# DISCUSS: Best Cancelled Skyscraper



## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

I really like the old design for the Union Square supertall in Hong Kong. The *Kowloon MTR Tower* was supposed to have a crystal facade :










That's the Bionic Tower on the left, which I'm not too fond of. It wasn't a realistic proposal anyway.


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## wjfox (Nov 1, 2002)

How tall would the Kowloon MTR Tower have been?


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

hkskyline said:


> I really like the old design for the Union Square supertall in Hong Kong. The *Kowloon MTR Tower* was supposed to have a crystal facade :
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's the Millenium Tower, not The Bionic Tower. Anyway, the original ICC plan was around 574 m

Here's The Bionic Tower


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

wjfox2002 said:


> How tall would the Kowloon MTR Tower have been?


It's the same height as the current Union Square supertall development. The design was just changed from the crystal facade to this :

Posted : http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=8240059&postcount=144


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## Erebus555 (Apr 21, 2006)

I absolutely adore this:









It si the Seoul Millenium Gate and is 200 metres tall. OK it would have been a monument but it's still pretty amazing.


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## London_guy (Feb 10, 2003)

wjfox2002 said:


> How tall would the Kowloon MTR Tower have been?


About 1800 -1900ft I use to have a pic of it on my wall.


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## JDRS (Feb 8, 2004)

El_Greco said:


> Central Criminal Courts.London :


Definetely. Not building this was a crime to humanity 

Also not sure if we could include the Colombus Tower as it seems very unlikely of happening now?


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

hkskyline said:


> It's the same height as the current Union Square supertall development. The design was just changed from the crystal facade to this :
> 
> Posted : http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=8240059&postcount=144


Actully the original plan was taller and was a contender for the world's tallest building.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

WANCH said:


> Actully the original plan was taller and was a contender for the world's tallest building.


The old design had a special 100 m architectural feature while the new design doesn't have that anymore. So the actual number of stories hasn't materially changed even though the height has dropped.

*Kowloon tower to feature hotel *
28 November 2001
South China Morning Post

102-storey commercial tower at Kowloon Station will house the world's tallest hotel at the upper zone, creating a "talking point". 

The design is being finalised by New York-based architect Kohn Pedersen Fox, a firm which also is overseeing the design of Hongkong Land's Chater House in Central, Hang Lung Group's Plaza 66 in Shanghai and Mori Building's planned 460-metre World Financial Centre in Shanghai. 

Mr Wong said the new Kowloon Station tower design would provide efficient floor plates in the 480-metre, square building. 

*The old design had a 100-metre architectural feature including a transparent atrium, which would have raised the structure's height to 580 metres. *

The 102-storey office-hotel tower is the phase seven development of the 12 million square foot Kowloon Station project, now named Union Square, at the southern tip of the West Kowloon reclamation area overlooking Victoria Harbour. 

SHKP has undertaken a large part of the project, including phases three, five, six and seven. The blueprint for phases five to seven has been revised in favour of taller buildings to create more open space. 

Phases five and six are combined to provide two 64-storey towers, instead of 45 storeys previously. One will include a hotel and serviced apartments while the other a hotel, serviced apartments and flats. Phase three, is a two twin-tower residential project. 

Amoy Properties is building three residential towers in phase four of Union Square. A consortium led by Wharf (Holdings) is developing the five-block Sorrento residential project, part of which is on pre-sale. Phase one, The Waterfront, was completed and developed by a Wing Tai Asia-led consortium. The developers are all in partnership with Mass Transit Railway Corp. 

Union Square, with 2.5 million sq ft of office space and nearly one million sq ft of shopping mall, is due for completion by 2007.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

I got my info from Emporis where it stated it's 574 metres. I was actually looking forward to seeing this tower constructed long time ago before I joined SSC.


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## EtherealMist (Jul 26, 2005)

El_Greco said:


> Central Criminal Courts.London :


Wow what is that thing? It looks amazing. When was it proposed? It looks like its from the middle ages or something.


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## ZZ-II (May 10, 2006)

Grollo Tower and Skyneedle


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## Diviner (May 4, 2006)

- beacon of progress
- gaudi's american hotel:


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## skyscraperboy (Nov 1, 2006)

Diviner said:


> - beacon of progress
> - gaudi's american hotel:


Totally bizarre.. Thank God its cancelled.


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## EDX (Mar 21, 2007)

i think the Manchester 'Vector Arena Tower' would have looked good on our skyline, but they cancelled it because of the nearby airport!


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## Gamma-Hamster (Dec 28, 2006)

Palace of Soviets


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## Karakuri (Dec 5, 2006)

La Tour sans fins, La Défense:


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## NaptownBoy (Jul 25, 2005)

Best Cancelled Skyscraper: The Mile-High Illinois.


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## Skyman (Jan 4, 2006)

Kowloon MTR Tower


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

College Park, Toronto. 

Eaton's department store halted construction of what would have been the world's largest retail and office complex due to the stock market crash of 1928. It would have featured 5,000,000 square feet with a 38 storey central tower on a massive pedestal. Only one corner of the pedestal (7 floors) was completed. It remains today, perhaps the finest example of art moderne on this scale.

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=eatonscollegestreet-toronto-canada


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## i_am_hydrogen (Dec 9, 2004)

NaptownBoy said:


> Best Cancelled Skyscraper: The Mile-High Illinois.


The Illinois technically wasn't a "cancelled" project. It was a vision.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

i_am_hydrogen said:


> The Illinois technically wasn't a "cancelled" project. It was a vision.


Did military air space restrictions get in the way of this project becoming more than a vision?


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Diviner said:


> - beacon of progress
> - gaudi's american hotel:


NO!


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## i_am_hydrogen (Dec 9, 2004)

hkskyline said:


> Did military air space restrictions get in the way of this project becoming more than a vision?


I think the fact that it was a 5281ft (1610m) got in the way of its realization. It was a sketch never meant to be taken seriously. Also, I think there's a point at which a building is too tall. To say it would dwarf surrounding buildings would be a catastrophic understatement. Think of the CN Tower's effect on Toronto's skyline and multiple it by about 3.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

That Gaudi proposal seems like one of those Foster creations - bold, expressive, and very different. It'll fit terribly in the skyline though.


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## i_am_hydrogen (Dec 9, 2004)

Chicago has some of the best cancelled projects:

7 South Dearborn - 478m (1,567 ft) - 112 fl


Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle - 610m (2,000 ft) - 125 fl


Project 2000 - 698m (1,968 ft) - 120 fl


Wolf Point - 532m (1,745 ft) - 142 fl


Dearborn Center - 346m (1,135 ft) - 85 fl 


for more, visit: http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/sk/li/?id=101030&bt=7&ht=2&sro=1


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## some_stupid_nut (Sep 21, 2003)

I love Dearborn Center! They canceled it and the innards were used for Jin Mao.


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## krudmonk (Jun 14, 2007)

Beacause it looks so creepy...


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

i_am_hydrogen said:


> Chicago has some of the best cancelled projects:


They're impressive but sad that they weren't built. I would like to see a render of Chicago's skyline with this buildings and The Chicago Spire


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## Jude12 (Jun 16, 2007)

ill go for 7 south dearborn


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## wjfox (Nov 1, 2002)

London's tallest "never built" towers -

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=526817

Vote for your favourite!


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## NittanyBLUE2002 (May 16, 2006)

Someone _has_ to bring this puppy back to life:


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## WonderlandPark (Sep 9, 2007)

Trump totally ripped off Wolf Point. Never even heard of that proposal.

I second the Tour Sans Fin in Paris, would have made a great tower for a great city.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

In terms of sustainability, the concept behind the Bionic Tower is quite good, whereas the other projects didn't incorporate much of the self-sustained city motif at all. The Bionic's idea is quite revolutionary, although it has been done before (ie. Chicago's Hancock and other mixed use buildings).


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## Patrick (Sep 11, 2002)

damn that this tower was cancelled in the late 80s because of 1 (in words: one!) neighboring old woman who was against it, although the developper offered her a seven-digit amount of D-Mark (1,95583DM = 1€)! Well, that is Germany...

Campanile, Frankfurt
264m (300m with antenna)


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## Frankfurter_Bockwurst (Aug 8, 2007)

seqsi


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## helghast (Oct 23, 2007)

defiantly 7 South Dearborn


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## dars-dm (Oct 13, 2007)

I think Palace of Soviets (450 m, Moscow (taller than Nabtower), 1936-1941, cancelled in '41)


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## Diviner (May 4, 2006)

Convocation Tower


you can find a pic on this page, but there is a great drawing by hugh ferriss in his book "the metropolis of tomorrow".


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## Anberlin (Aug 11, 2007)

A skyscraper in Melbourne.


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## skyscraper100 (Oct 22, 2007)

for me, the illinois


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## MDguy (Dec 16, 2006)

I really liked Ice Tower, for Panama


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## gsgeorge (Jul 23, 2007)

The Book Brothers' original 1924 proposal for the Book Tower in Detroit, Michigan, was an 80-storey skyscraper that would have been 1000 feet tall--the tallest in the world at that time.










This design was eventually scaled back and turned into this:










Detroit's current tallest building is the Renaissance Center at 727 feet.

photo credit:
http://team-miller.org/tmc/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsgeorge/


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## Edward (Apr 29, 2007)

South Pacific Center, Melbourne











and of course Grollo Tower V2


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## Alexriga (Nov 25, 2007)

Palace of the soviets (450m). It would be just so crazy and ridiculous to build it with that huge Lenin statue on top. Tourists would piss their pants to see it, youth would laugh to death looking at it, remaining commies would cry near it etc.


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## Dazon (Oct 26, 2007)

For the Jakarta. Check this out this diagram 










Best cancelled project on Jakarta:
1. Dragon Tower
2. Kuningan Persada
3. Megakuningan Tower
4. Graha Kuningan


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## rgarrison (Sep 11, 2007)

gsgeorge said:


> The Book Brothers' original 1924 proposal for the Book Tower in Detroit, Michigan, was an 80-storey skyscraper that would have been 1000 feet tall--the tallest in the world at that time.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Interesting. I didn't know that. Is there a render of what it was supposed to look like.


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## BrickellResidence (Feb 4, 2008)

for me brickellciticentre and brickell flatiron.


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## leogodoy (Jun 23, 2008)

I know this thread is about the "best cancelled", but I'd like to remind you of this: 










Maharishi Tower in São Paulo, 510m. :weird:


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## bolo-ju (Mar 9, 2008)

La Llum, 500 metres, Valencia, Spain


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## bolo-ju (Mar 9, 2008)

another photo of La Llum, this is of the base of the building


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## helghast (Oct 23, 2007)

MDguy said:


> I really liked Ice Tower, for Panama


i thought this tower was under construction :lol:


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## i_am_hydrogen (Dec 9, 2004)

skyscraper100 said:


> for me, the illinois


The Illinois was a vision, not a proposal, so it technically wasn't canceled.


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## wazcaster (Apr 16, 2008)

For me its got to be Croydon's Suffolk house, orCanary Wharf's 1 Millharbour.


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## jacobchan (Jan 18, 2009)

helghast said:


> i thought this tower was under construction :lol:


was halt cost $ 587million want canaclled????


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## luci203 (Apr 28, 2008)

skyscraper100 said:


> for me, the illinois


I don't think it was cancelled, it was just a vision.


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## viatorek (Mar 21, 2009)

helghast said:


> i thought this tower was under construction :lol:


for me its looks like COMPLETED :banana: hehe


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## ChicagoFreak96 (Apr 28, 2009)

I think that the best cancelled skyscraper ever is The Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle!


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## WiWiWi (Jun 13, 2009)

MDguy said:


> I really liked Ice Tower, for Panama


The tower looks so real :lol:


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## ainttelling (Jun 3, 2009)

Giant Lenin.










[Source].


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