Prompt Cast
The Greatest Buildings That Were Never Built: From a Massive Dome Designed by Hitler to a 150-Meter Tall Sphere Honoring Isaac Newton
TLDR This podcast explores some of the most ambitious architectural designs that were never realized, including a proposed 150-meter tall sphere to honor Isaac Newton, a massive dome designed by Hitler's chief architect, and a two-mile-wide dome over Midtown Manhattan made of shatterproof glass. These unrealized structures offer a glimpse into the imagination and creativity of architects throughout history.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The podcast discusses the greatest buildings that were never built, including the proposed Cenotaph of Newton, a 150-meter tall sphere designed to honor Isaac Newton.
02:29
The proposed Cenotaph of Newton would have been the largest building in the world at the time, larger than the Great Pyramid and taller than any cathedral in Europe, and it would have inverted daylight from the outside, while the Vaux Halle, a massive building designed by Adolf Hitler's chief architect Albert Speer, would have been a gigantic dome resembling the U.S. Capitol building on steroids.
04:20
The Vaux Halle would have been a massive building designed by Hitler's chief architect, capable of holding 180,000 people and featuring a dome so large that weather formations would have formed inside of it, while Buckminster Fuller proposed a two-mile-wide dome over Midtown Manhattan made of shatterproof glass, and Frank Lloyd Wright designed his most ambitious building at the age of 88.
06:13
The Illinois, a proposed building in Chicago, would have been the tallest in the world, twice as tall as the Burj Khalifa, but faced challenges with high winds and elevator technology.
08:02
The Palace of the Soviets in Moscow, which would have been taller than the Empire State Building, was partially constructed before being abandoned due to World War II, and subsequent proposals to build a scaled-down version were never realized.
09:47
The proposed Fair du Monde tower for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris was to be 2,300 feet tall with a spiral ramp for cars to drive to the top, but it was never built.
11:37
Architectural ideas that are never built can range from thought experiments to attention-seeking designs, but it's still interesting to imagine what the world would be like if some of these structures were actually constructed.
