life is no fiction

Cities are an inspiring playground for ambitious architects.   But ambitious ideas come with hefty price-tags and there’s always a political story to negotiate, too. Often, the most exciting ideas for buildings, bridges, and towers make it no further than the blueprint stage.   A creative team trawled the archives for forgotten ‘might-have-beens’ and used lost plans and schematics to bring unbuilt structures to life across some of the most famous cities in Britain.

What Bristol could have looked like

In 1864, Brunel’s Clifton Suspension Bridge finally opened after 110 years of struggle. Bristol’s famous landmark could have looked very different.

What London could have looked like

Sir Misha Black and Hilton Wright’s design for London’s Royal Festival Hall would have dominated both the riverbank and the skyline, its imposing glazed spiral ramp leading to a 1500-ft high viewing platform across the city.

What Liverpool could have looked like

C.H.R. Bailey’s entry to the 1959 competition for Liverpool’s new cathedral looks like it was ripped from the film set of sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet, released just three years previously.

What Manchester could have looked like

The architecture of Piccadilly Gardens has long been a site of controversy for the people of Manchester. But few realize it could have been settled once and for all with the construction of an art gallery on the spot back in the 1930s.

What Newcastle could have looked like

In an effort to separate pedestrians from the modern blight of ubiquitous automobiles, Newcastle’s city planners looked up. Designs were drawn and work began on a system of overhead walkways between raised buildings.

What Edinburgh could have looked like

David Bryce’s 1862 sketch for a Memorial Keep in honour of Prince Albert would have been a major change to the city’s skyline. But Queen Victoria, Albert’s widow, disapproved of the construction, and the tower was never erected.

i. when someone leaves this earth forever, the world will come to a halt for you but two years later the waves will break at the shore just the same and you will wonder how the moon can care so little that he’s gone.

ii. the only way home will never leave you is if you find it inside of you. you will learn eventually not to build it out of bricks, you will learn eventually not to build it out of people, either.

iii. you will outgrow the dreams you thought were all you ever wanted. you must understand that this is different from giving up.

iv. i know you always think you are the exception but when your friends move across the country, your hearts will grow apart. that does not mean they have any less of a place in it, but it will hurt.

v. no one is invincible and everyone you put on a pedestal is just skin and heart and bleeds as red as you.

vi. you will not always remember that you were born good enough.

vii. there will come a time - when you are twenty, when you’re thirty, when you are forty-three - where it will hit you at 2 am that the years you have lived are gone. that sixteen-year-old you lives inside of you but her skin is made from paper and photographs. you will scream and rage against time but 2014 will not come back. you will learn to live with that ache like you always do.

viii. you will keep on marking down dreams and wishes and plans as “i want to do that someday”, and one day you’re twenty-five and you realize that “someday” has passed a hundred times in the form of yesterday. you will promise to do better next time, but you will not always keep it.

ix. people will keep telling you that it gets better but they will never say when.