A Greek-born architect has an answer for New York City condo developers hungry for more height: The Big Bend.
Ioannis Oikonomou, architect and founder of Oiio Studio, says go “long instead of tall" in Manhattan. Oiio Studio recently released a vision for a U-shaped building that could attract big money without buying too much air. The Big Bend would be a skinny, curved structure running 4,000-feet-long on Billionaire's Row.
“If we manage to bend our structure instead of bending the zoning rules of New York we would be able to create one of the most prestigious buildings in Manhattan,” Oiio Studio says on its website. “The longest building in the world.”
The conceptual design might be a comment on rising architectural inequality in New York City. In one of The Big Bend's design photos, a white man with white hair in the structure reaches for his top hat that's rolling away. Stacks of money are in the background.
"The Big Bend can become a modest architectural solution to the height limitations of Manhattan," Oiio Studio's site says.