Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and Leslie E. Robertson Associates have drawn up a remarkably ambitious proposal for Tokyo Bay that includes significant flood defences, a Hyperloop transportation system and a mile-high skyscraper. Dubbed Next Tokyo, the blue-sky concept is imagined for completion in 2045.
Next Tokyo calls for an archipelago of artificial islands to be constructed in Tokyo Bay. They would be protected by a complex series of flood defences, which would also guard low-lying areas of Tokyo itself from flooding and typhoons in the wake of rising sea levels.
Several residential towers would also be constructed on the islands, and provide living quarters for an estimated half a million residents. The tallest building, dubbed Sky Mile Tower, would rise an incredible 1,700 m (5,577 ft) and feature a stepped and tapering form that mitigates high winds. Seismic activity would be combated with Japanese engineering expertise.
The interior of the Sky Mile Tower would feature libraries, retail areas, restaurants, hotels, gyms, and open-air spaces. ThyssenKrupp's multi-directional elevators would also be installed. Transportation would be upgraded and the development would boast a new monorail, water bus, and even a Hyperloop system.
The development would be powered with kinetic energy captured from trains running across the bay, in addition to solar power, wind power and algae grown for the purpose in saline water. Since pumping drinking water so far up the Sky Mile Tower would be difficult, it would feature rainwater harvesting and "cloud harvesting."
It sounds like heady stuff indeed but don't expect this one to be built any time soon.
Sources: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, CTBUH via Arch Daily
Of course it will! Silly me for even thinking otherwise for any building planned for one of the most seismically active parts of the globe. As for Hyperloop, well, what could possibly go wrong with a train doing well over 700 mph while its track is subjected to an earthquake reading force 9 on the Richter scale?
Architects, eh! Don't you just love them?