Bad Ideas Department: Really Big, Really Bad--Mussolini's Monster.

JF Ptak Science Books LLC  Post 849  Blog Bookstore

“Building skyscrapers is the nearest peace-time equivalent of war. In fact, the analogy is startling, even to the occasional grim reality of a building accident where maimed bodies, and even death, remind us that we are fighting a war of construction against the forces of nature.” -Col. William A. Starrett, Skyscrapers and the Men Who Build Them (1928)

Indeed!  I wonder if Starrett (whose book, or at least its cover, is beautifully designed and a roaring bore to read) had this proposed building (below) in mind—if so, we could’ve skipped right past WWII and declared WWIII. 

 

It’s a good thing that the Roman skyline isn’t punctured here and there by skyscrapers—especially those that would’ve been built during the Fascist era.  Take, for example, this planned 1100-foot monster, proposed in 1925, in the third year of Mussolini’s government.  This is an idealized cityscape of course, created to show height comparisons with famous buildings, but this thing (looking very much like Moscow University) would’ve created a hole in the sky and thrown a suffocating, shadowing presence all over the city.  Granted it isn’t as monstrous as many of the international style buildings could’ve been had they been a fifth of a mile high--that work was left to the cobbled hand of Philip Johnson in America—but it is still horrible enough all on its own.  More horrible to think that it could’ve swallowed whole the seven biggest buildings in Rome, and was taller than the seven greatest architectural wonders of the ancient world stacked one on top of the other. 

It is curious to note that this spaceship-like building was drawn for The Illustrated London News (24 January 1925) by Chesley Bonestell (1888-1986), an artist and designer, and known as “the Father of Space Art”.  The best thing that this building could’ve done was to light its afterburners and take off. 

Comments

[Ray Girvan]

Aesthetics apart, Rome is in an earthquake zone. Bad idea all round.