The downturn has led to plenty of ideas on how to best use stalled developments, ideas like subsidized housing and homeless shelters and rehab centers. So practical. So sensible. So boring! Now arriving to put the "freeze" back in credit freeze is design firm Woods Bagot, which wants to fill each stalled site with an "iceberg," a recyclable structure (made of steel beams and a thin plastic film) that would, Crain's reports, "serve as sort of architectural placeholders" while really banging home the parallels between the real estate market and the Titantic. Absurd? Awesome? Absurdly awesome? No matter your opinion, we think we can all agree that the one image published by Crain's is not enough to get a feel for such an ambitious vision. Luckily we're such Photoshop pros!
UPDATE: The fine folks at Woods Bagot sent us more renderings of their iceberg initiative, seen in the gallery above. Doesn't mean we can't still have our fun!
We've summoned all our powers to imagine what two well known stalled sites might look like after getting Woods Bagot's iceberg treatment. Here's Rem Koolhaas's 23 East 22nd Street, the building that was supposed to be known for its dramatic cantilever. More like dramatic grab-a-sweater!
And Herzog & de Meuron's 56 Leonard Street, aka the Jenga Building, is now the Blenda Building, because all that ice is perfect for mucho margaritas! Feel the chill!
· Designer floats iceberg idea for stalled sites [Crain's]
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