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Tokyo Arcology Proposed

As a sci-fi nerd (see “Slant” and “Queen of Angels“), I’ve long been fascinated by arcologies (wikipedia) - enormous “city within a building” structures designed to include all aspects of live - work, home, recreation, retail, services - within a single structure. Of late, arcology as a design school has been getting much more attention from the green building crowd due to the extreme population density that they allow: density is the easiest way to raise residential efficiency, lower energy consumption, reduce individual’s environmental footprint, and reduce the need for transportation infrastructure and its related issues. Here’s a great link-primer on the benefits of density.

Anyway, Gizmodo has a video proposal for the first real sci-fi arcology proposed for Tokyo bay (via Random Good Stuff): 3000 ft tall, with useable volume equivalent to 24 80-storey towers. It would provide home & work for 750,000 people and as the video notes, would have a transport system as long/extensive as San Francisco’s in 1/50th the area.

A lot of video focuses on the sensationaltastic CGI-friendly question of what would happen if a tsunami struck; don’t sweat that - just focus on the majesty of a structure from the future, built by people that aren’t afraid to push.

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