As if New York City didn’t already have enough attractions, why not throw a skyscraper theme park into the mix? New York-based Architect Ju-Hyun Kim proposes stacking up what is usually a rather land-intensive endeavor into a vertical tower, complete with thrilling rides and gravity-defying drops. Unlike most amusement parks, which require a long drive and a massive parking lot, a vertical urban version could cut down greatly on emissions. Since it’s in the heart of the city on a small footprint, this park benefits from the density of the city and could be easily reached by public transit.
Normal theme parks stretch over acres of land with sprawling roller coasters, miles of walkways, and thousands of parking spots. Visitors to the park usually have to drive or travel long distances to get there, racking up carbon emissions along the way. By condensing the theme park into a much smaller site in the heart of a dense, urban center, its environmental impact is reduced and instead of driving hours to get to the theme park, visitors can take the subway or bus.
Vegas and other cities already have theme park rides and adventures on top of their buildings, and Ju-Hyan’s Vertical Theme Park, just takes it one step further, advancing on existing technology to combine all of the rides into one cohesive, albeit crazy and intertwined tower. The tower would include a flume ride, sky promenade, city diving, a roller coaster, a ferris wheel, restaurants, a vertical carousel, and a space theater. We’d really like to see the addition of some good energy efficient technologies like hybrid regenerative breaking and renewable energy, but all in all, it’s an interesting concept that we’d like to see come to fruition one day.
+ Ju-Hyun Kim
Via WAN
beast but i doubt itll work
pretty!
This is relatively unattractive and unpractical and totally unsustainable.
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Very simple, but ‘out-of-the-box thinking!’ Lovely!
For centuries mankind has erected very tall towers that some would argue are Freudian in nature. I assume the architect here was a woman, desperate to make it in a mans world. Because it looks like a tampon. The buildings next to it look like the logo to some evil computer company. I can just picture riding a light cycle through Tron.
holcim, nice spam, thanks, it’s an interesting contest, but still spam here.
i’m lost on how this is sustainable other than small footprint so it’s wasting less real estate, and the related fuel to transport folks to it. i only still read inhabitat for the interesting design stuff, i go elsewhere for green now.
on a less complainy note, frelling neato. the roller coaster indoors at the mall of america is small but pretty trippy, now imagine flying through several other rides a few feet from you, or a ferris wheel atop a sky scraper.
I’m sure the neighbors would love a monstrosity like this next door.
Lazyreader, what an asinine, pointless (and not to mention sexist!) comment.
Interesting idea, but overall would most likely be highly unsuccessful. The bungee jumping in such an environment just seems outright dangerous.
My comment could be sexist to both genders. We all know how egotistical architects can be. Today’s architects are not concerned with the general welfare of human beings and practical reality. There concern is commissions and whats physically possible. Criticism is the only conceivable way to spread a sense of responsibility among them. And the best way to criticize is to profane and joke.