Map Underlays

high res satellite image

illustrator file

Another option is to paste together screen shots from Google Maps in the satellite, map, or hybrid modes to create a high resolution map that would be more customizable.

Hyper Building- The Vertical City

The Hyper Building is a conceptual design project by Paolo Soleri, an Italian-American architect who worked for a time with Frank Lloyd Wright. The Hyper Building is an "arcology," which according to Wikipedia is:

....a hyperdense city designed to maximize human interaction; maximize access to shared, cost-effective infrastructural services like water and sewage; minimize the use of energy, raw materials and land; reduce waste and environmental pollution; and allow interaction with the surrounding natural environment.

The Hyper Building seeks to reduce human impact on the earth by equipping a single structure with all elements necessary for life. The inhabitants live, work, and play in the structure while the countryside around them is preserved for enjoyment, conservation, and farming--reducing the land use by 90 percent compared to a megalopolis or suburban sprawl.

As seen above in one of Soleri's diagrams on Arcosanti, the hyper building's footprint is significantly smaller than the foot print of downtown Los Angeles. The hyper building's density is 101,000 people for every 1 square kilometer, compared to the density of downtown LA of 100,000 people for every 33 square kilometers.

Energy Diagram

Not only does the arcology combat sprawl, it reduces waste and pollution. The building is powered by solar generators and windmills.

The tower's foundation extends 195 meters below grade and the tower rises to a height of 1000 meters. (That's 3281 feet, or over two times the height of the Sears Tower.)

(orginal illustration)

Soleri addresses an increasingly pressing issue of resource conservation; however at the proposed scale (1 kilometer tall!), the Hyper Building seems a little overly ambitious at this time. Besides the doubtful feasibility of construction, the Hyper Building is a fascinating study of the blend of architecture and ecology--creating an inhabitable and self-sustaining environment. In the future, perhaps buildings similar to the Hyper Building will be integrated into existing cities, rather than being isolated as the architect has proposed. That way, the structures would replace older buildings as condensed living environments.

Hyper Buildings "Invading" Phoenix

Graphics Proposal Part 1

Graphics Proposal Part 2

Sumo with Polycarbonate Siding

Pipelines

Pipelines are used throughout the world to transport gasses and fluids over land and sometimes under the sea. They are used to most commonly transport oil, but pipelines carry water, slurry (aggregate mixed with liquid), and even beer.



Druzhba, in Russia, is the world's longest pipeline, spanning 2,500 miles. Built under Soviet reign, the name Druzhba means "friendship," as it was intended to bring oil to poor parts of the Soviet Union and Western Europe. The pipeline carries 1.2 to 1.4 million barrels per day (that's 50,400,000 to 58,800,000 gallons.)



Though heavily criticized for their environmental impact, pipelines due provide an efficient means of transportation. And, in fact, if the goods currently being carried by pipelines were transferred to truck transport, the highways would be extremely congested, which would undoubtedly cause more road expansion and cause possibly an even greater environmental impact through pollution than pipelines currently do. With the growing emphasis on reducing oil use and environmental impact in general, pipelines could become more widely used, especially as the technology required for maintenance and monitoring develops.

Though pipelines are rather uncommon forms of transportation, in the mega scale, the potential of pipelines as more than just means of transporting goods becomes evident. In a larger scale pipelines could replace highways as elevated tubular networks, as illustrated by Walter Chalk below. His drawing inspired a similar concept in relation to the US. Cities could become dense networks of tunnels, bridges, and pipelines-- a tubular city.




Tubular Nation.

Habitat, Montreal 1967

Habitat is a mega structure built of 158 randomly stacked, modular concrete box houses. The method and type of this structure were seen to be the way of the future.

Moshe Safdie designed this mega structure for the Montreal Expo of 1967. In an early phase of design, the structure consisted of a structural skeleton into which the boxes would be inserted. Later in the design process, this was modified so that the boxes were stacked in a stepped, ziggurat-like profile.

The result was an eleven-storey disorderly array of boxes resembling Italian hill towns.

365 modular units make up 15 different apartment sizes varying from 600-1800 sq. ft. to total 158 apartments in all. (Initially, Safdie planned on 900 apartments.) Each apartment has a roof garden and playgrounds and "pedestrian streets" interspersed between the complex formation. Core structural elements house elevators and secure the units through tension rods and cables.

Safdie's intention was for this to become the prototype for new methods of housing construction; however the cost and time associated with building this structure showed it not be an improvement from traditional methods. Though certainly, the innovations of Habitat are necessary for further studies in prefabricated construction methods, they are still in need of greater development to be feasible.

I think a success of this building is how it is a high density development without the monotony and banality of many similar developments. The roof gardens and the ever-changing vistas and perspectives create a dynamic and harmonious assemblage. Habitat is said to be simple and disciplined in its parts but complex and chaotic in its whole. Thus, Habitat, becomes an interesting social study as much as it is a study of method.

In the mega scale, modular buildings could be integrated into and even become cities--one giant structure built of stacked blocks. The adaptabiliy in terms of customization and size of these modules would allow for several activities to coexist wihin the same network. Transportation would occur within and on the megastructure that holds all the modules in place.

Door Addition

Photos of the door addition to the full-scale mock-up.




Secondary position.




Hinge detail.