Carbon-neutral Ziggurat pyramid could house 1.1 million in Dubai

As we learned from Wall-E, people with half a mind for themselves probably won't be kosher with living with 1.1 million or so other inhabitants within a pyramid. That being said, there's always the brainwash approach to getting 'em in there, and if hordes of people were ever filed into the conceptual Ziggurat, Mother Earth would surely appreciate it. The 2.3-square kilometer building would be able to house over 1 million people and be "almost totally self-sufficient energy-wise." By tapping into the planet's renewable resources, designers assert that it could practically be carbon-neutral, and given that transport within the machine would be connected by an "integrated 360-degree network," fuel-burning cars would be pointless. As with most things in Dubai, this one seems larger than life, but if the Burj Al Arab is any indication, there's at least a minuscule chance this thing comes to fruition.

[Via Inhabitat]

[kbsig106 @ Aug 25th 2008 2:43PM]

and it will be called.... "01"

[Sharky @ Aug 25th 2008 3:06PM]

Is that a reference to the Animatrix?

[Dezab @ Aug 25th 2008 3:40PM]

No, its a reference to fallout

[kbsig106 @ Aug 25th 2008 3:44PM]

Yes to Animatrix - 01 was in the Middle East.

I'm remembering this correctly???

[GusG @ Aug 25th 2008 3:55PM]

Animatrix: The Second Renaissance

[eiki @ Aug 25th 2008 6:27PM]

I was thinking of Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis when I heard 'Ziggurat'

[Silvestr @ Sep 1st 2008 4:27AM]

eiki: It's Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927), the first sci-fi megafilm of history. The anime version is just a remake.

[7on @ Aug 25th 2008 2:43PM]

Our grandkids will all be living in these

[dennis @ Aug 25th 2008 4:00PM]

Or, the grandkids of those who are now our contemporaries in Dubai.... Hopefully they'll remember us fondly after the next planet-wide disaster strikes between now and then.

[Boudu @ Aug 25th 2008 7:14PM]

Your grandkids are gonna have to wait. The Japanese thought this up and engineered the basic design decades ago, they called it the Shimizu Megacity Pyramid. They realized that even in Japan (with high land prices) its smarter and cheaper to just build out then vertically. Where land is cheap (like in a desert) I see little reason to build up and pay the cost of construction and maintenance of something like a that. Rich oil money can be better spent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimizu_Mega-City_Pyramid

[Blacksheep @ Aug 25th 2008 7:51PM]

Perhaps they should try a smaller size first? You know like 50,000 - 100,000 first to see how it goes.

[BobTurbo @ Aug 25th 2008 10:12PM]

Boudu, do you have any references to back up your claim that it was abandoned, and that it was abandoned because it is too expensive to build large vertical projects? I can find no references on the internet; all I see are suggestions that it is waiting on a building material strong enough to actually create the project. I can name many vertical housing projects (eg, Unite d'Habitation) that as far as I know are successful to this day.

Also, I highly doubt that you know something that the people funding and designing this ridiculously expensive project don't know. "Oh we should have listened to that random poster on the internet" is not something that I think will be quoted in the future with regards to this project.

Vertical building is essential, it is just a matter of when. Personally I think urban sprawl is disgusting, polluting, and I have no real forest to visit anywhere near me.

[Boudu @ Aug 26th 2008 12:02AM]

BobTurbo, the Discovery channel actually did a documentary on the Shimizu Megacity Pyramid called "City in a Pyramid". There was also a Extreme Engineering show about Tokyo Sky City, a similar project. Shimizu is actually a huge construction technology company that builds factory, bridges, airports, etc. The biggest engineering hurdle is that its cost prohibitive especially being that they would need light-weight material like carbon-fiber (or some future carbon-nanotube material) to construct it since the sheer size and weight of the entire building in concrete or steel would collapse upon itself. They estimated the cost almost 10billion to make it.

References:
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/engineering/pyramidcity/interactive/interactive.html

Shimizu Corporation:
http://www.shimz.co.jp/english/index.html

Found a Youtube link of the documentry:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I35RApAByXM&feature=related

[hihiho @ Aug 26th 2008 11:18PM]

They used to have that 5 times daily prayer like that in Bali, Indonesia. Soon the mob burned down the mosque and after that things goes quietly happy ever after.

[waiownsyou @ Aug 25th 2008 2:44PM]

Logan's Run, anyone?

[Samurai Jack @ Aug 25th 2008 2:49PM]

Funny, I posted the same thing. Although the comments system is slow and broken, and hasn't registered yet. C'mon! It's my Last Day and I want to see my name on Engadget before I go to Carousel.

[JohnnyBoy @ Aug 25th 2008 6:27PM]

Renew! Renew!

[rob @ Aug 26th 2008 10:16AM]

You mean the movie where people live in a huge mall?

[raider @ Aug 26th 2008 7:15PM]

What's this flashing thing on my hand ?

[Samurai Jack @ Aug 25th 2008 2:48PM]

For some reason this thing fills me with dread. And visions of "Logan's Run". Especially the visions of "Logan's Run".

[tridge @ Aug 25th 2008 3:48PM]

nice.

[Limezor @ Aug 25th 2008 2:45PM]

Somehow this doesn't look very attractive to live in.

[m @ Aug 25th 2008 5:08PM]

what disturbs me, if you click through, is that the entire city will be wired with facial recognition technology for "security." the authorities will know who and where you are, and what you are doing, at all times. in other words, it'll be just like living in britain.

[JohnnyBoy @ Aug 25th 2008 6:31PM]

"in other words, it'll be just like living in britain."

The punchline was superb. Very good. :-D

[William @ Aug 26th 2008 7:54PM]

I'm Thinking more of Like Minority Report. The futue is Big Brother watching over everything you do.

[Mohammed @ Aug 25th 2008 2:46PM]

What happens when it collapses, it will be the greatest failure of all.

[KarlW @ Aug 25th 2008 2:47PM]

Forget the Burj Al-Arab - take a look at the Burj Dubai!

Looking at that and The Palm, I wouldn't put this past them.

[Tom @ Aug 25th 2008 2:49PM]

Walt Disney had this concept back in the 60's! Anyone heard of E.P.C.O.T.?

[BigD145 @ Aug 25th 2008 5:50PM]

The concept is older than Walt. Look up Sir Ebenezer Howard.

[w @ Aug 25th 2008 2:49PM]

Dubai is a big golden poo.

[Saad Rabia @ Aug 25th 2008 4:22PM]

God damn you.

[Dubya @ Aug 25th 2008 6:24PM]

Intolerance? Hate? A misguided display of nationalism?

Are you sure you're not from Texas?

[andres @ Aug 25th 2008 7:09PM]

"Intolerance? Hate? A misguided display of nationalism?

Are you sure you're not from Texas?"


its ironic that you mention intolerance and then insult texas

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Aug 25th 2008 9:58PM]

I just negative-voted all of you.

Except for andres.

[404 @ Aug 25th 2008 2:51PM]

Just don't let an AI machine run the thing when it's invented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPuU8Pq9D3Q

[Smart People Play Tuba @ Aug 25th 2008 10:00PM]

Thanks for reminding me how much those CTP wonder cut-scenes sucked ass.

[IndiaTech @ Aug 25th 2008 2:52PM]

Tower of Babel 2.0?

[Richard @ Aug 25th 2008 2:54PM]

Didn't we all learn that when you build archologies, the crime rate just skyrockets?

[bertross @ Aug 26th 2008 7:18AM]

And after a while they launch into space never to be seen again...

[M.Samba @ Aug 25th 2008 2:54PM]

whatcouldpossiblygowrong?

[iKrolm @ Aug 25th 2008 6:44PM]

dunno; earthquake/fire/disease/famine/drought/overheating/terrorists not to mention mechanical/computer/electrical failures; who wouldn't want to live in one?

[Pete @ Aug 25th 2008 3:02PM]

Anyone else play sim city 2000? At the end of the game all you build are these gigantic self sufficient apartment buildings that housed 500,000 people...strange seeing something like this actually being proposed...

[o29 @ Aug 25th 2008 4:34PM]

SimCity 2000? What is this strange game of which you speak?

I think the better question is who hasn't played SimCity.

[DJWaffles @ Aug 25th 2008 2:57PM]

Are there really 1.1 million people who could afford to live in that thing that would actually WANT to live in that thing?

Sand, 120 degree heat, 95% humidity, and hourly loudspeaker prayers gets really old after awhile...

[Ashwin Jadhav @ Aug 25th 2008 3:15PM]

The humidity ain't 95%.

How is the temp. any different from the Nevada desert (Las Vegas) or Phoenix? People still live there, don't they ?

[DJWaffles @ Aug 25th 2008 3:38PM]

You've obviously never lived there. Take Miami humidity and add it Las Vegas heat, and then you have Dubai.

The entire country is a dressed up wasteland.

[Ashwin Jadhav @ Aug 25th 2008 3:45PM]

FYI, I've lived in Dubai for 13 years. Its hot in summer, not humid.

You must have been there on the few days during the year when its humid.

[DJWaffles @ Aug 25th 2008 3:53PM]

yeah...not humid at all

http://www.godubai.com/explore/whatshot.asp

I lived there too buddy, apparently in 13 years you didn't step outside your air conditioned office very often.

UAE is not a good place to live...don't even get me started on how much they censor the internet. They make China look good.

[Saad Rabia @ Aug 25th 2008 4:29PM]

25 years in the UAE, I'm born in this country and since the day I can remember, humidity in the UAE always was comparable or less than the humidity in many US states. I'm not saying there isn't humidity, but it is for sure not 95% of the time, not even 30%.

And the prayers aren't "hourly" you ignorant prick, it is only 5 times a day, and you should respect as long as you have any kind of respect to other human beings.

Don't act all smart about things you don't know, and stop watching FOX news all day long.

[Ashwin Jadhav @ Aug 25th 2008 4:36PM]

Gosh.... it didn't feel that humid when I was there. LOL! I used to play football(soccer) in the hot (and now humid) afternoon at school; didn't really feel humid.

I thought Miami was more humid than Dubai when I was there a few months back. Maybe I had got used to the heat and humidity while I was there.

Yeah the internet censorship is bad, but hey there are ways around it.

Every country in the world has their rules and regulations; what may be acceptable in one country may not be acceptable in another. There's no point in arguing over what you or I think is right or what they should/shouldn't allow; it's up to their govt. there to decide.

And yeah don't start the "democracy" parade, there are only a few countries in the world where democracy is truly successful. Whats the point of a democracy when a million are massacred in Rwanda and the press secretary is debating the meaning of genocide with a journalist and the prez is busy getting BJ's from fat interns and in Spain/Italy/many European countries colored/black people esp. sportsmen are subjected to racism and monkey chants and the government says its all right.. no hard feelings....go figure!!