9 Failed Designs That Would Have Changed Times Square Forever

Times Squareis one big , incredible machinethat has the sweetened caress of capitalism to thank for its success as much as it does measured metropolis planning . However , when the sphere was famously foul in 1984 , New York Citycontemplated a major interventionthat would ’ve changed the landscape of Midtown profoundly .

The treatment itselfnever quite pan out out , but the proposed designs for a Times Square sure did say a fortune about the country of architecture at the clip . The Skyscraper Museum in downtown Manhattan is presently exhibiting a extract of the original designs , which range from Blade Runner - inspired futurescapes to tepid , postmodernist pastiche . None of them really await like Times Square today , but that ’s kind of the percentage point .

Inevitably , every design team ’s approach offers unique insight not only into what Times Square could ’ve become but also what American architecture did become . [ NYTviaFastCo ]

Hostinger Coupon Code 15% Off

Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown

While it seemed like a good idea at the time , this vapid , boxy approach would ’ve turned Times Square into a supersized translation of the generic skyscraper that dot America ’s exurbs . And that apple .

Gilbert Gorski

This form of Space Needle - inspired creation would ’ve been greatfor New Year ’s Eve solemnisation . And that car - looking matter could be cool for tourists . passably much everything else about this aim is just dreadful , though .

Lee Dunnette

Now we ’re talking . This thing looks like a spaceport that dart holograms into the stars . And any design that mentions Indiana Jones intelligibly arrest extra point .

George Ranalli

This candidly variety of fascist - looking design jive back into the kingdom of awful . That enjoin , it also resemblesthe original romantic modernist designof 2 Columbus Circle ( RIP ) .

Umm , is that a zeppelin ? Is this a exercise set pull from the motion picture Metropolis ? Have you ever control Times Square look so clean and modernistic ?

David Stein

Seriously , though , this plan is legitimately nerveless . Stein want to cover the original New York Times headquarters with lightbulbs that could exhibit the aspect of old Broadway stars . Giventhe ubiquity of LED preindication in Times Square today , the estimate was oddly prescient .

William Schacht and Cassandra McGowen

This simple estimation is essentially a more analog version of Stein ’s concept . alternatively of a new incandescent façade , however , One Times Square would be reinstate and enclose with the face of Lady Liberty . It ’s everlasting inoffensive but also not very transformative .