able to do so it if it were excavated? Just wondering.
MariyaNavazio 9 years ago
The park is a lovely, historic site and I really hope that this is all an exercise. I can't imagine how that would function at all!!
lanceboil11 9 years ago
Added benefit-- When Manhattan floods central park will become central lake.
AshleyBell 9 years ago
what a stupid idea. The 'skyline' from within the park is one its loveliest features...
RandallEpp 9 years ago
From absolutely every point of view (ecological, aesthetic, moral, ethical, economic, and rational) this has got to be the worst, most preposterous proposal ever made. I only hope the people who were responsible were trying to be satirical the way Jonathan Swift was in his "Immodest proposal." If they were serious, well they really need to seek help. I don't think even Trump could have come up with a stupider idea. (Who also, by the way, seriously needs to seek mental help.)
Richard Stafursky 8 years ago
Yes, it is the opposite of a species' forest. Species' Forest, Conway, MA US
UlyUrsula 9 years ago
Leave it up to man to ruin something already perfect. So basically you want to build a giant terranium where animals and humans will be trapped in a highly reflective (READ HOT) environment. How much, pray tell, will it cost to keep this highly reflective (bird killing) wall clean so that the "illusion" can be maintained. What will the illusion look like from the outside? Why don't we just enjoy the reality...I suppose later we will have to add admission fees (thus negating the access argument) to cover the costs of maintaining the glass....no thank you!
Richard Stafursky 8 years ago
This does not help the species' forests. Nature must be returned, not played with.
AshleyBell 9 years ago
The skyline from within the park is one of its loveliest features....Why would anyone mess with that...Also not so sure you wanna have an area THAT far below sea level what with AGW threatening the very city itself
JackieYale 9 years ago
I love this idea, its a perfect place where we can hold the first hunger games when Trump wins the white house. He'll be able to watch from his window. Its perfect!
Bill White 8 years ago
What a waste of money and effort. Just because you CAN do something does not mean that you SHOULD do something. It's as though the human race if running out of things to screw with...
Richard Stafursky 8 years ago
Human access seems to be unstoppable as some developers would have us believe. It only seems to be. Altering the land for a view is anathema to the natural landscape and the ability of the natural systems to correct climate change. This 21st century we must serve the species' forests and not modify it for theme parks. Architects have extreme egos and, like Frank Lloyd Wright, are frequently narcissists. Nature cannot afford these people.
Brent Kaufman 8 years ago
It can get to over 127 degrees on a baseball field in a stadium shaped like a bowl because the heat is trapped in an area. Now add mirrors to that and magnify the summer sun inside a walled area and not much life would survive the burn.
Haruki Chou 8 years ago
"To make it available to more people, designers want to dig down to reveal the bedrock beneath Central Park" -- How does this make it available to more people?
Paul Gomes 8 years ago
Excelente artigo e dicas! Marketing digital é, sem dúvida, a grande jornada para quem busca presença e sinergia com seu mercado. Eu costumo falar muito sobre este assunto em http://agenciadepublicidade.net.br/ http://agenciawys.com.br/
okillmeier 8 years ago
i really hope they don't do this. i have visited new york many times and central park is my favorite. i love the beauty it brings in the middle of the caos.
BridgetWhitney 8 years ago
It's like putting ketchup on filet mignon, you could but doing so would ruin it.
EmmaGryffindor 8 years ago
What a terrible idea!! God I would hate how it would look if it does get made, and then what sort of 'genius' artwork will start appearing??
MarciaBrenner 8 years ago
This is by far the most disappointing and stupid idea I've ever seen on this sight....or really anywhere. Hahaha
Bookercounts 8 years ago
I find this incredibly stupid, i live in New York City and enjoy going to central park quite often, and building all wall round it is just going to make it look like another building and not the beautiful park that its is. Plus you would be removing everything that is inside central park, and it would would cost billions to do, adding tax to the already high tax rate of New York City, I'm not paying more for you to ruin one of New York's biggest landmarks.`
JohnMartin 9 years ago
In theory it sounds great, but how about use the proposed money for things New Yorkers could REALLY benefit from, say.... I don't know, affordable housing?
PaulCorsetti 9 years ago
Central Park was co-created by Fredrick Law Olmsted ... considered to be the Father of Landscape Architecture... why destroy it?
ElizabethButler 9 years ago
What a HORRIBLE idea! Man's destruction of nature carried to the ulitmate!!!! Cantral Park in its current form is very very important to the citizens of New York's vast artificial environment. Even if the final result gave access to nature, the destruction during the work would deprive people of much needed access.
CampSunsetGirl 9 years ago
This concept fails miserably and is insulting to New York City. Perhaps this design can be used in a combo Jurrasic Park and Planet of the Apes futuristic remake.
SheileaghLeens 9 years ago
No wonder our country is going broke! whomever came up with this idea needs to re-think priorities. I spending money on this scheme (which will no doubt put lots of 'dough' in the pockets of the perpetrators) really in the best interests of the PEOPLE of the area or will it actually do what most similar grandiose schemes like this one accomplish = make the rich richer??? Bah humbug!
HerbertNenenger 9 years ago
Blech. And I have no idea what they mean that only a fraction of people can enjoy it. Do they mean that only the people in the buildings surrounding it have a view? What about just walking into the park? There are tons of people just walking around, enjoying it. Looks like this glass wall c**p would inhibit just walking in you'd probably have to walk through some tunnel and arxhway and then some paid ticketed turnstile deal to get in. No, please don't make NY into a Dubai . It's really cold and ugly looking. I hate it.
PeggyWallingfordButherus 9 years ago
What are these guys smoking? Not only do they want to destroy the park by exposing all the rock, they want it closed off to what they believe is the "riff/raff" of society? In other words a private park for the privilege of society!
JoAnneKlein 9 years ago
WHY? This is among the most stupid ideas of the century! It's not practical! It will cause irreparable damage to the general ecological balance of the park! And it smacks of greed by those who want to physically build it!
GingerShows 9 years ago
To me the natural beauty of Central Park is perfect. How many birds would die flying into the glass? No, just no,
AnthonyO'hara 9 years ago
How exactly dose rain drain away from a hole that has been excavated all the way down to the bedrock? Worlds largest urban park, doubles as 7 sq. mile swimming pool in winter!
ValerieMarcotte 9 years ago
Interesting take on skyscrapers, given that that's what they were doing: "Awarded first place in eVolo's annual skyscraper competition". This idea is sort of a skyscraper in reverse, adding depth around the tall buildings to have them seem huge. What a lot of time and talent put into this that is never going to be built. Maybe some other future new building project will take off from this idea and something will come of it then.
StevenvanEck 9 years ago
Interesting concept, but what about the shadow being casted of that wall and the availability of sunlight throughout the park? Seems to me a lot of shadow plants are required for this concept.
StevenvanEck 9 years ago
Interesting concept, but I don't think it will be put to practice. My only concern about this idea is that I haven't read anything about the cast of shadow and the available sunlight that would reach throughout the lowered park.
AlexVics 9 years ago
One company of eternal teenagers has proposed to build airport in the Central Park. It was right after 9/11. It seemed to them that they are very witty. And I think that anyone who suggests such projects must necessarily materialize it with his own hands. On Mars. ...\\\\·›
TinyDynamine 9 years ago
Another thing (even though my last comment has disappeared), this will be way below sea level so it would just fill up with water immediately. The island is barely above sea level as it is.
HeatherAlisse 9 years ago
looks like a cool idea, but I'm wondering how they'll keep it from flooding...
TashaHarris 9 years ago
Great imagination guys ,I love this idea on an artistic level, I can imagine apartments in the giant walls with views of the park.
JanaNovotná 9 years ago
Do you need more green in NYC? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocissus_tricuspidata And leave the trees in CP alone. This is madness, Who would change trees for rocks nowadays?
DavidSchwartz 9 years ago
What would this do to the temperature inside the mirrored enclosure?
SherrieLooper 9 years ago
Why ruin something that so many people love & enjoy already, by essentially taking that away to expose the rocks underneath. Someone else already said it here, Why fix what ain't broken?
RobynScott 9 years ago
I thought they were going to build a 1000 ft wall around Trump..........
starla4 9 years ago
I like the uniqueness of the idea (compared to just another skyscraper...Dubai pretty much ruined the fun in that), but the practicality of it is off putting. Elevated land had more surface area than level land, so that's how it would accommodate more people. I live in Florida, so all I can think about is how hurricane Sandy rocked NYC and wonder how a storm of any size would affect the park. I can't help but wonder how people can enter/exit...in an emergency, this could get pretty awful. Keeping it clean would create some jobs, I suppose. Mostly it just touches my claustrophobia in a weird way.
SarahTrapasso 9 years ago
I bet a ton of people would just trash the wall and spray paint it and it would look awful
TiffanyWaltari 9 years ago
This seems dangerous... What if there's ever a storm and water gets in from the ocean? I don't know it just seems like a bad idea.
KatinkaMin 9 years ago
And so much fun for everybody to climb down into a hole full of shade at any time of the day except noon. What a daft idea. I'd be interested int he cost, though, and what it would cost - in comparison - to build green walkways across all the major roads in New york.
AustinWallace 9 years ago
It would be better if the built housing into the wall so thousands of people could live on the edge of the park.
HariKarKataka 9 years ago
It is on an island that means having to deal with the water level if you dig down. So much of New York ground already receives next to no sunlight, lowering the park increases the problem of reduced sunlight. And yes the birds will hurt/ kill themselves on that highly reflective surface.
TinyDynamine 9 years ago
I can't believe they wasted their time on this. The practicalities of doing this would leave it largely impossible to achieve. How long would that take to dig out? How expensive would it be to put that wall in? Where would all the earth go to? They live in cloud cuckoo land.
sneakcollector 9 years ago
Well, that is "art" ... No need to be functional, just needs to be new, drastic, shocking...
MatthewPandaenchanter 9 years ago
Is that why you're voting for Trump and trying to bring back slavery too, while coating your body in deer-urine-scent on the daily? Because I hate those ideas, probably like a lot of people on here. ;-) Just messin'
KonstantinsJaunzems 9 years ago
i imagine walking outside the park on the street along nevernending depressing wall
almostgeniusgaming 9 years ago
I don't think you got it; they are digging down, not bring up a wall
Related on Bored Panda
248
151