Imagine a colossal globe—six times larger in diameter than the “Spaceship Earth” geodesic sphere at Disney’s Epcot Center and supported by a base as tall as the original Ferris Wheel—towering over the 1893 Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. Miles of tramway would carry visitors along a spiral path rising inside the globe and then emerge and continue ascending around the exterior to an observation pinnacle eclipsing any man-made structure. That stupendous vision emerged from the mind of Alberto de Palacio in [...]