Design Projects That Could Save The World
If you wondered why the all-encompassing offices of the Tyrell Corporation looked so megalithic in Blade Runner, then William Gibson deserves a tip of your hat for visualizing what the architectural community calls arcology. Today, several spaces around us aspire to be one-stop and all-purpose centers, reflecting the trend towards self-contained, individualistic units. An ideal example of this human endeavor in the context of commercial spaces is the Persian Gulf Complex (Iran), which is one of the largest shopping malls in the world. Here, a single building houses the world’s largest mall by number of stores, a 262-room hotel, swimming pools, tennis courts, and even a helipad.
Persian Gulf Complex, Iran.
“Extraordinary things,” Blade Runner.
Arcology can hypothetically fulfill our aspirations of self-contained whole units in the most complete sense imaginable. A portmanteau of the words archaeology and ecology, arcology can aptly be described as an “antithesis of wasteful consumption.” Concepts are of key importance to arcology because vision drives arcology: a vision of the needs of the future and a vision of all that should be done to meet them while wasting as less as possible. A set of architectural design principles aimed toward the design of enormous habitats (hyperstructures) of extremely high human population density, arcology bridges the gap between nature and humans by emphasizing shared resources and encouraging practices as simple as walking without ever shifting its focus from the elimination of wastefulness and construction of utopias for the impending doomsday.
If we must tell the story of the future world from a beginning, our first narrator was the Italian architect Paolo Soleri. Arizona-based Arcosanti, envisioned by Soleri, is the first example of arcology stepping gingerly into practice. Having undergone several changes since it was first imagined, the current master plan, Arcosanti 5000, is a supercity that aims to take care of all the needs of 5,000 people.
The Arcosanti 5000.
Another famous example is the Boston Arcology, which was designed as a floating city for 15,000 people containing hotels, offices, retail, museums, condominiums, and a new city hall. BoA would supplement walking with moving walkways and/or electric train carriers. It would also aim to achieve carbon neutrality through features such as wind turbines, fresh water recovery and storage systems, gray water treatment, and solar panels.
The Boston Arcology.
Are we being overly paranoid in preparing for a dark future? Dystopic futures are miles away from our own lives, right? Hey, at least that’s what we gathered from Wells, and maybe closer in time, from Asimov. Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut, however, disagrees, and the result is this breathtaking futuristic Noah’s Ark:
Lilypad: A floating city for climate-change refugees. A truly futuristic Noah’s ark.
To address the challenges of rising water levels, this structure was designed with a capacity to shelter 50,000 people. With a centrally located artificial lagoon that collects and purifies water, this wonder won’t make you miss the mountains, because it contains three marinas and three mountains for entertainment!
Good design dreams by looking at what is and dreaming up what can be. This truism cannot be more evident than in the case of the modern Great Pyramid of Giza, the Shimizu TRY 2004 Mega-City Pyramid, that Shimizu Corporation has dreamed over Tokyo Bay. It features nodes and inclinators connecting skyscrapers.
The Shimizu megacity pyramid.
Primarily designed like an octahedron, the mega city will be made of horizontal shafts, each measuring 10 m in diameter, and it will contain electrical and communication networks, as well as two new transportation systems and observation windows. The diagonal shafts, each measuring 16 meters in diameter, will house plumbing and electrical networks, two elevators, and a distribution network. The nodes at which shafts join will serve as strategic transportation hubs.
Sounds beautiful, doesn’t it? Not happening, sadly. Well, at least not yet. Instead of steel, the external structure of the above pyramid will be made from carbon nanotubes. The design relies on the future availability of the super-strong and lightweight carbon nanotubes.
Arcology cannot be understood or realized without grasping its engagement with imagination, of letting mind define and reshape matter. Compelling the world to come up with solutions to meet the urgent needs of sustainability, arcology demands for and motivates the creation of the new. Let’s hope that we achieve these utopias because we are already in the flood narrative. Let’s hope we get to pick these floating lilypads instead of the sinking ship.
Originally published at www.designbids.in on February 9, 2016.
