Sky_City

Tokyo Sky City Plans are being made to create a vertical city in Tokyo, Japan. The idea was originally thought of because there are many people living in Japan and the city is becoming crowded. This could be fixed by creating a vertical tower where people would not only be able to live, but be able to work and even exercise in. This tower would be about two- thirds of a mile high. That is more than three times the height of the Eiffel Tower. The building plans for this new creation so far include three towers each very tall. The occupancy of all the apartments in all three towers combined comes to a total of thirty five thousand people. The towers are big so they would also have super fast elevators and a monorail to help all the residents be able to get from one part to another more efficiently. The elevators can go from one bottom to top in little more than two minutes. As far as recreation in the towers, there would be plenty. The building plans consist of various plateaus, supported on top of one another. This creates space in between them. The designers are planning to use this space to create parks or green areas. There could also be room for a suspended Olympic sized sports facility that clings to all three of the towers close to the bottom. Towards the top, all three of the towers would be joined and a heliport as well as important management offices could be constructed up there. There might even possibly be room for a small airport. Tokyo, along with most large cities produces exorbitant amounts of heat. This could be reduced by clearing a lot of the houses and concrete to make room for sky city. Some proposals have been made for the land surrounding the towers to be made into a park so that the city could be greener and a little cooler as well. A main problem that the designers of Sky City had to face was the fact that with the planned height of the complex, there was going to be large wind currents. The main support columns used in the building would have to be rounded so that the wind could easily flow through the building. The building might also feature a large steel counterweight on top to prevent from the winds as well as ground tremors which Japan receives in plentitude. Special, more stable concrete is also going to be used so that the building will be able to stay standing for much longer than our typical one. With the financial budget for this construction, all of these devices to ensure safety do seem like important investments. I think that this building is a very good idea to help over population and overcrowding in one of the world’s largest cities, but is it the right place to be doing this? After all Japan is known for its sandy unstable soil and it is basically on one of the main tectonic plates, The Ring of Fire or Pacific Plate. Perhaps Mexico City or New York would be a more suitable location. Also this structure would be of an enormous financial risk regardless of where it is built. Many of the technologies planning to be used it are not as refined as most of us think they are. All in all this is a fine idea, but much work and improvement must be made for the final product to be a suitable home for so many people and their families.

Many thanks to Discovery Channel and this page for the valuable information []