It's Official: New Yorkers In 2020 Won't See Sunlight

A flurry of skyscrapers is planned for NYC. Unless you have millions to drop on a high-rise penthouse, prepare for imminent darkness.

New York City is in a real estate frenzy. In Manhattan, the skyline is rising higher and higher thanks to forthcoming projects by some of architecture's biggest names: Rafael Viñoly, Bjarke Ingels, SHoP, and Herzog and de Meuron, among others. Across the river in Brooklyn, a similar fleet of towering buildings is taking shape. One thing's certain: the streets of NYC are sure to get a heck of a lot darker.

Explore the interactive site hereNational Geographic

National Geographic put together an illustration of the proposed and in-progress additions to the skyline superimposed with the existing cityscape. Before 2004, there were 28 skyscrapers 700 feet and taller. Thirteen have been built since then, 15 are under construction, and 19 more are proposed. Many are concentrated in Hudson Yards and near the World Trade Center, but as the infographic shows, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building—two of the city's most iconic silhouettes—could potentially be engulfed by their taller brethren.
While the 34 in-progress and proposed skyscrapers seem staggering, London has a whopping 230 new towers over 20 stories planned.

The NYC buildings will hold some sorely-needed square footage for billionaires in search of their next pied-a-terre. But for the rest of us? Sayonara sunlight, it was nice knowing you. The city should consider building publicly accessible rooftop gardens to compensate.

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