The Greatest Buildings Never Built

Newton's Cenotaph

One of the most fascinating unbuilt structures is Newton's Cenotaph, designed by 18th-century French architect Etienne Louis Boullet. This proposed monument to Isaac Newton would have been a gigantic sphere, 150 meters tall, with an interior that inverted daylight. During the day, it would be dark inside, and at night, it would be illuminated by a single light suspended from the top 1.

   

Fuller's Dome

Buckminster Fuller proposed an audacious plan to cover midtown Manhattan with a two-mile-wide geodesic dome. Made of shatterproof glass coated with aluminum, the dome would have trapped heat and required banning combustion engines underneath 2.

   

Wright's Illinois

Frank Lloyd Wright envisioned a mile-high skyscraper called the Illinois, which would have been twice as tall as the Burj Khalifa. Despite Wright's belief in its feasibility, later analysis revealed issues with high winds and elevator design that made the project impractical 3.