Live Above Metropolis
New York, in 2029, will undoubtedly carry larger population, greater density, taller buildings, and faster rhythm, and all persons and things will be shrouded in the New York-style frenzy which continues to enlarge as time passes by. More blocks in Manhattan will be occupied by skyscrapers; the huge scale and the cramped space bring the repressed, heavy, and humble feelings to city people. When people walk in the street, they are confronted with huge advertisements overwhelming to them; explosive information, fast-paced work, and stream of people will continuously push you forward, leaving you no time for hesitation and no space for breathing, all these is because you are in 2029 New York city.
Put the clock back to the year 1929, the governor of New York, preparatory leader of Empire State Building, Alfred Smith, announced a further lift to this imposing skyscraper—to original 320m height of design will increase to 381m when finished.
As a marker of economic recovery in New York, landmark and commanding height of New York, the 381-meter-high Empire State Building carries the dream of an era. Moreover, this newly-increased 61 meters becomes more than a mark of the height competition in a metropolis, it carries people’s infinite longing for this space age—the airship anchorage on the top of the Empire State Building. In the vision of the designers, when this mooring tower erects, it could serve as Zeppelin’s harbour to allow passengers directly get access to the heartland of Manhattan. Airship was once considered as the future of air commerce, and with that day approaching, the Empire State Building will definitely become the heart of New York.
After a-hundred-year’s technological innovation, in another space time, where all sorts of airships begin to dominate the airspace of the metropolis, and the wonderfulness and gorgeousness of space age will make every New Yorker, lifting up his eyes to look at New York, rather excited. The top of the Empire State Building has truly become the platform for the metropolis to link with the sky. People will no longer be subject to the limitations of gravity, they can at will enjoy a sightseeing tour in the sky. As a result, when people set foot on the spire of the Empire State Building, returning to the ground from the vast horizon, they would no longer have the excitement and rejoicing. Every time they overlook the foot—the buildings and streets of Manhattan, they seem to fall in a purgatorial space.
In Manhattan, New York, where skyscrapers stand in great numbers, the city planning model, which bases on the two-dimensional space, can no longer correspond to the space growth of Manhattan. It is a three-dimensional planning concept that is needed here, for Manhattan is a malformed city where city space grows vertically. Obviously, all theoretical researches have been unable to adapt to the explosive growth of Manhattan; more skyscrapers rise straight from the ground, and the earth-based space, consisting of subways, streets, and skyscrapers, has already been saturated. Such high population density, excessive space compression, and uncontrollable pace of life lead the ground-living New Yorkers crazy. However, the vast space among the ice-cold buildings, above the roofs, and upon the figure-ground relation is actually the vacant space without any development. We would like to let people here witness the mellow beauty of New York!
Many boat-like aircrafts slowly descend from the sky, go deep among buildings, dock on the roofs, and anchor beside windows. They are not only islets but also ferries; they liberate the chaotic ground-based public space of the metropolis, and at the same time, bring to people a brand-new choice—escaping from the intensive stream of people among streets and buildings, from the oppressed space, and from the unremitting pace of life that make people hard to breathe, to such a space—full of freedom, far from the crowd, free from oppression—to enjoy a moment of solitude, leisure, and calm. Besides, they will on one hand liberate the crowded traffic space in metropolis, and on the other hand bring people another possibility—to ferry among skyscrapers, escaping from occluded high-speed elevator and crowded and chaotic streets, and to enjoy a moment of slow life before the huge curtain wall, examining selves and dream about future.
From cafes, gardens to galleries and theaters, under the airships there bear all that the city needs, provide the vertical city, which has already lost the planning space, with constant supply, and infuse endless vitality into it. We enfranchise the space of city celebrations from streets and squares, the space of public entertainment from indoor activities. Sailing above via the five elevations of skyscrapers and extending unlimitedly in the vast space upon the city, that is exactly what makes the 2029 New York.
In 2029, which New York you will be in?
