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]

[Almadi @ Aug 25th 2008 4:35PM]

Just build 6000 of those around the world and connect them with fiber optics

Wii's for all !!!

[Brian @ Aug 25th 2008 4:35PM]

Hell. Yes.

Do they need tech support? I'll move there tomorrow, to start training!

[o29 @ Aug 25th 2008 4:45PM]

"Jet fuel burns at 800° to 1500°F, not hot enough to melt steel (2750°F). However, experts agree that for the towers to collapse, their steel frames didn't need to melt, they just had to lose some of their structural strength — and that required exposure to much less heat."

"Steel loses about 50 percent of its strength at 1100°F," notes senior engineer Farid Alfawak-hiri of the American Institute of Steel Construction."

"But jet fuel wasn't the only thing burning, notes Forman Williams, a professor of engineering at the University of California, San Diego, and one of seven structural engineers and fire experts that PM consulted. He says that while the jet fuel was the catalyst for the WTC fires, the resulting inferno was intensified by the combustible material inside the buildings, including rugs, curtains, furniture and paper. NIST reports that pockets of fire hit 1832°F. "

Here's some truth for you, since your post seemed devoid of it:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html?page=1

[Kyakko @ Aug 25th 2008 5:00PM]

i thought about this also. put in a house to house rail system, ala minority report and make out several thousand of these. you'll reduce alot of our environmental problems. Make it hurricane and tornado proof. also.

[Iridium @ Aug 25th 2008 5:19PM]

When Goldman Sachs and Vitral buld thier new unregulated commodities exchange in Dubai the Shieks there will have enough money to build 10 of these things.

Hmmm oil shieks and two of the worlds most massive commodity speculators buying and selling oil in US dollars on thier very own unregulated exchange. Wow what a great idea. I'm sure they will use restraint and not drive the price of oil up to $500 a barrel overnight.

[Dave @ Aug 25th 2008 5:40PM]

The Arcology idea certainly isn't new. The concept was created in the 1800's. Isaac Asimov wrote about it and the problems it created in 1954.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Caves_of_Steel

[Jack @ Aug 25th 2008 5:42PM]

This is the building from BladeRunner. The Tyrell Corporation's headquarters. Fake birds, fake white guys, and fake plants. Unless they are doing a massive Disneyland multi-tiered hydroponic gardening system, I don't see how they have enough food to keep from eating each other. Now that would be exciting. What would happen if the lights went out on 1 Million people at once? How freaking cool would that be.

If they want it to be self-sufficient, they'll need to keep it simple and build it to last forever. The ancient designers didn't depend only on electricity, and neither should a triangle with 1 Million souls stuffed in it.

[ted @ Aug 25th 2008 6:06PM]

Just think! If the US built one of these things they could stash their entire prison population in one of them. Put it at Guantánamo then we wouldn't have to worry about pesky lawyers putting in appeals the whole time.

[Ruben @ Aug 25th 2008 10:33PM]

...while we are at it, lets toss out the whole innocent until proven guilty thing. It always prevented us from conducting hastened executions anyways.

[Nuclear Fire @ Aug 25th 2008 6:10PM]

All this argument about the humidity in Dubai is so confusing. All these people claiming knowledge based on personal experience and witty insults is entertaining, yet intellectually unfulfilling. If only they was some powerful technology that could allow me to access reliable information such as government weather databases or weather report archives from the comfort of my own home then we could know who the lying jackasses really are and who are just regular old truthful jackasses...

[coffee @ Aug 25th 2008 6:14PM]

Hey, I know, let's wall one of these off and put all the criminals in it!!! Then we can sit back and:

a) take bets on who will kill who first in a cool new reality game for the ultra-rich
b) hope the President doesn't crash-land inside one
c) steal their children to make cyborgs out of them
d) pretend we turned off the detectors so one will run past and get his head blown off

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

Cool concept if you enjoy city life. I don't think I could ever put up with living in such close proximity. I live on 5 acres that has been handed down from my great grand parents. We grow a lot of our own fruits and veggies plus have a little bit of livestock.

[FrankMan @ Aug 25th 2008 8:06PM]

Not that I would want to live in it, but I like the idea that it will be carbon neutral. A lot better than most other housing projects.

[ED @ Aug 25th 2008 8:17PM]

But, will it blend?

[HunterXI @ Aug 25th 2008 8:28PM]

Not unless you have a death star or something.

[waterboy99troop @ Aug 25th 2008 8:21PM]

it's very possible nobody would actually see this, but i just gotta say it...

would it be right to tell them to take off every zig?...

[bartoron @ Aug 25th 2008 8:36PM]

Hopefully this ziggurat won't be made of mud like the real ones in Mesopotamia were. Mud + rain = melting building.

[LenSp @ Aug 25th 2008 8:37PM]

And when the people inside get too rebellious, the Head Rich Guy of Dubai can simply lock the doors, cut off the water and have his problem solved in a few days.

Hmm, even Taliban types couldn't miss hitting that when they fired at it -- well, they'd probably only miss half the time -- which is a huge improvement in their accuracy.

Seriously, though, that is a huge leap backwards for mankind -- living there would be like volunteering to live in a cage. Just look at the failure of high-rise public housing through out the world.

[secretdubai @ Aug 25th 2008 8:40PM]

Dubai is one of the most humid countries in the world during summer - it's right by the boiling steamy Gulf for a start.

Go into the desert or the mountains and sure, things are a lot fresher and drier.

I can't count the number of times I have walked out of an air-conditioned building to have my sunglasses steam up with the humidity, and my hands get instantly covered with condensation.

[Ruben @ Aug 25th 2008 10:31PM]

Forget the towers for a second.

What was the explanation for the collapse of Building 7. Ive always been curious.

[david @ Aug 25th 2008 11:20PM]

Flashpoint, I really hope you get kicked in the balls by some one soon.

Really really hard too.

[abu @ Aug 26th 2008 4:39AM]

"designers assert that it could practically be carbon-neutral"

question is, which is the carbon footprint of _building_ such a thing?

[bertross @ Aug 26th 2008 7:22AM]

Then Cyanide & Happiness lied!?

[Robert @ Aug 26th 2008 9:01AM]

Anyone else think "Urbmon"?

[HEF @ Aug 26th 2008 10:41AM]

Urban Monad 116: "A lofty spire a thousand stories high where 880,000 souls live out their perfectly regulated lives in peace and plenty. But inside this glorious world are a few who dare to doubt and dream:" Blurb for the book.

The designers of this abomination should read Robert Silverbergs novel about a similar arcology. It is availabe in spanish, french, english and I think dutch.

[RaggedDanny @ Aug 26th 2008 11:08AM]

what will happen if they bomb this..............1.1 million deaths

[gavinovz @ Aug 26th 2008 11:29AM]

City foke might like it, there up each others butts anyway

[Jonathan Smith @ Aug 26th 2008 2:34PM]

Where our gas money went.

www.thepalm.ae

With the cost of the palm project? watch our gas prices shoot up again, so that they can pay for a few of these pyramids.. When you have the cash to make new wonders of the world.. why not?

And India is already building solar pyramids...
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/solar_pyramids.php

[gatekeeper @ Aug 26th 2008 2:36PM]

"build more farms"

[James Bowery @ Aug 26th 2008 5:14PM]

The

[karl @ Aug 26th 2008 5:52PM]

So many news from Burj... Almost makes me thing "Resistance is few-tle!"

There have been such projects all over the world, in Japan, a tower 1 kilometer (2/3 of a mile) high, in Honk Kong a floating pyramid, and from the US of A, a ship so big it would make lifeboats useless...

the ultimate condo living pest...

I'm moving to the moon!

[Brian @ Aug 27th 2008 12:03AM]

This is BS. No, I didn't RTFA. Didn't have to, I did the math instead.

1.1 MILLION people in 2.3 sq km? Just *think* for a moment.

Tokyo = 12.8 million people in 2187 sq km = pop density of 5,852 people / sq km.
Manhattan = 1.6 million people in 60 sq km = Pop density of 26,666 people / sq km.

Ziggurat = 1.1 million people in 2.3 sq km = pop density of 470,260 people / sq km.

(If you prefer miles, that's 1.1 million people in 0.88 sq miles = pop density of 1,250,000 people / sq mile.)


Now think about power, sanitation, food, water and air supply. Think about what that kind of population density would do to the average mind.

Now imagine a blackout. No ventilation, no plumbing, no elevators, no lights, no security.

Sounds like playing DOOM.

This is a pipe-dream.