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Rotating Solar-Powered Skyscraper
PieEye writes "Wired is pointing out a recent Gear Factor blog entry that highlights a new skyscraper in the works which will be solar-powered, and what's more will rotate with the sun. From the article: 'The completed tower will offer 200 expensive apartments for people who want to spend lots of money to screw up their circadian rhythm. Singh said they want to build many more such towers, with one for every time zone.'"
So now I can get home from work an hour early and can catch my neighbour's wife having an affair.
But seriously: How exactly is a rotating building meant to mess up one's circadian rhythm? Does the blogger think this building is rigged up to do a lap of the Earth each day? It's spinning on the spot!
Finally, why link to a crappy blog entry complete with typos and irrelevant BS, when you could link directly to the article?
Give me an apartment in perpetual shadow. No more glare on the TV!
Rotating skyscapers, for the sake of capturing more sunlight, is so plebian and low-tech. The truly rich build skyscrapers that revolve around the earth, so they're constantly in sunlight.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
I am sure downtown Nome, Alaska would absolutely LOVE a 50 story skyscraper next to the General Store.
With any luck, the power generated by this scheme will almost offset the energy cost of the rotation...
Don't you hate that time of day when the sun is shining right into your apartment/living room, and putting glare on your monitor/tv? Isn't this going to be a problem for those apartments facing the sun (and turning along with it)?
I suspect that people working in this building day after day may find their sense of direction diminished in local surroundings. I once lived in a trailer that had to be moved. The 90 degree change in orientation grossly affected my navigation sense for months.
Letter To Iran
Come on, this is Slashdot. You're the only one who's even read the article.
I had like 50 of those in Sim City 2000, /yawn.
My script don't crash! She crashes, you crashed her!
Hmm... Perhaps the next generation of these towers will be wind powered, like those roadside signs that turn in the wind. Why bother with one rotation per day when you could get several dozen per minute in a stiff breeze.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
frickin' rotating, solar-powered skyscraper, okay?
We'll make great pets
Whoever wrote the blurb, didn't bother to read the original article. This doesn't rotate to keep certain apartments in the sun, it rotates to allow all apartments to have the same view, albeit on different days.
For all the people who care about which way their heads, feet, et al face during sleep, will they now be in a spiritual predicament? In other words, will they also need to get rotating beds that would counteract the rotation of the building?
I have to stop and think how things such as TV, Telephone, power, water and sewer are 'plumbed' into each suite. That would have to be an interesting problem to solve.
I hope it rotates only 180 degrees (or less) then rotates back. Rigging plumbing, sewage, power, cable, phone, etc for full 360 degree rotation will be tricky.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I guess directional antennas will have to rotate in the opposite direction.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
fools and their money are quickly parted!
That wouldn't solve the problem of people wanting to have access to the "best view" out of their window.
What an incredible waste of energy to rotate the building, in the name of solar power.It's not being done in the name of solar power. It's being done in the name of property values, and having a trendy apartment with good views.
... and then they built the supercollider.
Suite Vollard was the first rotating tower of the world, however it's not solar powered. Here's some facts (excerpts from the link):
- This building is the only one of its kind in the world, as each of the 11 apartments can rotate 360.- Each apartment can spin individually in any direction. One rotation takes a full hour.
- The facades are composed of double sheets of glass, in different colors (blue, gold, and silver) on different floors. This gives a spectacular effect as the floors turn in different directions.
- The apartment rings rotate around a static core used for building services, utilities, and all areas which require plumbing.
- Suite Vollard was a case study for more than 30 companies in Brazil and one from Germany.
- Each apartment was sold for approximately R$ 400,000.00 ($US 300,000.00).
- The first two floors of the building are an Executive Center.
If you can read this, thank an english teacher.
I could see devout Muslims having difficulty orienting themselves correctly at prayer time, particularly given that the times change each day, so it's not in a constant direction relative to your apartment at each appointed period.
I think the important question is, will they turn in the oppisite direction on either side of the earth ?
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
This is Dubai. They don't seem to need a point there.
Since it will take a full week for a complete revolution, that means that a given view indicates both the day of week AND the time of day. Think of enjoying the view at your neighbor's home and getting all confused as to what day/time it is. :O
This will make for an interesting exercise in real estate law. Said apartment, starting at the central elevator shaft on the 50th floor and heading 100 feet due east, no, wait. That's east-north-east. Man, this is going to take FOREVER! But seriously, has anyone seen a property deed for something like this?
electic
eclectic
electric
(insert witty comment here about tea parties and electic electric kettle selection. :^)
Note to other posters: I have heard of rotating restaurants and/or observation decks - this is not an utterly new concept. So, getting the utilities (water, sewer, electric, etc.) to the residents is a matter of scaling past solutions.
Lastly: I admire their interest in getting something as immense as a WHOLE SKYSCRAPER to rotate, continuously, for years on end. I just hope they'll be able to get their hands on a good supply of lubricant. <grin>
In 1927? The original Dymaxion 4D tower was designed to be a 200 story rotating apartment tower, if memory serves. Geez, they're only 80 years behind the times.
This is the second rotating tower in Dubai. The first one has a 5 story stack of rotating penthouses, which rotate independently. At the top is a single "villa", which also rotates. It also has a car lift and three parking spaces.
Dubai is having an insane skyscraper boom. 205 high rise buildings completed, 333 under construction. (Los Angeles: 465 completed, 11 under construction.) Not because of space constraints. There's plenty of open desert nearby. It's ego, enthusiasm, and money.
I read Slashdot for the pictures. And that's a picture of one ugly building.
My little site.
I don't know about the Circadian Rythm but I know it would really screw up my Feng Shui.. Unless the rooms counter-rotated...
I know plenty of people who smoke it who are perfectly coherent, and plenty of people who don't who aren't. Weed doesn't make people stupid, but it can be another thing that can help create complacency in ignorance as that post seemed to demonstrate. But dude, your statements on "smoking pot" demonstrate ignorance on your part. Just because something can be involved in causing harm doesn't mean that it's the cause of the harm, rather than just the tool the person decides to use to achieve what they wanna be anyway.
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
There are about 39 time zones instead of 24 (as popularly believed). This is due to fractional hour offsets and zones with offsets larger than 12 hours near the International Date Line. Some micronations may use offsets that are not recognized by all authorities.
(That's from the wikipedia on timezones)
Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
For example, the Federal Reserve is made up of a bunch of private banks. These banks create money out of nothing and loan it to the US government at currently 5.25% interest rate. The government spends the money and then taxes the people to eventually pay it back. The US citizens are taxed to pay money to a bunch of private banks interest on money which they created out of nothing. Essentially the whole of the US population is working for the member (privately owned) banks of the Federal Reserve.
Guess who owns the private banks which own the Federal Reserve?
Deleted
Sometimes the coherent ones are smart enough to keep quiet about it, in this paranoid society.
And that's all I have to say on this topic.
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
Dude: *groan*, I got a serious hangover, what day is it ?
Other Dude: uhhhhhhh, *peeks out window* it's Waffle House day.
Dude: Fuck, it's Sunday already ?!
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Yes, the GP forgot the all-important: IANAMG disclaimer.
Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it. --Mark Twain
Your answer, without any apparent personal experience, is somewhat laughable
No, but your spouting off in a public forum about your illegal drug activities is somewhat laughable. As if dealing drugs, even if (as far as I'm concerned) it ought to be legal, is something to get arrogant and uptight about.
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
It rotates a little bit all the time, giving everyone a changing view. The solar powered bit is on the ROOF, not the side.
2) The amount of power needed to rotate the building, assuming it is round, is fairly low. You are just paying for the friction, which unless you are a fool, is almost all on the ground floor, where it meets the non-rotating base. There is no 'core' that does not rotate, - that would just create more problems, starting with increased friction.
3) New York City (and many other major cities) has several buildings with a rotating top floor that does this already. They usually contain restaurants, complete with full water and electricity.
4) Electrical hookups are simple. They work fine on a brush contact, again only on the BOTTOM floor.
5) Sewer hookups are also simple. In the bottom floor, there is a large pipe. Beneath the pipe is a gigantic inverse ring, that funnels to a pipe. It does not matter that most of the time the inverse ring is open, stuff falls down into it.
6) The only problem is the water intake, to get water to the building. This can most easily be done in the center of the building, with a pipe connection that is water tight, but low friction seal, allowing rotation. The problem factor is keeping friction down, not the water tight + allowing rotation.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Before oil was discovered in Dubai about what, 35 years ago?, they were herding camels and trading rugs.
Dubai is not an oil-rich place; only 6% of its GDP comes from oil. Dubai is rich because of the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone.
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!