The Big Bend: U-Shaped New York Skyscraper Seeks 'Longest In The World' Title

Ambitious architects have proposed a skyscraper design that would transform New York's Manhattan skyline: a U-shaped structure longer in length than Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.

New York City-based Oiio Studio aims to stretch the building, which would look like a horseshoe, to 4,000 feet long, which it claims would make it the longest in the world. The structure, known as the Big Bend, would literally bend in the middle to find a way around the city's strict planning laws.

"If we manage to bend our structure instead of bending the zoning rules of New York, we would be able to create one of the most prestigious buildings in Manhattan," the architecture firm says in its building proposal on its website.

The 'Big Bend' remains in the proposal stage but has been pitched to several potential investors, according to its designer Ioannis Oikonomou. He was inspired to create the idea when he discovered the possibility of horizontal elevators.

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"There are many different ways that can make a building stand out, but in order to do so the building has to literally stand out," he said in a news release.

"If we manage to bend our structure instead of bending the zoning rules of New York we would be able to create one of the most prestigious buildings in Manhattan," he continued. "The longest building in the world. The Big Bend can become a modest architectural solution to the height limitations of Manhattan."

The building, if completed, would stand 200 feet taller than One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, the current tallest building in New York City. Oiio, according to reports, is eyeing "Billionaire's Row" to the south of Central Park as the location for his unique design.