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An Italian Architect's Wild American Dream

Read More: http://www.citylab.com/design/2016/0...icasso/491984/

Renzo Picasso shared his last name with legendary Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and his first name with another, more well-known Italian architect: Renzo Piano. But Renzo Giovanni Battista Picasso, born in 1880 in Genoa, Italy, was clearly his own man.

- While he had a great love of Genoa, Picasso was truly a “world citizen.” He spent much of his time traveling and exploring the great cities of Europe and America. Upon visiting New York City in 1911, he was deeply impressed by the urbanism and technical innovation of modern American architecture. Deviating from the more conservative styles of his father and grandfather, he produced a large number of visionary drawings and plans depicting the most striking aspects of what he saw, such as skyscrapers, elevators, public transports, and urban plans.

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One image from 1929, titled “American Multiple Highway,” shows a stacked roadway system that runs along the length of Manhattan, and beyond






A yellow one for cars and other automobiles running normal speed, a red express lane for fast-moving vehicles that weaves underneath the yellow lane, a green one for trains, and a blue level for "areo-garages"






A network of runway-topped hangars so planes and other air traffic could fly among (and through!) the skyscrapers.