Why cap a transit hub with traditional, mixed-use towers when it can be topped by an amorphous, alien-like, tubular, metallic structurethat seemingly defies gravity? That, apparently, was the thinking behind AMLGM’s “Urban Alloy” proposal for Queens, New York. Their dramatic proposal, which bends and twists above an existing transportation center, includes retail, office, cultural, and residential space within its metallic skin.

The hypothetical project is the brainchild of New York City–based architects Matt Bowles and Chad Kellogg, and it recently won Metropolis’  Living Cities competition.

Using the intersection of the Long Island Railroad and the 7 Line Subway as a test case, the architects place tunnels above existing tracks, and had them converge and transform into towers. The resulting superstructure resembles a piece of coral, or an alien, or maybe even a giant virus. The team says Urban Alloy is an “opportunity to draw the energy of Manhattan out into the four other boroughs without disrupting existing land use.” While the radical forms of the proposal might not scream Manhattan at first glance, it’s not likely to crawl or slither into reality any time soon.