There?s a lot of debate about what the tallest tower in the world currently is. Some say the Taipei 101, at 1671 ft to the tip of it?s spire, is the world?s tallest tower, whereas we might argue that the Sears Tower, at a whopping 1731 ft (and 110 stories), still takes the prize. However, if the enormous, 13,000 ft X-Seed 4000 structure ever gets built in Tokyo - it will win the worlds-tallest-building competition hands down and leave its puny competitors in the dirt.
Looking eerily like Mt. Doom in the above rendering, the mountain-like X-Seed 4000 represents a utopian eco-vision for a self-contained high-rise city in the Tokyo harbor - powered mainly by solar energy. Aesthetically inspired by nearby Mt. Fuji, the behemoth building would measure 13,123 feet tall with a 6 square-kilometer footprint, and could accommodate five hundred thousand to one million inhabitants.
Designed by Taisei Construction Corporation as an ?intelligent building,? the futuristically-named X-Seed 4000 would maintain light, temperature, and air pressure in response to changing external weather conditions.
Unlike conventional skyscrapers, the X-Seed 4000 would be required to actively protect its occupants from considerable air pressure gradations and weather fluctuations along its massive elevation. Its design calls for the use of solar power to maintain internal environmental conditions. Some estimate that the cost to construct the X-Seed 4000 structure may be somewhere between US$300-900 billion.
We?re not saying it?s impossible, but for now, X-Seed 4000 seems like more of a utopian vision for contemporary green urban planning than a viable design solution.
side note: how the f*ck would they build that monster at the 12000-13000 feet mark!!!
Some sort of lifting device perhaps. Bit far to run a wheelbarrow up a plank. Maybe a VHLH or something similar. Breathing apparatus. Lots and lots of cheap asian labour.
Quote from JugV2;317874: Some sort of lifting device perhaps. Bit far to run a wheelbarrow up a plank. Maybe a VHLH or something similar. Breathing apparatus. Lots and lots of cheap asian labour.
yeah but its kinda a diffrent story at that height.... you can get hypoxia and thats a bastard of a thing...
but i guess theres enough oxygen to about 15500 feet.... but you wouldn't catch me working on that monster of a building
I'm not that last picture is from the x-seed. Might be the Tokyo Tower design.
In any case, it's not likely. A cluster of designs like these appeared in the early 90s when Japanese real estate was insanely over-valued. My personal favourite is the Try-2004.
The main problem is that they are impossible with current technology. No material can bear the necessary load factors. Not to mention that the cost is no longer justified: Japan's 90s recession was triggered after the Kobe earthquake. Swiss reinsurers said the property was overvalued and refused to pay out Japanese banks and insurance companies, leading to a massive devaluation of bank collateral ...
Still, I love this sort of stuff. It's really cool. You should also look into O'Neill colonies, especially the mind-blowing McKendree designs.
you sure would. but somehow i think mother nature is the best engineer around, and maybe building this uber structure on a island which borders a bajillion tectonic plates wouldn't be the smartest move.
but hey it's a hypothetical atm anyway, so ultrasupermegapyramids are ok by me
As for earthquake engineering, both designs include a lot of thought, but the essential answer is that "they're too big for it to matter". Mountains shake in earthquakes but that's no problem for the mountain.
i saw something like this on extreme engineering - doco about a year ago... it is huge and claims to be self supporting (they plan to grow crops and re-cycle water etc...)