Last month, Amazon announced that it was canceling its controversial plan to build a second North American headquarters in New York City's Long Island City neighborhood. For residents and activists concerned about gentrification and overcrowding, the decision to abandon the plan was seen as a massive win; for other cities, it was seen as a second chance to woo 25,000 jobs to their region. 

Though HQ2 NYC may have been cancelled, Surface Magazine asked five local firms to envision a substitute future. Crosby Studios, Future Green, wHY, INC, and Outpost Office, all put forth proposals that imagined a New York in which Amazon's headquarters not only moved forward, but also addressed significant worries over displacement, provided community-focused investments, and reimagined modern office design. 

Inspired by the jungle, Crosby Studios paired a lush landscape with a big glass box that employs the convenience of Amazon's marketplace to provide all necessities once inside. wHY Architecture, also riffing on the company's name, decided to blend corporate offices with features of the Amazon rainforest, arranging buildings in a tree-like fashion that would establish a canopy for the city. Another proposal, by Future Green Studio, suggested an elevated playground, with ladders and bridges leading from one building to the next.

INC Architecture & Design favored a decentralized model where the company is sprawled across the city in order to both spread its rewards and mitigate its negative impacts. Similarly, Outpost Office sought to circulate the company across the city. The firm recommended that Amazon rent out residents' extra space, leasing their wasted closet or extra freezer spaces by the minute and by the inch. 

From the pragmatic to the humorous, each of the five proposals cleverly address many of the anxieties surrounding Amazon's original announcement to come to New York. For more details on each, visit here.