New Yorkers love to hate Times Square. While the district has a lot to offer, it’s plagued by massive crowds and the strangely oppressive smell of honey-roasted nuts. It isn’t hard to understand why people here are always in such a rush: They just want to get away from it all! But what if people had another option? What if they could get away by going up?
This idea has motivated the Shanghai-based architecture firm 100architects to design a new form of urban recreation. This multitiered conceptual proposal, named Vertical Times, offers visitors stellar 360-degreeviews and various options for fun and relaxation.
The structure is composed of six cylindrical pods stacked on top of one another along a central column. While the pods are enclosed by glass walls for safety, the open-roof design allows fresh air to circulate through these spaces, as well. Visitors reach these pods by entering an elevator that moves up and down the central column. The 180-foot-tall (55-meter-tall) design has a very small footprint and will cause minimal disruption to the movement of crowds through Times Square.
The two pods closest to street level are devoted to children’s entertainment, with the lowest pod featuring a carousel and the pod directly above featuring a ball pool. Above that is a hammock plaza. Next up is a sky garden followed by a restaurant and sky bar.
Unlike something like the High Line, Vertical Times would be both a commercial and public venture. While 100architects believe the public should be able to take advantage of the sky garden, ball pool and hammock plaza for free, the restaurant and sky bar would of course be businesses. They imagine these establishments will become popular enough to make the construction of the tower a profitable endeavor.
Whether or not this or anything similar ever comes to fruition in New York, the design certainly represents an imaginative solution to an age-old problem in New York: creating a sense of spaciousness in a limited amount of space.
All images courtesy of 100architects