Mike Donovan
Good Luck building that
t2af
so awesome....
4Freedom
What an amazing waste of time and energy.
donwine
We joke about mobile homes being a magnet for tornadoes - could this be a magnet for typhoons? Because it is in Taiwan - will it be cheap?
skyship007
Hi folks,
Interesting idea, but not only will it not get built because of the very expensive construction methods and materials involved, but I suspect the maintenance and damage caused by strong winds will prove very expensive if it did.
A real big airship is much simpler in comparison, so it would be better to order a Skycat from Hybrid Air Vehicles if you want to spend big bucks on a Helium tourist attraction.
Regards JB ( Gasbags comedy www.hybridblimp.net )
HenryFarkas
Maybe I\'m missing something, but it looks like the blimps are all pointing in different directions, but are anchored only on the building side. That would work only when there\'s no wind. With any wind at all, the blimps would be blown around the building until they were all facing in the same direction, and their tails, except for the one on the leeward side of the structure, would be twisted around the building.
Henry
Facebook User
All the nay-sayers would have us still living in found caves. Its a brilliant concept. I hope one day I can experience it.
Stuart Saunders
Better to build it on Yang Ming Shan - it could be the centrepiece of my YangMingShan MRT Line for Taipei, which can be seen at http://vimeo.com/11785326.
Stuart.
Muraculous
A beautiful concept for a zero gravity planet with zero velocity winds. I predict that, depending on the strength of attachment to the tower, huge torque loads will be applied to the building during the slightest wind. If not, the tourists will get free flights on the jet stream...
PeetEngineer
This design at it stands will need a huge glass dome over the entire structure to protect the blimps from the wind!

I admire the concept of potentially using dirigibles in architecture, but an un-braced cantilever support like that doesn\'t account for the need to weathervane.

Even if the individual blimps were tethered at certain angles as pictured by support cables, the stress exerted by the high winds you get up high would still exert a huge torsion load on the main structure.

This could work with a carousel which allows the blimps to weathervane, but the need to be able to bring the blimp(s) back to earth when weather conditions dictate so remains.

A more interesting application of helium buoyancy in architecture would be with large enclosed glass elevator shafts - no need for counterweights then.
Also, what about some little inflatable airship escape capsules? 9/11 surely shows there is a need for such an escape method from tall buildings?