Couple weeks ago I was making an animated gif of a fictional city. Just taking skyscrapers from here, there, mixing them together. Well I thought I'd be googling images for 5 minutes when I ended up on the computer for nearly 3 hours. Just staring at cities I had never seen before.
Doesn't anybody think we're crazy? I mean let's talk about what these buildings mean: Ambition (the race to make the world's tallest skyscraper), Balls (The French Spiderman who scales buildings with his bare hands) and Conspiracies ( 9/11). I mean with all these big beautiful buildings in a post 9/11 world ..... shouldn't we see them for what they are? Potential disasters? Some of them are just too breathtaking to see the possibility of them ever collapsing. Is it the pilot of the plane that hits the building? Or the architect in Dubai who says "lets make this one 2000 feet high?" I don't know, I just really have no idea who is the craziest.
I'm just going to include two cities with my favorite skyscrapers: Shanghai and Dubai.
Pudong's new view (Shanghai)
(http://community.travelchinaguide.com/photo/6081/60816141044399.jpg)
(http://www-scf.usc.edu/~haojunwa/images/1073292820_3894100.jpg)
(http://k41.pbase.com/v3/35/266435/1/50247036.2058hrs.jpg)
(http://www.elisasjourneys.com/China%20Pictures/Shanghai/Fireworks.jpg)
google pudong images (http://images.google.com/images?q=pudong+night&btnG=Search+Images&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&sa=2)
Dubai:
(http://www.overseaspropertymall.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/burj-dubai-picture-of-the-day.jpg)
(http://www.weyak.ae/channels/blog/user_files/saif_cool/images/001.jpg)
(http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/dubai-1.jpg)
googe dubai images (http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=dubai+burj+tallest&btnG=Search+Images)
Also the French Spiderman kicks ass. As soon as I find some youtube videos of him I will paste them here. This guy scales world record buildings under an hour.... with no safety equipment. I <3 french spiderman.
That second to last building looks like it's going to turn into a Transformer any minute. :). I was actually admiring Dubai's skyscrapers the other day in this photo (http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg21/THCShark/Holiday/DSCF0060-1.jpg). The city just looks unreal somehow.
Yeah, hahah both cities are surreal. I think Shanghai looks like a bunch of big bouncy toys.
I had to edit my links so I'm not sure which building you meant. The last one from Dubai is supposed to resemble a sail, I think. At least that's what it looks like to me.
Hehe, yeah I originally wrote "last building", but when I saw your edit I changed it. And yes, it's supposed to look like a sail (like the opera in Sidney). I think I saw a documentary about the construction of that building on Discovery. If I remember correctly they even made a fake island to build it on.
Cool pics, but evenwolf..Skyscraper. :)
ep, got it. Thanks
What's up with that irrational fear? Sarcasm?
Quote from: Damien on Wed 18/06/2008 20:16:41
What's up with that irrational fear? Sarcasm?
He has point, though. Regardless of whether there really is a potential for disaster or not (tsunamis, earthquakes, drunk pilots, shoddy building materials, who knows...), it's simple logic -- the higher up you are, the farther you are from the exit if something bad happens. As ide from having massive inflatable slides installed on all the windows, there's nothing you can do, really...
Well, we're crazy. And stupid. And both. Actually human race is all about stupidity. Mostly. Sometimes, people manage to get smarter than expected. If that made sense I'm a chimp.
Quote from: Emerald on Wed 18/06/2008 20:40:57
He has point, though. Regardless of whether there really is a potential for disaster or not (tsunamis, earthquakes, drunk pilots, shoddy building materials, who knows...), it's simple logic -- the higher up you are, the farther you are from the exit if something bad happens. As ide from having massive inflatable slides installed on all the windows, there's nothing you can do, really...
(http://wutchalookinat.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/burjdubaiheight.png)
Typical of me - I didn't preface that thought very clearly. Damien I'm mostly referring to the height race.... the Burj Dubai (http://www.burjdubai.com/) is now the tallest. Almost twice the height of the Empire State Building it pierces the clouds its so tall. Just look at the cranes along the height of the building and think of all the potential tragedies. Granted, I like looking at skyscrapers and pretending that nothing bad will ever happen. But its all about potential energy. "The bigger they come the harder they fall."
I understand the sound physics behind these buildings but the higher and higher these office spaces become & people still feel comfortable occupying. Geeze. When an architect or a construction crew makes one of these skyscrapers, surely the notion of a disaster is evident. But we go along making them taller and taller. I love a good rollercoaster but at some point adding more and more loopty loops gets ridiculous and its just worth acknowledging. It'd be hard to convince me we're not crazy.
There've been a lot of crane incidents recently in the news (not for this particular project) & my thought is "Where's the race? Let's slow it down just a tad for sanity's sake."
(http://aycu39.webshots.com/image/46558/2006020139953911215_rs.jpg)
(http://aycu26.webshots.com/image/44025/2002641263913530678_rs.jpg)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2126/2117744931_569a8c947b_b.jpg
http://aycu35.webshots.com/image/47274/2002432858907346615_rs.jpg
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/43624/2000051132168568164_rs.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3278/2347735584_f72e312a5f_b.jpg
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/47022/2004858924898621406_rs.jpg
http://www.burjdubaiskyscraper.com/2007/11November/burj_dubai-skyscraper1122.jpg
Well obviously, if you look at that big wide picture of Dubai, you'll see,t hat there's no room fo rexpanding horizontally, so they have to go up or down, and I'd rather go up myself. Well, not up since I'm afraid of heights, but I'd send people there. Didn't they at some point develope stuff that makes the scraper steady in case of an earth quake, like some robotics right under it? I think they did... Anyway, at least we have something to aim our planes at.
Quote from: Tuomas on Thu 19/06/2008 11:04:03
Well obviously, if you look at that big wide picture of Dubai, you'll see,t hat there's no room fo rexpanding horizontally, so they have to go up or down,
Surely not ALL their buildings are planning to break world records! And judging from the width of the building I'm not convinced that its adding all that more office space than a plain rectangular Sears Tower, for instance. I honestly think these height race buildings are all about prestige.
Quote from: Tuomas on Thu 19/06/2008 11:04:03
Didn't they at some point develope stuff that makes the scraper steady in case of an earth quake, like some robotics right under it? I think they did...
haha yeah the Acme Spring.
(http://www.goodson.com/store/product_images/BS-12023_T.jpg)
Lots o' those puppies'll do it.
Quote from: evenwolf on Thu 19/06/2008 09:44:31
When an architect or a construction crew makes one of these skyscrapers, surely the notion of a disaster is evident.
I wouldn't work on the construction of a building that tall unless I had a parachute.... or I was feeling suicidal.... or I needed the money..... or they asked me nicely, but other than that NO WAY!!!
Quote from: evenwolf on Thu 19/06/2008 11:14:47
I honestly think these height race buildings are all about prestige.
Spoiler
Freud
I like SC. Maybe because I am small as a halfling, and it' s a bit Freudian, as SSH says, but have one thing in mind:
The area of a building, at the base level... If you do it one-storey high, you' ll probably put, what... 3, 4 families? 4 or 5 offices? Do it ten-storey high and you' ll put 40 families or 50 offices. 100 storeis high and you' ll have 400 families, 500 offices... Probably better than devastating a huge area for making one flat houses/offices, no?
Tokyo Sky Tree
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4c/New_Tokyo_Tower.jpg/318px-New_Tokyo_Tower.jpg)(http://www.japanprobe.com/wp-content/uploads/tokyotower-chart.jpg)
GREAT side by side chart (http://www.oberste-kleinbeck.com/img/picofweek/week32skyscrapers.jpg)
And as long as we're covering proposed skyscrapers:
Mubarak Tower, Kuwait
(http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/87/untitled2er.jpg)
Al Burj, Dubai (not to be confused with the other one)
(http://kharkoma.homelinux.com/blog/misc/alburj0ob.jpg)
Saudi Arabia proposes to be the craziest:
(http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/04_01/21graphicDM3003_468x301.jpg)
(http://i30.tinypic.com/sxkk0p.jpg)
That's a BIG tower.
- Huw
Tokyo's Sky City proposal (as seen on Extreme Engineering (Discovery Channel)) is a pretty cool concept.
(http://carkod.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/sky-city2.jpg)
(http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/engineering/archives/gallery/skycity_archive.jpg)
Identification
Official name SKY CITY 1000
Emporis Building Number 135989
Location
City Tokyo
State Tokyo-to
Country Japan
Technical Data
Height (tip) *
Height (struct.) 1,000 m 3,281 ft
Height (roof) *
Building in General
Type of construction high-rise building
Main usages *
*
*
Status vision
Facts
- With a height of 1,000 meters and a total floor area of 800 hectares, SKY CITY 1000 is a superhigh-rise city comprising 14 concave dish-shaped, aerial bases called, "Space Plateaus" stacked one upon the other.
- Residences, offices, commercial facilities, schools, theaters and so forth are organically located in these spaces.
- 35,000 people will reside here, and 100,000 people will work here.
(http://www.ionlitio.com/images/2006/03/tokyo_sky_city_garden.jpg)
After reading this thread I feel like re-installing SimCity 3000. Too bad my cities always sucked.
The japanese are going a little mad about that skycrappers... there is also another design that reaches... 4000 meters!!! None of them is intended to be built, though. I don' t see the point in focusing the discussion in those concepts.
The mile high tower is "real"? I read oposite opinions in different websites.
Theres another one the Japanese have in mind that is going to be in a city in a pyramid. Inspired the by Great Pyramid at Giza this version is going to be made up of 55 pyramids the size of the one in Giza. It will be made of a network of tubes which as well as serving as the structure for the city it will also serve as the means of transport between areas.
I'm reserving this space for some pictures and stuff... at the moment I'm going based on a programme I watched about a year ago.
[Edit]
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/engineering/pyramidcity/interactive/interactive.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_City
...and here's that programme. (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I35RApAByXM)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d7/Try2004.gif)
The World Trade Centre was one of my favourites. I just loved them against the New York skyline. We went to New York for Mittens in 2004, it was a great shame not to see them :( I quite like the BT tower, it's just odd, a bit different in London. The 3M building in NY that just sits right at the end of that street and gets bigger & bigger as you go further down it....that was an awesome one too. I don't really know too much about other international skyscrapers, I like US ones really. But the one they built in beijing looks awesome :)
(http://english.people.com.cn/200612/31/images/xinsrc_19212033017057812405915.jpg)
Those Japanese sky cities are so awesome. Never heard of those projects... I wonder is that a private business or like the government is paying contracts to the best designs for sky cities?
The idea is berserk but I love it.
Here's one of my own photos I'm quite pleased with.
It shows Landmark Tower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokohama_Landmark_Tower) in Yokohama.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f349/Captain_Stu/Japan/Yokohama/STA60001.jpg)
It doesn't look all that tall until you stand at the bottom of it.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f349/Captain_Stu/Japan/Yokohama/STA60007.jpg)
In the news: Dubai rotating, wind powered skyscraper? (http://wcbstv.com/national/dubai.david.fisher.2.756027.html)
(http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/06/24/w0624143A.jpg)
Just imagine seeing that thing waving around in the wind! What a nauseating cool thing to experience, eh?
The floors will be independent of each other, rotating around a central concrete core. My question is..... how does one use the elevators / stairs? Do the doors constantly slide around and guillotine people in half or what?
Here's a vid...
http://ca.youtube.com/v/Bq-QUkE1DGM&hl
Self powered wind turbines on each floor is so badass!
"Why do we want to fight the wind? Let's use the wind for our benefit."
So genius. I hope this technology is legit.
Oh my god that seems like the most nauseating thing in the world ever. Cool but oh my god. You'd be working in a whirligig.
It's the coolest thing when you are outside it.
But it's the stupidest thing when you are inside it.
:=
Yeah, what happens when wind REALLY picks up? What happens in a hurricane? Perhaps there's some motion compensator or gear ratio that slows down the movement of each floor.
To be honest you'd be safer in that building in a hurricane because the building is so flexible. But with the floor clacking around it would be scary as hell.
Trouble is there would have to be only one staircase and/or eleveator shaft down the centre of the building.
you couldnt have these things anywhere else because they'd be separated as the floors spin.
The video stated that people could park their cars in the condo. What the heck??
I would never step in a rotating building. My vertigo is bad enough.
I've spent a lot of time on boats ... this building strikes me as a place where people like me would do okay (those that like boats) but the landlubbers out there might not do so well.
As long as the motion is subtle I think I'd rather like it ... but if it's enough motion to make things slide across counters, well ... I reckon that'd get old right quick.
I don't know why, but i keep thinking this building would be spinning like a ceiling fan. :)
It probably rotates very slowly in wind and probably not at all in no wind.
I'll just stay here in my 100 year old house. :)
Where I live, four storeys are considered the highest point of elevation man can survive.
I feel like reading G.A.S. again.
cool concept, we're really getting into James Bond villain stuff here...
Lilypad Cities:
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/07/03/article-1031438-01D5618300000578-781_468x317_popup.jpg)
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/07/03/article-1031438-01D5619400000578-933_468x337_popup.jpg)
Heres the article (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1031438/Pictured-The-floating-cities-day-house-climate-change-refugees.html)