Unbuilt Masterworks of the 21st Century

by Will Jones

Provides a fascinating glimpse into an architectural practice's ambitions and design process, and a treasure trove of design ideas. What happens to the projects that are produced for international competitions when they don’t win? Or the grand plans for which hundreds of thousands of dollars or euros are spent in research and development but which are never built? Or the proposals for speculative builders who can’t, in the end, raise the money? Or the buildings commissioned by governments which are too visionary to be constructed? A single image might appear in professional journals, but most of the plans will disappear, never to be seen again.

This book features one hundred of the best unbuilt projects proposed since the turn of the millennium by some of the world’s greatest contemporary architects, including Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas/OMA, Foreign Office Architects, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Zaha Hadid, as well as rising stars such as Jürgen Mayer H Architects and Asymptote.

Arranged in sections according to function―entertainment spaces, museums, urban plans, education, habitation―the projects are presented in detail through texts that consider the importance of the designs and assess why they weren’t built, along with renderings and plans. Many of the more than 600 illustrations have not been seen outside the practices themselves. 747 color, 153 b&w illustrations

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Cindy Frewen Wuellner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dizzying array of forward design lives in this fat book of fantasies. As Will Jones explains, projects don't make b/c a scheme is not selected in competition, costs soar above budgets or people don't get along. 100 architecture projects in 900 computer and hand drawn images represent perhaps 40 firms. UK, USA, China, UAE, and Russia and its former territories have larger groupings although its certainly a global effort. France, Australia, Sudan, and Switerland offer fine projects as well. Seven project types - arts and entertainment, accomodation, masterplans, musems, bridges and towers, culture and education, and work and travel. Iconic buildings dominate. Esp incredible below grade projects and a few elevated on legs or stilts, absolutely thrilling if they would be built. One of my favorites is a modest footbridge in Oklahoma by Bing Thom. Bridges and towers are subjectively the strongest section and housing the weakest - theres better ideas on Arch Daily. These are the fantasies of leading architects - what they wish they could build. Embarrasingly absent of urbanism and frequently ignoring environmental considerations, its a book made for dreaming.

[Wei Cho · Rating 4 out of 5]

unbuilt masterworks is one of those books that are a compilation of projects that were proposed by architects and starchitects but were never built. some of the projects are really interesting, especially those that have an element of urban planning and thinking. I feel like my view and interest of architecture has shifted from a single building to a larger urban scale. I love cities more than I love individual buildings. some of these projects are really weird and innovative. they're technological and advanced. many implement ideas of sustainability by incorporating complex exterior skin systems. many are over the top and dramatic. some are subtle and elegant, like one from DS+R that consists of a small house. overall it was a good book showcasing the projects that didn't get a lot of attention or they did but were too controversial to build. it's full of beautiful photographs and a description of every project as well as a thematic explanation that organizes the projects by type: residential, commercial, urban, etc.