Sky City 1000

NANG THIS POST


Location /// Tokyo, Japan
Projected Height /// 3281 ft

The Takenake Corporation proposed Sky City 1000 back in 1989 to tackle Tokyo population-density problems. Tokyo-like congestion prompts a demand for green space and office space that vastly exceeds supply, and also introduces a host of environmental and social issues, from pollution to uncomfortably packed commuter trains. Takenake's solution: Build up—way up—and place green spaces in the sky. "The feature of our proposal was making artificial land in the air," says Masato Ujigawa, manager of the engineering department at Takenaka. To achieve this, Takenake will first start with a base that is 1300 feet per side, a footprint that equates to several city blocks (Burj Khalifa's triangular footprint is just 300 feet or so). Then, in accordance with its name, Sky City 1000 will rise a full thousand meters (3281 feet), consisting of 14 levels stacked on top of one another. Each level will act as its own "town," with a park-like plaza area in its center ringed by residences, schools and businesses. The structure would hold 10,000 homes and be used in some capacity by 130,000 people. Construction has not begun on Sky City 1000 since Japan's population has begun shrinking as of 2005, Ujigawa says. Nevertheless, Ujigawa says that ideas originally espoused by the Sky City 1000 project have since been used in more conventional construction. These include concrete reinforced with carbon fibers instead of iron to cut down on weight, and self-contained water-service systems in buildings that treat sewage and reclaim water.