oiio proposes the world's longest building with 'big bend' new york skyscraper

architecture studio oiio has conceived a bending skyscraper for new york, dubbed ‘the world’s longest building’.

architecture studio oiio has conceived a bending skyscraper for new york, dubbed ‘the world’s longest building’. the scheme has been proposed for manhattan’s 57th street, a major thoroughfare that hosts a growing number of supertall structures — including one57 and 432 park avenue. this controversial ‘billionaires’ row’, has generated a great deal of debate, calling into question the economic conditions and zoning policies that have brought about the current situation.

in response, oiio — an architecture studio based in new york and athens — has designed ‘the big bend’, a single building that doubles back on itself at its peak to form an inhabitable arch. the conceptual scheme takes advantage of the city’s zoning laws to create a structure with a huge amount of saleable square footage, without worrying about height limits. despite meeting the ground at two separate points, the project retains a relatively small footprint.

‘we usually learn about the latest tallest building and we are always impressed by its price per square foot,’ says oiio. it seems that a property’s height operates as a license for it to be expensive. new york city’s zoning laws have created a peculiar set of tricks trough which developers try to maximize their property’s height in order to infuse it with the prestige of a high rise structure. but what if we substituted height with length? what if our buildings were long instead of tall?’.