America is home to many iconic structures.
But for every unique building you see popping out of the skyline … there are dozens of even crazier projects that were never built.
In 1960, the architect Buckminster Fuller proposed erecting a two-mile wide dome over Manhattan.i
Fuller proposed building “Dome Over Manhattan” out of shatterproof, one-way glass.
The dome was designed to let Manhattanites live in a climate-controlledii environment … and Fuller claimed the money the dome would save on snow removal would pay for its construction.iii
Dome Over Manhattan wasn’t the only proposal that would have changed a major city’s skyline.
Before settling on the facade that has since been immortalized on the penny … the commission responsible for designing the Lincoln Memorial entertained some curious designs.iv
The architect John Russell Pope proposed memorializing Honest Abe with a pyramid … or a massive Greek temple raised above Washington, D.C., at the top of a seemingly endless staircase.v
Some unbuilt infrastructure is interesting primarily because of *how* it would have been built.
In the 1950s, the Energy Department proposed creating an artificial harbor in Cape Thompson, Alaska … through the use of five hydrogen bombs.vi
Physicist Edward Teller backed the plan as an example of a “peaceful” application of nuclear weapons.vii
And although officials assured residents that the area’s wind and ice would push radiation away … local protestors successfully petitioned to halt the project in 1962, which was probably for the best.
You *do not* want to encounter a radioactive polar bear.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- The architect Buckminster Fuller proposed erecting a two-mile wide, weather-proof dome over Manhattan in the 1960s.
- The original proposals for the Lincoln Memorial included pyramids and giant staircases.
- In the 1950s, the U.S. government proposed building a port in Alaska using nuclear weapons.
// 