Comments on: MILES HIGH ULTIMA TOWER: Vertical Eco City Works Like a Tree http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/ Green design & eco innovation for a better world Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:48:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Laurene http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-490951 Laurene Mon, 11 Feb 2013 02:03:26 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-490951 Appreciate this post. Will try it out. Appreciate this post. Will try it out.

]]> By: Trena http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-489004 Trena Fri, 08 Feb 2013 10:40:50 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-489004 Pretty! This was a really wonderful post. Many thanks for providing this information. Pretty! This was a really wonderful post. Many thanks for providing this information.

]]> By: bugmenot http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-307954 bugmenot Sun, 20 Mar 2011 20:27:02 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-307954 This is not originally his concept. Serbian scientist Milutin Milankovic had a concept of "Babylon tower". http://eng.digital.nb.rs/document/II-150080-007 This is not originally his concept. Serbian scientist Milutin Milankovic had a concept of “Babylon tower”.

http://eng.digital.nb.rs/document/II-150080-007

]]> By: Rhiade http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-307496 Rhiade Thu, 17 Mar 2011 01:18:45 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-307496 lol is a high tower really, wow '-' lol is a high tower really, wow ‘-’

]]> By: not a jew but a real human http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-292119 not a jew but a real human Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:36:00 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-292119 you must try to eliminate the Mountains so peoples ئill not be able to find the energy you must try to eliminate the Mountains so peoples ئill not be able to find the energy

]]> By: Swm http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-203757 Swm Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:09:19 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-203757 Face it, this will never ever be built. Be realistic people! Face it, this will never ever be built. Be realistic people!

]]> By: lance 4567 http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-194026 lance 4567 Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:40:37 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-194026 that tower was so tall 11,000 m that tower was so tall 11,000 m

]]> By: mady505 http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-134508 mady505 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:57:16 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-134508 hello every 1 it's mohamed civil engineer over here well .... I'm just wondering what kind of foundation will be used to support this tower burj dubai is now over 800 meters and it's supported on 192 pile with 50 meter depth underground so... how deep will be this ower foundation :) keep guessing hello every 1

it’s mohamed
civil engineer over here

well …. I’m just wondering what kind of foundation will be used to support this tower

burj dubai is now over 800 meters and it’s supported on 192 pile with 50 meter depth underground

so… how deep will be this ower foundation

:)

keep guessing

]]> By: iAin http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-124848 iAin Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:13:35 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-124848 Yes looks very lovely and oh so green! But i believe were all missing the point here and that is to build such large structures and the resources needed to do so is far from green. And is how we got to this state of affairs in the first place.I wonder if this is Eco-or Ego building. Yes looks very lovely and oh so green! But i believe were all missing the point here and that is to build such large structures and the resources needed to do so is far from green. And is how we got to this state of affairs in the first place.I wonder if this is Eco-or Ego building.

]]> By: XERXES http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-97417 XERXES Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:03:23 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-97417 It is impressive but nothing compared to the mile-high tower in Saudi Arabia... It is impressive but nothing compared to the mile-high tower in Saudi Arabia…

]]> By: XERXES http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-97416 XERXES Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:01:43 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-97416 This building is impressive (and taller)...but nothing compared to the mile-high tower being built in saudi arabia...nothing. This building is impressive (and taller)…but nothing compared to the mile-high tower being built in saudi arabia…nothing.

]]> By: Eric Hunting http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-81090 Eric Hunting Sun, 11 May 2008 16:05:56 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-81090 The \'problems\' of carbon, renewable energy use, and sustainability are systemic. They are products of the physical structure of our civilization and the only comprehensive solution to them is to alter that physical structure in a more appropriate way. The structure of civilization has historically tended to be keyed to the dominant sources of energy at any period in history and the logistics associated with its use and transportation. In the past civilization was greatly confined in physical density by the limits on transportation of key forms of energy, with waterways being the dominant means of bulk transit and the only portable energy forms being bulky and low in energy density. We have today a very physically dispersed civilization because our dominant fossil fuel forms of energy have featured very high energy density affording great energy portability, both in terms of distance from energy sources and potential dispersion of transit routes by virtue of reduced minimum scales of vehicles. We often complain about contemporary communities being designed around the automobile. However, it\'s more correct to say they are designed around gasoline because the automobile as it exists and functions now is the product of the energy characteristics of gasoline. Electric and gasoline cars evolved in parallel for most of their early history. But the growth market for automobiles was initially in the countryside, where portable energy was critical, public transportation non-existent, and the reach of urban power grids long delayed. What does this have to do with mile high megacity towers? Well, imagine what the world would be like if we had never been able to make fractional distillation of crude oil cost-effective. No gasoline and so no long-range automobiles. So while oil might still have become a dominant energy source, it would not be used much outside the context of electricity production because it would be too filthy to burn in small vehicles and would normally only be transported around the world in bulk along few (rail and ship) transit routes. Civilization\'s structure would be confined to nodes along the bulk fossil fuel transport network and its local dispersion limited by the distribution of electric power. Electric cars and electric powered mass transit would be the norm by default. The end result? A civilization that looks like a cross between the Steam Age and the Space Age. A world that looks very much like the world depicted in this Eugene Tsui design. But what does an imaginary world without gasoline have to do with this? Well, isn\'t that what we aspire to now? You see, there has never really been a technical \'problem\' with renewable energy. It has always worked in some degree. It just operated under very different logistical limitations compared to fossil fuels -logistics very similar to that of Steam Age energy sources like coal and unrefined oil. We invented the \'problem\' of renewable energy by demanding that it conform to the logistics of a very different form of energy -gasoline- rather than the more logical tactic of adapting our civilization\'s physical structure to suit its natural logistics -because it\'s sort of difficult for civilization to physically contract given the way property markets work. Governments don\'t reign-in urban property values so there\'s little incentive for contraction. But if you can design a new form of city that challenges the suburban ideas of standard of living and reduce property values by going upward instead of outward it becomes a more viable prospect. THIS is the real message of Tsui\'s design -as well as the arcologies of Paulo Soleri. What they have been trying to tell us for a long time is that we have to physically change how and where we live to be able to live -and live well- in the context of the logistics imposed by sustainability. To sell sustainability on a model of progress and improved standard of living rather than sacrifice, as has been environmentalism\'s tradition for a long time. Levittown is still Levittown even if it\'s made out of straw bale and has solar panels on the roofs. And the best way to show your love for nature is to leave it alone. This is what these designs -in a rather exaggerated way- are trying to say. Of course, the biggest issue with Tsui\'s designs are that they tend to be based on speculative forms of organic construction we don\'t know how to actually do today. Ferro-cement and fiberglass are still the predominate mediums for free-form organic design right now and that hasn\'t really changed since early in the 20th century. Tsui never seems to address what, exactly, he intends to build his many proposed megastructures out of. (though in his Nexus marine colony design he\'s proposed electrolytic sea accretion -a technology once thought imminent but now known to be something of a hoax) The \’problems\’ of carbon, renewable energy use, and sustainability are systemic. They are products of the physical structure of our civilization and the only comprehensive solution to them is to alter that physical structure in a more appropriate way. The structure of civilization has historically tended to be keyed to the dominant sources of energy at any period in history and the logistics associated with its use and transportation. In the past civilization was greatly confined in physical density by the limits on transportation of key forms of energy, with waterways being the dominant means of bulk transit and the only portable energy forms being bulky and low in energy density. We have today a very physically dispersed civilization because our dominant fossil fuel forms of energy have featured very high energy density affording great energy portability, both in terms of distance from energy sources and potential dispersion of transit routes by virtue of reduced minimum scales of vehicles. We often complain about contemporary communities being designed around the automobile. However, it\’s more correct to say they are designed around gasoline because the automobile as it exists and functions now is the product of the energy characteristics of gasoline. Electric and gasoline cars evolved in parallel for most of their early history. But the growth market for automobiles was initially in the countryside, where portable energy was critical, public transportation non-existent, and the reach of urban power grids long delayed.

What does this have to do with mile high megacity towers? Well, imagine what the world would be like if we had never been able to make fractional distillation of crude oil cost-effective. No gasoline and so no long-range automobiles. So while oil might still have become a dominant energy source, it would not be used much outside the context of electricity production because it would be too filthy to burn in small vehicles and would normally only be transported around the world in bulk along few (rail and ship) transit routes. Civilization\’s structure would be confined to nodes along the bulk fossil fuel transport network and its local dispersion limited by the distribution of electric power. Electric cars and electric powered mass transit would be the norm by default. The end result? A civilization that looks like a cross between the Steam Age and the Space Age. A world that looks very much like the world depicted in this Eugene Tsui design.

But what does an imaginary world without gasoline have to do with this? Well, isn\’t that what we aspire to now? You see, there has never really been a technical \’problem\’ with renewable energy. It has always worked in some degree. It just operated under very different logistical limitations compared to fossil fuels -logistics very similar to that of Steam Age energy sources like coal and unrefined oil. We invented the \’problem\’ of renewable energy by demanding that it conform to the logistics of a very different form of energy -gasoline- rather than the more logical tactic of adapting our civilization\’s physical structure to suit its natural logistics -because it\’s sort of difficult for civilization to physically contract given the way property markets work. Governments don\’t reign-in urban property values so there\’s little incentive for contraction. But if you can design a new form of city that challenges the suburban ideas of standard of living and reduce property values by going upward instead of outward it becomes a more viable prospect. THIS is the real message of Tsui\’s design -as well as the arcologies of Paulo Soleri. What they have been trying to tell us for a long time is that we have to physically change how and where we live to be able to live -and live well- in the context of the logistics imposed by sustainability. To sell sustainability on a model of progress and improved standard of living rather than sacrifice, as has been environmentalism\’s tradition for a long time. Levittown is still Levittown even if it\’s made out of straw bale and has solar panels on the roofs. And the best way to show your love for nature is to leave it alone. This is what these designs -in a rather exaggerated way- are trying to say.

Of course, the biggest issue with Tsui\’s designs are that they tend to be based on speculative forms of organic construction we don\’t know how to actually do today. Ferro-cement and fiberglass are still the predominate mediums for free-form organic design right now and that hasn\’t really changed since early in the 20th century. Tsui never seems to address what, exactly, he intends to build his many proposed megastructures out of. (though in his Nexus marine colony design he\’s proposed electrolytic sea accretion -a technology once thought imminent but now known to be something of a hoax)

]]> By: Links - 10th April 2008 « Curiously Persistent http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-78703 Links - 10th April 2008 « Curiously Persistent Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:27:02 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-78703 [...] Mile high eco city (Inhabitat) [...] [...] Mile high eco city (Inhabitat) [...]

]]> By: Mile High Tree Tower | Got2BeGreen http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-78494 Mile High Tree Tower | Got2BeGreen Sun, 06 Apr 2008 11:23:12 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-78494 [...] With the expected population growth to become much larger occurring across the world, we are expected to see in the next 7 years, 22 megacities across the world have populations which exceed 10 million people, per the UN (via Inhabitat). [...] [...] With the expected population growth to become much larger occurring across the world, we are expected to see in the next 7 years, 22 megacities across the world have populations which exceed 10 million people, per the UN (via Inhabitat). [...]

]]> By: glen0071 http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-78427 glen0071 Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:42:54 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-78427 Hm. It's kind of impressive, but I don't know if it's something I'd support. I mean, green building is always good. But, not necessarily a giant building to enclose a whole city. If I had seen it anywhere other than inhabitat I would have assumed it's just an example of man's arrogance: "Watch me build a giant building!" If it's green, it's a little redeemable. But, still unnecessary. Hm. It’s kind of impressive, but I don’t know if it’s something I’d support. I mean, green building is always good. But, not necessarily a giant building to enclose a whole city.

If I had seen it anywhere other than inhabitat I would have assumed it’s just an example of man’s arrogance: “Watch me build a giant building!”

If it’s green, it’s a little redeemable. But, still unnecessary.

]]> By: ULTIMA. L'Architettura Sostenibile dai grandi grattacieli alle città verticali del futuro. 1.000.000 di persone per l'eco città verticale di Eugene Tsui fra realtà, utopia, energie rinnovabili e biomimetismo ::.| Architettura sostenibile, eco città, e http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-78385 ULTIMA. L'Architettura Sostenibile dai grandi grattacieli alle città verticali del futuro. 1.000.000 di persone per l'eco città verticale di Eugene Tsui fra realtà, utopia, energie rinnovabili e biomimetismo ::.| Architettura sostenibile, eco città, e Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:18:19 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-78385 [...] Inhabitat [...] [...] Inhabitat [...]

]]> By: lichud http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-78384 lichud Fri, 04 Apr 2008 04:05:44 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-78384 whats wrong again with inhabitat? i want to lear nabout latest innovations, ideas and products and not waste my time with projects which have been released years ago...you can see here, it not happened "just now" that this super dooper structure was released: http://www.tdrinc.com/ultima.html Its from 1991. please try harder to get people informed about latest changes towards a sustainable future, and maybe really things that matter? otherwise you too might be responsible for this key phrase becoming a word which soon nobody really wants to hear anymore. would be a pitty... whats wrong again with inhabitat? i want to lear nabout latest innovations, ideas and products and not waste my time with projects which have been released years ago…you can see here, it not happened “just now” that this super dooper structure was released: http://www.tdrinc.com/ultima.html

Its from 1991. please try harder to get people informed about latest changes towards a sustainable future, and maybe really things that matter? otherwise you too might be responsible for this key phrase becoming a word which soon nobody really wants to hear anymore. would be a pitty…

]]> By: EJLima http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-78375 EJLima Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:14:12 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-78375 This race to tallest buildings will help advance technology like the race to space. This race to tallest buildings will help advance technology like the race to space.

]]> By: doug l http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-78342 doug l Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:05:45 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-78342 I'm very impressed with Eugene Tsui's design for his 2 mile high city, as I am with a great deal about his wealth of design talent( which you can see by googling his name and going to his website). I've thought along these same lines for some time, being an outsider in architecture myself and therefore thinking outside the box in the mode of R. Buckminster Fuller. As we've now seen that a Saudi prince has comitted to a mile high tower i Jedda Saudi Arabia of all places, I think we are about to see more of these mega scale constructions that offer so miuch in the way of improvement for those who will be living close urban environments but who recognize that they're driving us insane with their designs that are so counter to our natural instinctive drive towards biophilia. We'll begin to benefit from these grand visionary and futuristic designs in many ways. I hope the future class of city planners are watching and learning as we abandon the old concepts which we see have generated an abundance of futility and are just too expensive for our desire for sustaining economies and societies. I’m very impressed with Eugene Tsui’s design for his 2 mile high city, as I am with a great deal about his wealth of design talent( which you can see by googling his name and going to his website). I’ve thought along these same lines for some time, being an outsider in architecture myself and therefore thinking outside the box in the mode of R. Buckminster Fuller. As we’ve now seen that a Saudi prince has comitted to a mile high tower i Jedda Saudi Arabia of all places, I think we are about to see more of these mega scale constructions that offer so miuch in the way of improvement for those who will be living close urban environments but who recognize that they’re driving us insane with their designs that are so counter to our natural instinctive drive towards biophilia. We’ll begin to benefit from these grand visionary and futuristic designs in many ways. I hope the future class of city planners are watching and learning as we abandon the old concepts which we see have generated an abundance of futility and are just too expensive for our desire for sustaining economies and societies.

]]> By: GEARFUSE » Ultima Tower Joins The Mile High Club (Well, Actually Two Miles) http://inhabitat.com/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/comment-page-1/#comment-78341 GEARFUSE » Ultima Tower Joins The Mile High Club (Well, Actually Two Miles) Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:01:19 +0000 http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/04/03/ultima-tower-the-vertical-green-city-that-works-like-a-tree/#comment-78341 [...] Link [via] [...] [...] Link [via] [...]

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