Posted on 02/06/2016 8:00:44 AM PST by upchuck
Plans are underway to build a MILE-HIGH skyscraper in Japan.
If approved the huge tower would be the tallest building in the world, dwarfing the current record-holder, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai which is half as tall at 2,717ft (828m).
Located in Tokyo Bay, an inlet southeast of the city proper, the plan - dubbed Next Tokyo - wouldn't just be a single massive building, but if approved would emerge as a mini city designed to combat climate change.
Envisioned as part of Tokyo's effort to protect itself from rising tides, Next Tokyo would feature a chain of man-made, hexagon-shaped islands.
They would form a barrier to protect Japan's capital from flooding as well as provide the foundation for homes for some 500,000 people. They could be connected by Hyperloop, Elon Musk's high-speed transit system.
The centerpiece of the plan, is the 5,577-foot-tall skyscraper slated for completion in 2045. It's currently being called the Sky Mile Tower and is similarly hexagon-shaped for optimal wind resistance.
Reports say the tower could hold 55,000 people, a full 10th of the city-within-a-city's population. The building's facade will collect, filter and store water from the atmosphere, serving as its own apartments' water supply so that the upper floors don't have to rely on a traditional water pump.
(Excerpt) Read more at thesun.co.uk ...
Isn't this type of thing against the very environment that it purports to protect?
Where is the Skyscraper Curse Today?
https://mises.org/library/where-skyscraper-curse-today
Now it's a feature.
At least there is no heavy aircraft traffic in the Tokyo area and never any problem with fog.
better be built more than a mile away from the shoreline then...
A colossal homing beacon for the Chinese and Norks.
Can you say “earthquake prone area”?
I knew you could!
Our environazis would never permit something like that.
The developers are clever in selling it as an environmental project.
This building reminds me of the Urbmons the Robert Silverberg's book "The World Inside."
We used to take on complex engineering challenges. Now we just give away free stuff to lazy people who can't even spell their own names.
A classic from 1974. I thought about that movie as I read the article :)
BUMP!!
Better put some guy wires on that sucker!
You could zip line to Okinawa!
Their language will suddenly fragment into a hundred others so that no one understands anyone else.
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One good earthquake and I can see that sucker toppling over. I can’t imagine living in something like that. I like the ground. Feels safer.
That would be quite the engineering feat and an architectural marvel. If anyone can pull it off, I suspect the Japanese can. It’s good that they’re dreaming and reaching. Several questions arise, though. Their population is declining, so where is the demand? Hurricane force winds won’t be uncommon at the top of this structure. Power failure would be much more of a problem, can you imagine 55,000 people exiting this building via stairs? Fire, I don’t even want to think about that.
Sounds like a really great idea for a high-earthquake zone.
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