Atlas of Never Built Architecture Hardcover – 22 May 2024

The two authors originally considered five thousand never builts, a number obviously not practical for a book so the next number was a thousand, still too optimistic but after some serious winnowing three hundred and fifty made it into these pages and what a fascinating book they make. Each building has a few hundred words about the project with the last sentence or so giving the reason for non-building. So, for example, if the architect hadn't died, there wasn't a regime change or the money ran out many of these structures would be with us today.On the other hand, if everything went to plan and Lloyd Wright's 1956 Mile-high tower in Chicago was constructed probably only the brave would venture to the top. A similarly ambitious project was the 2011 MVRDV designed The Cloud in Seoul, South Korea. Two towers with living quarters and mini cities breaking out of the towers halfway up creating a bridge to each other. It immediately provoked the criticism that it looked like the Yamasaki's Twin Towers in New York just before they collapsed.I thought the range of buildings quite impressive. Of course, there are plenty of skyscraper-style structures but also gardens, religious retreats, sports centers, concert halls, monuments, bridges, museums et cetera. Most are colour images and some of these are really impressive architectural renderings. My only, rather minor criticism, is why the book is fairly expensive? You can look inside the book at Westread Book Reviews then click 2025 and April.