"Latest": The project has been publicly discussed for at least 3 years and is well into the review process. This is not a new proposal and I'm not sure why this article is just now coming out.
"Silicon Valley... idea": The developer proposing this project, Related Companies, is based in New York. They are already using the same technique (concrete platform on many piers) on a smaller scale in New York City to build skyscrapers over an active, working 28-acre rail yard for a development called Hudson Yards (www.hudsonyardsnewyork.com).
"housing": The project is mostly office and retail with just a little housing thrown in. Many think it would have too little housing compared to the massive amount of office space proposed and will worsen the overall jobs/housing balance in the Silicon Valley area.
"On a landfill": The concrete platform would be built *above* a landfill but wouldn't sit directly *on* landfill, for the obvious settling reasons. Instead, the platform would rest on many piers sunk 150 feet, well below the landfill. The platform supports the buildings/streets/etc above while giving the landfill room to settle.
Clearly there's a lot of skepticism about how well they can pull this off, such as venting landfill gasses safely, getting regulatory approval, getting financed, finding tenants, etc. I believe it would be the largest project to date using this technique, at least for Related. That's what happens when land prices get as high as they are in New York or Silicon Valley: extreme, expensive engineering techniques start to make sense financially. Massive development projects are always complicated and can fail for many reasons. Engineering is just one of many challenges.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's break down TFA's headline:
"Latest": The project has been publicly discussed for at least 3 years and is well into the review process. This is not a new proposal and I'm not sure why this article is just now coming out.
"Silicon Valley... idea": The developer proposing this project, Related Companies, is based in New York. They are already using the same technique (concrete platform on many piers) on a smaller scale in New York City to build skyscrapers over an active, working 28-acre rail yard for a development called Hudson Yards (www.hudsonyardsnewyork.com).
"housing": The project is mostly office and retail with just a little housing thrown in. Many think it would have too little housing compared to the massive amount of office space proposed and will worsen the overall jobs/housing balance in the Silicon Valley area.
"On a landfill": The concrete platform would be built *above* a landfill but wouldn't sit directly *on* landfill, for the obvious settling reasons. Instead, the platform would rest on many piers sunk 150 feet, well below the landfill. The platform supports the buildings/streets/etc above while giving the landfill room to settle.
Clearly there's a lot of skepticism about how well they can pull this off, such as venting landfill gasses safely, getting regulatory approval, getting financed, finding tenants, etc. I believe it would be the largest project to date using this technique, at least for Related. That's what happens when land prices get as high as they are in New York or Silicon Valley: extreme, expensive engineering techniques start to make sense financially. Massive development projects are always complicated and can fail for many reasons. Engineering is just one of many challenges.