Ju-Hyun Kim Designs Manhattan Mountain To Cover Lower East Side Big-Box Stores (PHOTOS)

LOOK: Architect Designs Giant Mountains To Cover Ugly Roofs

Forget trekking beyond city limits to get your board on. A new design crafted by architect Ju-Hyun Kim seeks to blanket the tops of buildings with massive, artificial mountains in the Lower East Side, where you can ski in the winter and hike up in the summer, all while beautifying our lovely city.

Kim's proposal, Manhattan Mountain, challenges conventional urban development to dominate what's known as SPURA, the Seward Park Development Project, which has been approved to transform the area with housing projects, businesses, and big-box stores such as Ikea and Target.

As Fast Company notes, big-box stores are "hideous" and known for their harm on the environment. Kim's project hopes to reconcile the ugly stores by plopping his giant, environmentally-friendly mountains on top of them.

The Mountain will provide natural environments with the forest, a habitat for birds and insects such as butterfly. At the same time, Manhattan will enjoy activities that a metropolis didn’t dream of accommodating before: hiking, mountain biking, picnic on the hills, rock climbing, snowboarding, etc. This will be the substantial, unprecedented public space which is car-free, noise-free and full of winds and sun.

Now, can you imagine a Lower East Side with Kim's mountains and the Delancey Underground Low Line? A perfect fit! Check out the project below:

Manhattan Mountain

Low Line:

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