Polar Umbrella: Ice Sheet Regenerating Skyscraper Wins the 2013 eVolo Skyscraper Competition!

The Polar Umbrella super-structure is a buoyant skyscraper designed to rebuild the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/researchers-find-that-antarctic-ice-is-melting-faster-than-previously-expected/" target="_blank">shrinking polar ice</a> sheets affected by <a href="http://inhabitat.com/global-warming/">global warming</a>. The project, designed by Derek Pirozzi, is a giant floating canopy that prevents the melting of Arctic and Antarctic ice while harvesting solar energy. The curiously-shaped design, which is based on osmotic technology, was awarded first place in the <a href="http://www.evolo.us/featured/winners-evolo-2013-skyscraper-competition/" target="_blank">eVolo 2013 Skyscraper Competition</a>—an annual contest that investigates the future of tall buildings.

Pirozzi’s Polar Umbrella seeks to address these issues and offer a solution that reverses the harmful consequences of global warming.

The umbrella uses salt water as a source of renewable energy generated in the centrally positioned facility which uses osmotic technology- diffusion of fluid through a semipermeable membrane.

Solar power is retained within the umbrella-shaped membrane which deploys its thermal features and a special polyethylene piping system to process waste water.

By recycling the already processed water, the structure transforms it into a new resource that harnesses thermal gain from the membrane and prevents the heating of the ice below.

With its wildlife habitats, housing units and eco-tourist attractions the proposal is a self-sufficient metropolis.

. As it navigates the polar water in its mission to cool the Earth’s surface, this futuristic city produces enough energy to sustain all its functions.