An unfinished building is a

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fun ...

(or other architectural structure, as a bridge, a road or a tower) where

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

work was abandoned or on-hold at some stage or only exists as a design. It may also refer to buildings that are currently being built, particularly those that have been delayed or at which construction work progresses extremely slowly. Many

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

projects have remained unfinished at various stages of development. The work may be finished as a

blueprint A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. Introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842, the process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...

whiteprint Whiteprint describes a document reproduction produced by using the diazo chemical process. It is also known as the blue-line process since the result is blue lines on a white background. It is a contact printing process which accurately reproduce ...

and never be realised, or be abandoned during construction. One of the best-known perennially incomplete buildings is

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, ''sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barcel ...

's basilica

Sagrada Família The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, shortened as the Sagrada Família, is an unfinished church in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. It has been under construction since 1882 and planned to be complete by 2026, Gaudí's death centenary.

Partially constructed buildings

There are numerous unfinished buildings that remain partially constructed in countries around the world, some of which can be used in their incomplete state but with others remaining as a mere shell. Some projects are intentionally left with an unfinished appearance, particularly the

follies ''Follies'' is a Musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on t ...

of the late 16th to 18th century. Some buildings are in a cycle of near-perpetual construction, with work lasting for decades or even centuries.

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, has been under construction for around 120 years, having started in the 1880s. Work was delayed by the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, during which the original models and parts of the building itself were destroyed. Today, even with portions of the

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

incomplete, it is still the most popular tourist destination in Barcelona with 1.5 million visitors every year. Gaudí spent 40 years of his life overseeing the project and is buried in the crypt. Germany's

Cologne Cathedral Cologne Cathedral (german: Kölner Dom, officially ', English: Cathedral Church of Saint Peter) is a Catholic cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of ...

took even longer to complete; construction started in 1248 and finished in 1880, a total of 632 years.

Buildings (and other architectural structures) never completed

Buildings that were never completed and remain in that state include: *

Duomo di Siena Siena Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Siena) is a medieval church in Siena, Italy, dedicated from its earliest days as a Roman Catholic Marian church, and now dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It was the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Siena, and ...

(

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

Cathedral), Italy * Abbey of the Santissima Trinità,

Venosa Venosa ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, in the Vulture area. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Ginestra, Lavello, Maschito, Montemilone, Palazzo San Gervasio, ...

, Italy *

San Petronio Basilica The Basilica of San Petronio is a minor basilica and church of the Archdiocese of Bologna located in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. It dominates Piazza Maggiore. The basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Saint Petronius ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, Italy *

Goodwood House Goodwood House is a country house and estate covering in Westhampnett, Chichester, West Sussex, England and is the seat of the Duke of Richmond. The house was built in about 1600 and is a Grade I listed building. Description The house and its ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, UK *

Klosterneuburg Monastery Klosterneuburg Abbey or Monastery (german: Stift Klosterneuburg) is a twelfth-century Augustinian monastery of the Roman Catholic Church located in the town of Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria. Overlooking the Danube, just north of the Vienna city l ...

, Austria *

Herrenchiemsee Herrenchiemsee is a complex of royal buildings on Herreninsel, the largest island in the Chiemsee lake, in southern Bavaria, Germany. Together with the neighbouring isle of Frauenchiemsee and the uninhabited Krautinsel, it forms the municipality ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, Germany *

Prora The Colossus of Prora, commonly known as simply "Prora", is a building complex in the municipality of Binz on the island of Rügen, Germany. It was built by Nazi Germany between 1936 and 1939 as part of the Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch F ...

, island of

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...

, Germany *

Woodchester Mansion Woodchester Mansion is an unfinished, Gothic revival mansion house in Nympsfield, Gloucestershire, England. It is on the site of an earlier house known as Spring Park. The mansion is a Grade I listed building. The mansion was abandoned by its b ...

Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

, UK * Parliament House,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand *

Bishop Castle Bishop Castle is an "elaborate and intricate" "one-man project" named after its constructor, Jim Bishop, that has become a roadside attraction in central Colorado. The "castle" is located in south central Colorado on State Highway 165 in the ...

San Isabel National Forest San Isabel National Forest is located in central Colorado. The forest contains 19 of the state's 53 fourteeners, peaks over high, including Mount Elbert, the highest point in Colorado. It is one of eleven national forests in the state of Color ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, US *

Boldt Castle Boldt Castle is a major landmark and tourist attraction in the Thousand Islands region of the U.S. state of New York. Open to guests seasonally between mid-May and mid-October, it is located on Heart Island in the Saint Lawrence River. Heart Isl ...

Thousand Islands The Thousand Islands (french: Mille-Îles) constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for abo ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, US *

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, UK *

Ajuda National Palace The Palace of Ajuda ( pt, Palácio da Ajuda, ) is a neoclassical monument in the civil parish of Ajuda in the city of Lisbon, central Portugal. Built on the site of a temporary wooden building constructed to house the Royal family after the 175 ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Cuenca Cathedral Cuenca Cathedral is a Gothic cathedral in the city of Cuenca, located in the Province of Cuenca in the Castile-La Mancha region of south-eastern central Spain. The building is one of the earliest Spanish examples of Gothic architecture, bui ...

, Cuenca, Spain *

Jeddah Tower Jeddah Tower ( ar, برج جدة), previously known as Kingdom Tower (), is a skyscraper construction project currently on hold. Located on the north side of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, it is planned to be the first tall building, and the centrep ...

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

Plaza Rakyat The People's Plaza ( ms, Plaza Rakyat) is an under construction mixed-use skyscraper complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia initiated during the 1990s. However the project, which had already commenced construction, stalled due to the 1997 Asian f ...

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

* Ilot Voyageur,

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada *

Centro Financiero Confinanzas Centro Financiero Confinanzas (English: Confinanzas Financial Center), also known as Torre de David (the Tower of David), is an unfinished abandoned skyscraper in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. It is the third highest skyscraper in the count ...

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

* Aspotogan Sea Spa,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada (demolished) *

Chicago Spire The Chicago Spire was a skyscraper project in Chicago that was partially built between 2007 and 2008 before being cancelled. Located at 400 N. Lake Shore Drive, it would have stood high with 150 floors and been the tallest building in the Weste ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, US *

Monumento a la Revolución The Monument to the Revolution ( es, Monumento a la Revolución, links=no) is a landmark and monument commemorating the Mexican Revolution. It is located in the Plaza de la República, near to the heart of the major thoroughfares Paseo de la Re ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, Mexico *

Beaumaris Castle Beaumaris Castle ( ; cy, Castell Biwmares ), in Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales, was built as part of Edward I's campaign to conquer north Wales after 1282. Plans were probably first made to construct the castle in 1284, but this was delayed d ...

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, UK *

2 World Trade Center 2 World Trade Center (2 WTC; also known as 200 Greenwich Street) is a planned skyscraper as part of the World Trade Center complex in Manhattan, New York City. It will replace the original 2 World Trade Center, which was completed in 1972 and ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, US * Trump International Hotel and Tower,

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

In other cases, construction works proceeds extremely slowly, so one can also say form incomplete structures. Examples are: * Cathedral of St. John the Divine,

, New York, US *

, Spain *

Kaliakra transmitter The Kaliakra transmitter was a huge facility for medium wave broadcasting, which was built after 1988 by the former Soviet Union as a relay transmitter for Southeast Europe. After the collapse of communism in 1989, there was no need for the facil ...

Cape Kaliakra Kaliakra ( bg, Калиакра; ro, Caliacra) is a cape in the Southern Dobruja region of the northern Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, which ends with a long and narrow headland east of Kavarna, northeast of Varna and southwest of Mangalia. The ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, UK

Other unfinished structures

There are also roads, railway lines and channels which remained unfinished.

Roads

* MP-203,

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

Interstate 710 Route 710, consisting of the non-contiguous segments of State Route 710 (SR 710) and Interstate 710 (I-710), is a major north–south state highway and auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of the ...

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

* Route 11 Expressway,

New London County New London County is in the southeastern corner of Connecticut and comprises the Norwich-New London, Connecticut Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Hartford-East Hartford, Connecticut Combined Statistical Area. There i ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

LaSalle Expressway The LaSalle Expressway (also known as the LaSalle Arterial) is a limited-access highway in Niagara County, New York, in the United States. It begins near the North Grand Island Bridge at an interchange with Interstate 190 (I-190) in Niagara ...

Niagara County Niagara County is in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 212,666. The county seat is Lockport. The county name is from the Iroquois word ''Onguiaahra''; meaning ''the strait'' or ''thunder of waters''. Niag ...

South Mall Arterial The South Mall Arterial is a expressway in Albany, New York, in the United States. It begins at an intersection with Swan Street and runs eastward under the Empire State Plaza to the west end of the Dunn Memorial Bridge, where the highway ends at ...

Dunn Memorial Bridge The Dunn Memorial Bridge, officially known as the Private Parker F. Dunn Memorial Bridge, carries US 9 and US 20 across the Hudson River between Albany, New York and Rensselaer, New York. Description Completed in 1969 to replace an earlier span be ...

, Albany and Rensselaer,

* Seaford–Oyster Bay Expressway, Nassau County,

* Korean War Veterans Parkway (Richmond Parkway),

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

* Willowbrook Expressway/Parkway,

Foothills Parkway The Foothills Parkway is a national parkway which traverses the foothills of the northern Great Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. The 72.1-mile (114 km) parkway will connect U.S. Route 129 (U.S. ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

Amstutz Expressway Amstutz is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adrian Amstutz (born 1953), Swiss politician * Dan Amstutz (1932–2006), American lobbyist * Hobart Baumann Amstutz (1896–1980), American Methodist bishop * Reto Amstutz (born 1993 ...

Waukegan, Illinois ''(Fortress or Trading Post)'' , image_flag = , image_seal = , blank_emblem_size = 150 , blank_emblem_type = Logo , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivisi ...

* Olimpijka in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

M8 Bridge to Nowhere Bridge to Nowhere is a nickname used to refer to various unfinished structures around the M8 motorway in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. They were built in the 1960s as part of the Glasgow Inner Ring Road project but left incomplete for several ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland * The

Foreshore Freeway Bridge The Foreshore Freeway Bridge, also known as Cape Town's Unfinished Bridge, is an incomplete section of what was intended to be the Eastern Boulevard Highway in the city bowl of Cape Town, South Africa. Conceptualised and Civil engineering, desig ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

* B 464 near

Sindelfingen Sindelfingen ( Swabian: ''Sendlfenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg in south Germany. It lies near Stuttgart at the headwaters of the Schwippe (a tributary of the river Würm), and is home to a Mercedes-Benz assembly plant. History * 1155 � ...

, Germany * Strecke 46 * Strecke 77 * Strecke 85 * Interstate I-170 Baltimore, MD * New Central Cross-Island Highway, Taiwan (including Provincial Highway 14, 18, 21)

Railway infrastructure

Cincinnati Subway The Cincinnati Subway was a partially completed rapid transit system beneath the streets of Cincinnati, Ohio. Although the system only grew to a little over in length, its derelict tunnels and stations make up the largest abandoned subway tunn ...

* Mosel Railway (German: Moselbahn) * Ahrtal Railway (German: Ahrtalbahn) * Old Railway at

Willebadessen Willebadessen is a town in Höxter district and Detmold region in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Location Willebadessen lies on the eastern edge of the Eggegebirge (the southern extension of the Teutoburg Forest) about 25 km ...

* Strategic Railway Embankment (German: Strategischer Bahndamm)

Arenas

Deutsches Stadion The ''Deutsches Stadion'' ("German Stadium") was a monumental stadium designed by Albert Speer for the Nazi party rally grounds in Nuremberg, southern Germany. Its construction began in September 1937, and was scheduled for completion in 1943. Li ...

Taipei Dome The Taipei Dome () also known as the Farglory Dome (), is a multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose domed stadium under construction located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Xinyi, Taipei, Taiwan, that was originally scheduled to start construction in 2 ...

Nou Mestalla Nou Mestalla () is a partially built football stadium in Valencia, Spain, intended as a replacement for Valencia CF's current stadium, Estadio Mestalla. The basic concrete structure of the stadium was built between August 2007 and February 2009, ...

* Lithuania National Stadium

Ferris wheels

New York Wheel The New York Wheel was a proposed Ferris wheel to be located at St. George in Staten Island, New York City, next to the Empire Outlets retail complex. The project was announced in 2012 as part of an initiative to make St. George into a touris ...

, New York City, New York, US *

Skyvue The Skyvue Las Vegas Super Wheel (also capitalized SkyVueskyvuelasvegas.com
) is an unfinished giant

, Las Vegas, Nevada, US * Turn of Fortune, Changzhou, China

Industrial plants

Kramatorsk Kramatorsk ( uk, Краматорськ, translit=Kramatorsk ) is a city and the administrative centre of Kramatorsk Raion in the northern portion of Donetsk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine. Prior to 2020, Kramatorsk was a City of regional significa ...

Metallurgical Plan

* GRES-2 Power Station, Ekibastus

Nuclear power plants

Crimean Atomic Energy Station The Crimean Nuclear Power Station ( uk, Кримська АЕС; russian: Крымская АЭС) is an abandoned and unfinished nuclear power plant near the cape of Kazantyp on banks of Aqtas Lake in Crimea. History Construction work on the ...

Shcholkine Shcholkine ( uk, Щолкіне, translit=Shcholkine, ; russian: Щёлкино, translit=Shcholkino; crh, Şçolkino), also commonly known as Shchelkino or Shchyolkino by its Russian name, is a town in the Lenine Raion of Crimea. Geographically, ...

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

* Fast Breeder nuclear reactor

SNR-300 The SNR-300 was a fast breeder sodium-cooled nuclear reactor built near the town of Kalkar, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The reactor was completed but never taken online. SNR-300 was to output 327 megawatts. The project cost about 7 billion ...

Kalkar Kalkar ( is a municipality in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the Rhine, approx. 10 km south-east of Cleves. The catholic church St. Nicolai has preserved one of the most significant sacral inven ...

, Germany *

Lemoniz Nuclear Power Plant Lemoiz ( es, Lemóniz) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It has a population of about 1243. It was chosen as the site of the Lemoniz Nuclear Power Plant ...

Lemoniz Lemoiz ( es, Lemóniz) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It has a population of about 1243. It was chosen as the site of the Lemoniz Nuclear Power Plant, ...

, Spain * Marble Hill Nuclear Power Plant, New Washington, IN, United States *

Satsop Nuclear Power Plant Washington Nuclear Project Nos. 3 and 5, abbreviated as WNP-3 and WNP-5 (collectively known as the Satsop Nuclear Power Plant) were two of the five nuclear power plants on which construction was started by the Washington Public Power Supply System ...

Satsop, Washington Satsop is a census-designated place (CDP) in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. The population was 675 at the 2010 census, up from 619 at the 2000 census. Geography Satsop is located in southeastern Grays Harbor County on the Sats ...

, United States * Stendal Nuclear Power Plant,

Arneburg Arneburg () is a town in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Elbe, approx. northeast of Stendal. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") of Arneburg-Goldbeck. In J ...

, Germany * Unit 5, 6, 7, 8 of

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP; ; ), is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine northwest of the city of Chernobyl, from the Belarus–Ukraine border, ...

* Valdecaballeros Nuclear Power Plant,

Valdecaballeros Valdecaballeros is a municipality located in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE), the municipality has a population of 1264 inhabitants. The Guadalupe River has its mouth in the Guadiana The Guadia ...

, Spain *

Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant The Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant (), formerly known as Gongliao and commonly as the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (), is an unfinished nuclear power plant in New Taipei City, Taiwan. It consists of two ABWRs each of 1,300 MWe net. It is owned b ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Juragua Nuclear Power Plant Juragua Nuclear Power Plant was a nuclear power plant under construction in Cuba when a suspension of construction was announced in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the termination of Soviet economic aid to Cuba. Russia and Cuba ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Żarnowiec Nuclear Power Plant The Żarnowiec Nuclear Power Plant ( pl, Elektrownia Jądrowa Żarnowiec) was to be the first nuclear power plant in Poland.''A Country Study: Poland'', Library of Congress, Call Number DK4040 .P57 199/ref> The construction was cancelled due ...

Electric power transmission systems

* Wolmirstedt HVDC-back-to-back plant * Elbe Project * HVDC Ekibastuz–Centre

Towers

* Watkins' Tower, London, UK *

Yekaterinburg TV Tower Yekaterinburg TV Tower (russian: Екатеринбу́ргская телеба́шня) was a tall incomplete structure in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Construction work started 1983, but was put on hold in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet ...

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

, Russia (demolished) *

Berlin-Müggelberge TV Tower The Berlin-Müggelberge TV tower is the 31 metre tall base of a tower, never completed, in the Müggel hills of southeast Berlin, Germany. The tower base is currently used as radio relay link station. The tower was originally planned as the TV ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, Germany *

Dubai Creek Tower Dubai Creek Tower ( ar, برج خور دبي) is a supported observation tower to be built in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The preliminary cost of the tower is AED 3.67 billion (). It was expected to be completed in 2022 at the earliest, ...

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

* Belgorod TV Tower,

Belgorod Belgorod ( rus, Белгород, p=ˈbʲeɫɡərət) is a city and the administrative center of Belgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Seversky Donets River north of the border with Ukraine. Population: Demographics The population of Be ...

, Russia *

Deutschlandsender Herzberg/Elster The Deutschlandsender III was a 500 kilowatt longwave transmitter, erected in 1938/39 near Herzberg, Brandenburg in Germany. Used for the ''Deutschlandsender'' radio broadcasts, the guyed mast reaching a height of was the tallest construction in ...

, Germany *

Wardenclyffe Tower Wardenclyffe Tower (1901–1917), also known as the Tesla Tower, was an early experimental wireless transmission station designed and built by Nikola Tesla on Long Island in 1901–1902, located in the village of Shoreham, New York. Tesla inten ...

, Shoreham, New York, USA * Hakell Creative Educational Media, Haskell, Oklahoma, US

at 35°53'0"N 95°46'15"W * Galich transmitter, Galich TV Mast *

Sathorn Unique Tower Sathorn Unique Tower is an unfinished skyscraper in the Thai capital city Bangkok. Planned as a high-rise condominium complex, construction of the building was halted during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when it was already about 80 percent com ...

Visions and plans

Many projects do not get to the construction phase, halted during or after planning.

Ludwig II of Bavaria Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the ...

commissioned several designs for Castle Falkenstein, with the fourth plan being vastly different from that of the first. The first two designs were turned down, one because of costs and one because the design displeased Ludwig, and the third designer withdrew from the project. The fourth and final plan was completed and some

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

was prepared for the site but Ludwig died before construction work began. The

Palace of Whitehall The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. H ...

, at the time the largest

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, was mostly destroyed by a fire in 1698. Sir

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...

, most famous for his role in rebuilding several churches after the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...

in 1666, sketched a proposed replacement for part of the palace but financial constraints prevented construction. Even without being constructed, many architectural designs and ideas have had a lasting influence. The Russian constructivism movement started in 1914 and was taught in the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

and other architecture schools, leading to numerous architects integrating it into their style.

Further examples

Construction never started

* Cenotaph for Sir Isaac Newton *

The Illinois The Mile-High Illinois, Illinois Sky City, or simply The Illinois is a visionary skyscraper that is proposed to be over high, conceived and described by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in his 1957 book, ''A Testament''. The design, intend ...

* Millennium Tower *

Palace of the Soviets The Palace of the Soviets (russian: Дворец Советов, ''Dvorets Sovetov'') was a project to construct a political convention center in Moscow on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The main function of the p ...

Point Park Civic Center The Point Park Civic Center was a proposed civic center for downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, where the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers forms the Ohio River. Frank Lloyd Wright designed the structure on a commi ...

Project of Filippo Juvarra for the Royal Palace of Madrid The Project of Filippo Juvarra for the Royal Palace of Madrid was the ambitious first project for the Royal Palace of Madrid. Background and context The Royal Alcázar of Madrid was a fortress converted into a royal residence, and used by the Hab ...

* Pyramid City *

Sky City 1000 Sky City 1000 is a proposed skyscraper for the Tokyo metropolitan area. It was announced in 1989 at the height of the Japanese asset price bubble. The proposal consists of a building tall and wide at the base, with a total floor area of . Th ...

Tatlin's Tower Tatlinʼs Tower, or the project for the Monument to the Third International (1919–20), Honour, H. and Fleming, J. (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Laurence King Publishing, p. 819. was a design for a grand monumental buildin ...

* Ville Contemporaine *

Volkshalle The ("People's Hall"), also called ("Great Hall") or ("Hall of Glory"), was a proposal for a monumental, domed building to be built in a reconstituted Berlin (renamed as Germania) in Nazi Germany. The project was conceived by Adolf Hitler and d ...

* Centennial Tower,

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

X-Seed 4000 The X-Seed 4000 was a concept megatall skyscraper. Its proposed height, sea-base, and 800-floor capacity could accommodate 500,000-1,000,000 inhabitants. This structure would be composed of over 3,000,000 tons of steel. It was designed for T ...

Use of computer technology

Computer technology has allowed for 3D representations of projects to be shown before they are built. In some cases the construction is never started and the

computer model Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be deter ...

is the nearest that anyone will ever get to seeing the finished piece. For example, in 1999 Kent Larson's exhibition "''Unbuilt Ruins: Digital Interpretations of Eight Projects by Louis I. Kahn''" showed computer images of designs completed by noted

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Louis Kahn Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...

but never built.Eiteljorg II, Harrison. 1999. CSA Newsletter,
Seeing Buildings that Were Never Built
. Accessed 21 August 2006. Computer simulations can also be used to create

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

s of projects and test them before they are actually built; this has allowed the design process to be more successful and efficient.

References

External links

Rick Edmondson's Unfinished BuildingsUnbuilt British motorways
at Pathetic Motorways {{DEFAULTSORT:Unfinished Building Building engineering

Partially constructed buildings

Buildings (and other architectural structures) never completed

Other unfinished structures

Roads

Railway infrastructure

Arenas

Ferris wheels

Industrial plants

Nuclear power plants

Electric power transmission systems

Towers

Visions and plans

Further examples

Construction never started

Use of computer technology

See also

References

External links