Just in case Night of the Living Dead becomes a reality, zombie enthusiasts across the globe are gearing up to plan for the potential zombie apocalypse. The folks at Architects Southwest have devised a fun contest for designers and architects to create a Zombie Safe House. One horrific entry is a self-sustaining vertical farm that uses a zombie-powered energy system, and also keeps its human inhabitants safely out of reach of the brains-hungry power source.
Lured by hanging bait traps with delicious warm-blooded rabbits inside, the zombies will flood into a giant turbine in a frenzy, ravenous for tiny rabbit brains. As they attempt to grasp the tasty snacks, they’ll run around and around, turning the turbine and powering the housing system above. Zombies may be slow, but their strength provides enough power to yield electricity and water pressure.
On the surface, the humans can live safely in a cantilevered structure, centered around a spiral staircase that leads to each level. Living units are dispersed on lower levels, and the structure is capped off with a large penthouse. In the middle of the building will lie a vertical farm planting unit that grows edible crops for the humans to enjoy, as well as trees to sit and ponder under as the zombie apocalypse goes on outside. The plants will be irrigated via an underground water storage area, with the water being siphoned thanks to zombie power.
Should a zombie slave escape, each structure has a retractable bridge, preventing a slow moving zombie from gaining access to the living compound. Each unit is also equipped with an escape route, which elevates the living areas with a track system when zombies are near. Grouped together, the structures make up a comfortable Zombie Ranch that uses the power of the undead for good.
The Zombie Ranch is one of many great contenders to win the first prize Golden Shovel Award in the Zombie Safe House contest. The winner of the competition will receive an all expenses paid trip to Zombcon 2012.
+ Zombie Safehouse Contest
why does this remind me of my EXACT proposal a month or so ago on zombiesarecoming.com ?
You don’t need something that complicated……….It’s like those toys, the expanding polyhedron. Pull on it and it turns into a sphere. Simply build a fence than slowly expand that fence in parcels of growing squares. Then remove the interior walls until you have a big fenced in perimeter.
1) that’s not enough area to grow food for people
2) its too vulnerable to high winds
3) gears too vulnerable to breakage and fire and you couldn’t get in to repair them