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Carbon-Neutral Ziggurat Could House 1.1 Million In Dubai

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the big-brother's-wet-dream dept.

Engadget is reporting that a new pyramid-shaped city of the future, dubbed a "Ziggurat," is being touted by Dubai-based environmental design company, Timelinks. Claiming that their design allows for an almost self-sufficient energy footprint and, obviously, economy of space, the real trick would be getting 1.1 million people to live in such close proximity. "Martijn Kramer, managing director of The International Institute for the Urban Environment told WAN: 'As a general reaction the Ziggurat Project is viable from a technical point of view. However reflecting from a more sustainable holistic approach we do wonder if the food supply and waste system are taken care for, as the concept seems rather based upon carbon neutrality and energy saving.' Kramer's initial reaction to 'Ziggurat' also raises a very important issue: are people willing to live in a mega building of 2.3 sq km? Will the thought of living in a machine comfort people?"

18 of 393 comments (clear)

  1. right up till... by LWATCDR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Someone crashes a A340F full of explosives into it. Or sets fires in it, or...
    Well you get the idea. Good idea but a great target.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    1. Re:right up till... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ok, ok, we'll build a fence around it. Sheesh!

    2. Re:right up till... by merreborn · · Score: 5, Interesting

      right up till... Someone crashes a A340F full of explosives into it. Or sets fires in it, or...
      Well you get the idea. Good idea but a great target.

      I just saw the NOVA episode about NIST's report on the WTC collapse.

      One interesting fact they mentioned: in the event of a disaster, sky scrapers are not designed to be evacuated. There isn't enough room in the stairwells to get thousands of people down dozens of floors in a timely fashion.

      In the event of fire, people are supposed to generally stay in place, while a few floors near the fire are evacuated. Fire is then fought in place on the effected floors.

      If it's not possible to get a few thousand people out of the WTC in an hour or two, then there's no way you'll ever evacuate a million people from a single building.

    3. Re:right up till... by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's pretty dangerous to exit a skyscraper from the side halfway up. A pyramid, however, can have dozens of exits all over it's surface. They may not be all that safe, depending on the slope, but better than straight down. After all, it's an emergency exit.

    4. Re:right up till... by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 5, Informative

      If it's that large, nothing short of a nuke will take it out quickly. A big fire might take it out eventually, but it will take a while.

      Looking at the concept art, it looks like a fire would have a hard time spreading throughout the structure.

    5. Re:right up till... by WrongMonkey · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Great plan. Let's not build anything cool because it might get blown up by terrorists.

  2. Cool! by cashman73 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Dubai considering building Arcologies! =)

  3. Control of personal space by Stanistani · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People can live in very different conditions if their basic needs are met, if there is a cultural web to participate in, and if they have control over their personal space and possibility of advancement.

    I see challenges of propinquity here, but there are very crowded, thriving urban environments to use as examples.

    The key question to answer is: What is the reason for the people to live there, rather than somewhere else? That's the question that builds cities - or ghost towns.

    --
    You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
    1. Re:Control of personal space by gregbot9000 · · Score: 5, Informative

      I often think that people in the west hold too much of the world to their ideals. Sure people from the US suburbs might not like living in such close proximity.

      Dharavi, which is probably Asia's largest slum, has roughly 1 million people living on roughly 2 sq. kilometers already and is damn low in carbon footprint, with most things done by hand. The Fact that they can design a building to do the same isn't that impressive, What would be impressive is if they can do it without turning the lower floors into slave pens.

  4. Beats mcmansions in Bakersfield by heroine · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For all the billions Calif* spends propping up worthless mortgages, it could build gigantic ziggurats & actually house people.

  5. Re:Let's find out. by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Funny

    You forgot to get the opinion of the savior, The One himself, as to what he thinks of these Ziggurats.

    Neo: Whoa!

    So there ya have it.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  6. Re:Ziggurat by oldspewey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Take off every Ziggurat! Move Ziggurat for great justice!

    --
    If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
  7. Re:Where does the food come from? by ScentCone · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where does the food come from?

    You know those people that live on the bottom floor? They're soylentalicious! Now that's thinking green.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  8. Arcology by braindrainbahrain · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Architect Paolo Solieri predicted this sort of thing decades ago. He designed several self contained cities he dubbed Arcologies.

    All predictions aside, I'd be surprised to see this ever happen. After all, the first one built in Arizonba never did fare that well.

  9. Re:Ziggurat by uberjack · · Score: 5, Funny

    dental plan ...

    Lisa needs braces

  10. Worst Cruiseline ever? by xactuary · · Score: 5, Funny
    "... and, while on cruise, there is no chance for a change of scenery whatsoever."

    My advice: Try taking a cruise on something other than a docked riverboat casino.

    --
    Say hello to my little sig.
  11. Re:Easy target by Tom · · Score: 5, Funny

    but I am pretty sure a pyramid can be easily unbalanced.

    Actually, I think they intend to build this one broad side downwards. :)

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  12. Re:Ziggurat by joeman3429 · · Score: 5, Funny

    dental plan ...

    Lisa needs braces

    dental plan