[ By Steph in Geography & Travel, History & Trivia, Technology & Gadgets. ]
Just under the surface of Nottingham, England, there’s hidden world ripe for exploration, from a 14th century dungeon that once reputedly held a king prisoner to a 19th century butchery. Not just anyone can get to most of these 450+ sandstone caves, many of which are located under Nottingham Castle, and they’ve never even been accurately mapped – until cutting-edge laser technology made these incredible 3D scans possible. The Nottingham Caves Survey has already recorded the shape and surface details of 35 caves, layering them with above-ground photos to give us an unprecedented and surprisingly artistic view.
As part of the Caves of Nottingham Regeneration Project, the Nottingham Caves Survey is taking 3D laser scanners into the depths beneath the city to photograph the caves, survey them with the scanner and note their condition. Many of these caves have major historical significance for Nottingham and for England – the earliest written record of caves beneath what was then a Saxon settlement dates to the year 868. The project aims to protect the caves, in the hopes that they won’t simply be forgotten and allowed to deteriorate.
King David’s Dungeon
The soft, carvable sandstone under Nottingham provided an ideal medium for creating these artificial labyrinths. Holes were dug with hand tools to create underground homes as well as space for activities like tanning, pottery production and even beer malting. Some were used as storage areas, hidden passageways and supply tunnels. The medieval caves under Nottingham Castle, which was rebuilt in the 1670s after the original structure was destroyed in the English Civil War, include a dungeon in which King David II of Scotland was reportedly held prisoner in 1346.
Mortimer’s Hole at Nottingham Castle
Another tunnel under the castle has an even more fascinating story. Mortimer’s Hole is named after Roger Mortimer, rebel and lover of the power-hungry Queen Isabella. The duo overthrew Isabella’s husband, King Edward II, and were living at Nottingham Castle when Isabella’s teenage son, King Edward III, invaded to take his rightful place. The King’s troops used the cave to sneak into the castle and capture Mortimer, who was subsequently hanged.
It’s an intriguing legend, and the ‘official’ Mortimer’s Hole has become a tourist attraction at the castle, complete with guided tours. But the survey team have discovered another tunnel that they believe is far more likely to be the actual tunnel used in the invasion. ‘The Real Mortimer’s Hole‘ matches historical records of the capture.
Castle Gate Medieval Malt Kiln & Breweries
Some of the sandstone caves were used for malting and other aspects of beer production, which is a major aspect of Nottingham history. Each complex of caves included a germination room where grain was prepared, the kiln where it was roasted, and a deep well to reach water. The benefit of brewing in caves is the constant year-round temperature.
Drinking Den Under Nobleman’s House
The beer-related activity that went on deep beneath the surface of Nottingham wasn’t limited only to production. This carved underground space beneath Willoughby House, an 18th-century aristocratic manor, was likely a drinking den. It includes built-in banquettes and a wine cellar.
Nottingham Castle Brewhouse Yard
Beer was once stored in the caves at ‘Brewhouse Yard’, a system of caves found adjacent to a group of five 17th century cottages. The cottages are all that remain of a once-thriving community, and now house The Museum of Nottingham Life.
Air Raid Shelters at the Guildhall Caves
The brick-lined passes and cells beneath Nottingham Guildhall, a 19th century building housing the magistrate’s court, central police station and fire station, are some of the most modified underground passages found in Nottingham. They were extensively re-worked during World War II for use as emergency headquarters and air raid shelters.
Peel Street Cave System
The Peel Street mass of subterranean tunnels definitely seems to qualify as a maze. It may seem strangely chaotic for a man-made set of passageways, but that’s because its purpose was different from all of the others in Nottingham: it was actually a sand mine. It’s thought that the mine was in use between 1780 and 1810, but the caves were forgotten until 1892, when they became a tourist attraction called “Robin Hood’s Mammoth Cave”.
Scanners at Work
To capture these strange digital imprints of vast underground spaces, the Nottingham Caves Survey crew hauls equipment below the surface on bike trailers. The scanners send beams of laser light deep into the caves and measure the amount of time it takes for the light to return. The scanners can capture an incredible 500,000 survey points per second, creating a ‘point cloud’ that results in a 3D image.
“The experience of visiting these domestic caves is far removed from the clean regularity of modern urban living and offers a tangible link to medieval Nottingham,” explains the project team. “This is particularly significant in a city with such a strong past personality but so few medieval structures still standing above ground.”
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When Caves and Architecture Collide
Earlier, we took a look at some notably gorgeous natural caves. Here we take a look at what happens when equally beautiful caves get mated with the architectural and artistic abilities of …
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Giant German Airship Hangar Transformed into Tropical Resort
[ By Steph in Art & Design, Geography & Travel. ]
Berliners depressed by the city’s notoriously cold and gray winters need to travel mere minutes in order to escape to a lush tropical paradise where the sun always shines, the air is a balmy 77 degrees, and orchids bloom beside a wide expanse of crystal-blue water. But the coolest thing about Tropical Islands, an artificial tropical resort in the German countryside, is the fact that it was built in a repurposed airship hangar.
The 194-million-cubic-foot structure – one of the world’s biggest buildings by volume – was originally commissioned by CargoLifter AG as a hangar for a prototype airship. When the company went bankrupt in 2002, it sold the 351-foot-high hangar to a Malaysian company called Tanjong, which repurposed the massive structure into a reproduction of a seaside village complete with a water park and the world’s largest indoor pool.
Nearly a million visitors take advantage of a 600-foot sandy beach and careen down a nine-story waterslide that sends sliders into the pool at speeds of up to 44mph. The record-breaking resort also contains the world’s largest artificial rainforest, which is packed with over 50,000 trees in 600 varieties.
Of course, as Inhabitat points out, maintaining all of this tropical artificiality in the middle of snowy Germany is not exactly eco-friendly – imagine the water and power bills. But it’s certainly a novel re-use for a structure that is so large as to be impractical for nearly any other purpose, and if the project does well in the long-term, other disused airship hangars around the world may follow suit.
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Sleeping in Trash, Trains & Drains: 14 Recycled Hotels
When you’re in search of a romantic honeymoon spot or comfortable lodging after a long day of travel, sewage pipes, harbor cranes and the county jail probably aren’t at the top of your li…
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Crossing Over: Modular Green Wildlife Bridge Concept
[ By Delana in Animals & Habitats, Art & Design, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
We’re used to seeing projects that help humans get around (like highways and pedestrian crossings) but it is less common to see projects that help nature navigate around us. This wildlife crossing was designed by Olin Studio for West Vail Pass, Colorado as a way to help animals pass safely over the street. The design, called “Wild (X)ing,” is one entry in a design competition that aims to find a way for both wildlife and humans to travel safely in the same area.
Because a highway runs through the very large White River National Forest, it poses a very real threat to the animals that make their homes there. The green bridge concept would help wildlife in the White River National Forest cross over a busy highway while staying at a safe distance from the vehicles.
The wildlife bridge concept uses a repeating rhomboid shape because of its inherent strength and functionality as a modular component. The bridge is designed to be expandable when needed; if the highway is widened in the future the bridge can easily be widened along with it.
Each rhomboid is actually what the designers call a “habitat module,” which is a segment of habitat naturally found in the area. Six different types of habitats have been identified for inclusion in the project, ranging from xeric grassland to wet meadow to spruce and fir forest.
By combining these modules on the wildlife-friendly crossing, the designers hope to create a landscape that connects the man-made structure to the surrounding wildlife and provides a comfortable environment for fauna. If the surrounding landscape should happen to change in the future, modules can be lifted out by cranes and replaced. According to the designers, this module approach is the safest and most cost-effective way to integrate a wildlife bridge into the national park.
(all images via: designboom)
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Amazing Eco-Walkway Bridges Gap Between City and Nature
In a modern industrialized place like Singapore, one wouldn’t expect to find many open green spaces – especially given the extremely small size of the island coupled with its 3….
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Mr. Santosh Choubey (CMD, AISECT) featured as a social entrepreneur in ‘Change Agents’ on CNBC TV18
For the past 25 years, Mr. Santosh Choubey has been using IT as a tool for skill development and capacity building of semi-urban & rural India. Today, his company ‘AISECT’ is India’s leading IT Education, Training & Services network with over 8200 centres spread across semi-urban and rural areas. Under Mr. Choubey’s able leadership, AISECT has also been involved in various Govt. projects, including the Common Service Centre (CSC) Project, Financial Inclusion Scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, SGSY Scheme, etc. His achievements were recently recognized by the Schwab’s Foundation and Mr. Choubey was nominated as a finalist for the prestigious Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) Award 2010. This feature story, which was a part of ‘Change Agents’ programme on CNBC TV18, showcases Mr. Choubey and AISECT’s initiatives for rural empowerment.
China-UK Social Entrepreneurs Online Dialogue
China-UK Social Entrepreneurs Online Dialogue is hosted by Cultural and Education Section of the British Consulate-General, and supported by i-genius, Southwest University of Finance and Economics and Chengdu Qingyang District Social Workers Commission. Entrepreneurs from China and UK will meet and communicate online by using the cutting-edge Tele-Presence facilities provided by Cisco China. The theme of this project is ‘working in the community ‘. In the online dialogue, participants in China and UK will share their cases and experiences of providing services in the communities for different groups. Additionally, when sharing the ideas and experience, participants from each part could also discuss the effective ways to solve social problems through business operation models. China-UK Social Entrepreneurs Online Dialogue is part of the Skills for Social Entrepreneurs project of British Council (which is known as the Cultural and Education Section of British Consulate in China). The purpose is to formulate the platform for face to face communication between social entrepreneurs in China and UK, promote the understanding and support the development amongst social enterprises and entrepreneurs, in the meantime, searching for mutual benefit through regular dialogues. This teleconference took place in Cisco’s London and Chengdu offices. October 19th, 2010
Micro-Finance Institute, East-Mid-Sweden (€340000 in EU funding from the ERDF)
Set up in 2008, this project focuses on improving access to finance for migrant women who often face difficulties in trying to secure capital to start-up or develop their own business. The main aim of the project was to establish a permanent micro-finance institute to help overcome these barriers. So far the project has supported 80 new female entrepreneurs and contributed to the start-up of 15 micro-enterprises, creating 20 jobs.
Man-Made Mountains: 12 Terrain-Inspired Buildings
[ By Steph in Art & Design, Geography & Travel. ]
It juts out of the landscape and into the clouds, covered in grass, butterflies flitting about – but it’s no naturally-occurring mountain. It’s a high-density housing development, or a massive mixed-use complex. These 12 buildings disguised as mountains or hills pay homage to the land in which they are nestled in harmonious bio-mimicry (or perhaps geo-mimicry) rather than stark artificiality.
MVRDV: China Hills – A Vision of Future Cities
(images via: mvrdv)
How can you accommodate millions of urban inhabitants in a way that blends in with the environment? Architecture firm MVRDV has an idea for China: sky-high towers that resemble exaggerated hills. Each residential ‘mountain’ could house up to 100,000 people in the terraced outer rings while offering retail, industry, leisure and technology in the core. The result once built looks not like a sprawling city, but like an artificial addition to the country’s mountain ranges.
Gwanggyo Power Center’s Towering Hills
(images via: mvrdv)
Vertical greenery makes this concept for Gwanggyo Power Center – again by MVRDV – look even more like a natural part of the landscape rather than harshly artificial towers of steel and glass. Designed for the as-yet-unbuilt ‘future city’ of Gwanggyo in South Korea, which is envisioned as an entirely self-sufficient home to 77,000 people.
La Maison-Vague: Wavy Green Hill House
(images via: patrick nadeau)
Vaguely hobbit-like yet thoroughly modern, this hill house by Patrick Nadeau has a wave-shaped green roof that extends all the way to the ground on either side – almost (the house is raised to create a bench around the perimeter). La Maison-Vague, currently under construction in Reims, France, has a facade made of double-skin polycarbonate glass and is planted with grasses, succulents and delicious-smelling herbs like thyme and lavender.
Rolling Green Stadium in Slovenia
(images via: sadar vuga architects)
From a distance, the new Sports Park Stozice in Slovenia may not look like an actual hill, but it does seem as if it has a green roof – an illusion, thanks to reflective finish that changes color according to the weather and the distance of the viewer. Set mostly underground, this football stadium, sports hall and shopping center with room for 12,000 spectators was designed to fit into an abandoned 40-foot-deep gravel pit.
Green-Roofed Skyscraper by Graft Architects
(images via: graftlab)
With its glassy facade, living roof and vertical greenery, the AO Project by Graft Architects could be an icy mountain rising above an urban landscape. In fact, it’s an apartment complex designed to meet strict space limitations for a Japanese client in an undisclosed location. Details are scarce, but the project is set to be completed in 2012.
Lace Hill: Giant Living Man-Made Mountain
(images via: inhabitat)
It’s a building. It’s a mountain. It’s a living man-made mountain, with a building inside it. The appropriately named Forrest Fulton Architects came up with this uber-creative concept for a mixed-use development in Armenia which bears a perforated living facade inspired by traditional Armenian lace needlework. Lace Hill fits right into the hilly landscape, sites the parking lot underground for maximum aesthetics and contains offices, apartments, a hotel, retail and restaurants.
Fake Hills: Multi-Use Complex in Beihai, China
(images via: mad architects)
Think of it as a compromise between the sky-high silhouettes of modern high-rise architecture and the more curvilinear landscapes that such buildings are often set against. ‘Fake Hills’ by MAD Architects is under construction in Beihai, China and will offer high-density urban housing along a narrow waterfront site. MAD says “This shape can maximize the views of residents, but can also easily appear to be a monolithic break between the waterfront and the land behind it. The solution is twofold: to cut into the slab, creating a sculpted form which references the shape of the hills that dominate the region’s landscape, and to cut openings through the structure, to further allow space, views and light to penetrate it.”
Taipei Pop Music Center’s Glassy Hills
(images via: design boom)
Hills and canyons aren’t exactly common features in urban spaces, but if Mario Bellini Architects has their way, Taipei will soon have both – artificially constructed, of course. Their vision for the Taipei Pop Music Center is “a single body wrapped in a plastic ‘mantle plant’” – and while it’s not clear exactly what that means and whether the greenery on the structure is live or not, it’s certainly a sight to behold, especially with those glass passageways connecting one ‘hill’ to another.
Magic Mountains: Green Business District for Chongqing, China
(images via: inhabitat)
Designed to fit into the natural skyline of Chongqing, China, ‘Magic Mountains’ by CEBO/Chongqing University features green-topped groupings of skyscrapers that are arranged in such a way that they form a hill-shape as a whole. Higher peaks indicate dense housing while lower, rolling hills represent outlying neighborhoods with lower populations.
That’s No Mountain – It’s a Luxury Resort
(images via: mvrdv)
It certainly cuts a dramatic profile, jutting out into the sky, and if it were a natural landscape feature it would be no less an attraction. But this isn’t just a lush green hill; it’s a luxury resort in Montenegro designed by MVRDV, an architecture firm with quite an oeuvre of hill- and mountain-inspired concepts. ‘Galije’ honors its previously untouched slice of coastal land by disturbing its beauty as little as possible, allowing native flora and fauna to take its rightful place right on the building’s surface.
California Academy of Sciences’ Natural Curves
(images via: calacademy.org)
Concepts are all fine and well, but isn’t it nice to see stunning projects like these made reality every now and then? The California Academy of Sciences is ahead of the curve with grassy curves of its own, sporting a hilly green roof that pays homage to the landscape of San Francisco. A rooftop observation deck allows visitors to get a close look at the green rooftop, which hosts a wide array of native wildlife including birds and butterflies.
The Berg: Man-Made Mountain in Germany
(images via: archdaily)
Sure, there’s Space Mountain in Tomorrowland and a few other artificial theme-park mountains that are only remarkable for the roller coasters they contain. But what about man-made mountains that are just as fun, on a much bigger scale? The Berg would be the biggest artificial mountain in the world, designed as an unprecedented tourist attraction in Berlin, Germany that would not only provide a haven for wildlife but also hold recreation space for the city’s inhabitants.
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Hobbit Houses: 15 Grassy Hill-Shaped Dwellings
“In a hole in a ground lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing to sit on or eat: It was a hobbit …
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11 Unbuilt Visions for Stalled Urban Architecture Projects
[ By Steph in Art & Design, Geography & Travel, Technology & Gadgets. ]
The economy has brought development to a grinding halt in cities around the world, leaving partially completed skyscrapers and other buildings as open wounds in the urban landscape. But not everyone is content to keep them that way, and architects and designers are envisioning some incredible eco-friendly ways to rehab and re-purpose the space, which includes several dormant sites in Boston, a tower in Athens, the Chicago Spire site and empty lots in Seattle.
Chicago Spire Site Turned Vertical Farm
(images via: inhabitat)
That huge, unsightly hole in the ground where the ultra-tall Chicago Spire was supposed to sprout still has plenty of potential for other designs, including this vertical farm/residential complex by a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The proposal features a series of towers connected by sky bridges, giving the Spire site a variety of valuable uses. Residents living in the green roofed-structure would get vegetables and herbs grown via hydroponics, literally right next door.
Vertical Algae-Powered Bioreactor, Filene’s, Boston
(images via: boston.com)
In a conspicuous corner of downtown Boston, there’s a huge dirt pit and the gaping carcass of the former Filene’s department store. Design firms Howeler + Yoon Architecture and Squared Design imagine an incredibly futuristic algae-powered bioreactor made of prefabricated ‘pods’ to take its place – a huge change from the former brick building. The vertical biofuel building would even have its own self-powered robotic arms that reconfigure the pods to enhance growing conditions for the algae.
Engineered Biotopes, Piraeus Tower, Athens
(image via: design boom)
Since nature would take over our man-made buildings rather quickly if we weren’t around, why not give abandoned or stalled buildings over to them in a controlled way? Toronto-based architects Anthi Grapsa and Konstantinos Chalaris infuses some much-needed green space into the neighborhood where the Piraeus Tower has stood empty since its completion 30 years ago. For the ‘Piraeus Tower 2010′ competition in Greece, this architectural duo imagines a vertical park with a shimmering facade of plant nurseries offering a respite for both the human and non-human species living in Athens.
Latticework Public Garden, Columbus Center, Boston
(images via: boston.com)
Occupying 7 prime acres in Boston and originally intended as a massive mixed-use development straddling the turnpike, the Columbus Center project has now been abandoned. Architect Chris Reed would like to see it transformed into an energy-producing latticework public garden complete with microturbines and walkways across the highway connecting the Back Bay and South End neighborhoods.
Bike Park, Filene’s, Boston
(image via: boston.com)
A somewhat more realistic proposal for the Filene’s site in Boston by Cynthia Bubb sees it turned into a bike park bordered by a perforated aluminum fence painted with forest scenes. The site itself would become an urban bicycle parking lot and grassy recreation area, and the side of the building would be draped with a projection screen so visitors can watch movies at night.
Holding Patterns: Adapting Stalled Sites in Seattle
(images via: seattle.gov)
In response to ‘Holding Patterns’, a competition that challenged designers to come up with alternative uses for stalled construction sites around Seattle, one proposal questioned why urban spaces should be packed with so many commercial buildings when communities have other needs. The ‘Modular Approach to Building a Sustainable City’ entry, which earned an honorary mention, suggests turning those unfortunate holes in the ground left by stalled construction projects into sunken theater spaces and using the bones of partially completed structures as massive plant hangers.
Urban Oasis: Illuminated Waterfall, Filene’s, Boston
(images via: boston.com)
Curiously, the proposal for Filene’s by Carol R. Johnson Associates doesn’t address the eyesore factor of the abandoned, unfinished building itself. It focuses, instead, on the desirability of an ‘urban oasis’ complete with a waterfall, swimming pool and sandy beach. At night, the unfinished building would be colorfully illuminated as music played.
Medicinal Garden, Longwood, Boston
(image via: boston.com)
Prospective tenants of the planned Longwood biotech lab on Brookline and Longwood avenues in Boston backed out when the economy faltered, bringing work on the project to a halt. So, given the fact that it’s currently just a dirt lot, architect Shauna Gillies-Smith thinks it would be a cinch to turn it into a temporary medicinal garden planted with echinacea, honeysuckle, nasturtium and other valuable plants.
Windscraper Tower, Piraeus Tower Redesign, Athens
(images via: inhabitat)
New York City-based HWKN Architects won the Piraeus Tower 2010 competition with a design that updates the dilapidated building for the 21st century, making it the landmark it was supposed to be. “Windscraper Tower” would generate energy by installing a layer of wind-harvesting artificial ‘leaves’ on the exterior which also act as a canopy and shade screen for the building.
Biodiversity Projection Screen, Harvard Science Complex, Boston
(image via: boston.com)
Harvard University’s financial troubles mean that construction on the state-of-the-art Allston science complex would be paused while the university reconsiders its plans for the future. Before it was annexed by the city of Boston in 1874, the Allston neighborhood was much greener and home to many livestock operations. Designer John Powell wants to remind people of Allston’s former biodiversity with a quarter-mile projection screen on the fence surrounding the vacant property showing images of the area’s past, present and future.
Eco-Friendly Skin Graft for Ugly, Unused Buildings
(images via: gizmag)
If all else fails and an abandoned or stalled building is just too ugly to leave intact, give it a skin graft. That’s what the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) proposes for virtually any outdated building in need of a quick, relatively inexpensive makeover. Their “Tower Skin”, made of a composite mesh textile, generates its own energy, collects rainwater and can be easily removed. LAVA notes that it’s a great option for the post-industrial abandoned buildings across Hong Kong, and could also be used to update ugly buildings that are still functional.
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Solar Powered Towers: 13 Super Sunny Skyscrapers
Nearly all sustainable architecture concepts include solar energy in some way, but not all of them do it in a big, bold way, bringing solar power to towering new heights. These 13 soaring solar power…
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Beautifying Transmission Towers
Who says that transmission towers need to be ugly? One of the biggest downsides of having easy access to energy has long been the unsightly way it’s carried from place to place, but one US design firm hopes to revolutionize all that — by giving electricity pylons a human touch. In a project entitled “The Land of Giants” those normally stark, utilitarian structures are transformed into more aesthetically pleasing sculptures that folks might not mind having in their backyards.
The artful pylons were designed by the Massachusetes based firm Choi+Shine for submission in a recent competition hosted by Iceland’s national power transmission company who sought designs that had a low environmental impact. Although the project ultimately received only an honorable mention, it has gone on to win praise closer to home, taking home an award from the 2010 Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture.
In the spirit of Easter Island’s iconic rock sculptures, “The Land of Giants” is intended to express “quiet authority, belonging to their landscape yet serving the people,” say the designers. But much like the architecturally appealing aqueducts of Ancient Rome, which transported another type of resource that made urban life possible, these artful towers breathe life into a structure that is otherwise quite stark.
Source: Treehugger.com
Beth
Underwater Cities: 12 Sci-Fi Visions & Real Design Ideas
[ By Steph in Art & Design, Science & Research. ]
Whether it’s adventure or necessity that ultimately propels us to venture beyond our shores and build new communities in the sea, we’ve got plenty of space to work with: over 70% of the Earth is covered with water. The world’s oceans can provide a dreamy setting for all manner of submerged societies, from self-sustaining utopian cities to ultra-modern inverted ‘skyscrapers’ and museums. These 12 ideas range from science fiction to theoretically achievable projects, possibly leading to the world’s first permanent aquatic abode.
Sub Biosphere 2
(images via: phil pauley)
Imagine an entirely self-contained city that could go practically anywhere as the need arose – from floating on the surface of the ocean, to hidden in the depths. Sub Biosphere 2 is a concept for a submerged city featuring eight live/work/farm biomes surrounding a large central biome containing all necessary equipment to keep the city running. Theoretically, with enough notice and supplies, Sub Biosphere 2 – which is also a seed bank – could survive everything from a hurricane to a nuclear war.
The Gyre – A Floating Skyscraper
(images via: zigloo.ca)
Technically, the Gyre isn’t a floating skyscraper – it’s more like a seafloor-scraper. Rather than reaching high into the air, the tip of the Gyre descends 400 meters under the ocean’s surface from a floating platform with four arms that buoy the building and create harbors for massive ships. The Gyre, powered by the solar, wind and wave energy, would house a research station and a resort complete with shops, restaurants, gardens, parks and entertainment.
Jellyfish-Inspired Ocean City for Australia
(images via: design boom)
Some ocean cities aim not to look like a modern metropolis that has simply been submerged, but like part of the ecosystem of the sea. The beautiful ‘Syph’, a jellyfish-inspired Ocean City concept for Australia, proposes not buildings but ‘organisms’ that each have a specialized task like producing food or housing residents. Designed by Arup Biometrics for the ‘Now + When Australian Urbanism’ competition, this concept has a flowing elegance that’s fitting for its environment.
Trilobis 65 Underwater Home
(images via: sub-find.com)
Not everyone is eager to pack into densely populated underwater skyscrapers and housing complexes, whether more of us live under the sea as a novelty or by necessity. Some deep-pocketed lovers of luxury may choose partially submerged abodes that are a variation of modern-day yachts. The round Trilobis 65 features an ‘observation bulb’ that provides a 360-degree view at a cost of just $4-5 million.
Amsterdam’s Underwater Future
(images via: treehugger)
Amsterdam has been dealing with a multiplying population and a shortage of land, a problem that will only get worse if the seas rise with global warming. While many forward-thinking architects have proposed a floating future for Amsterdam, this proposal would take certain functions of the city beneath sea level. Moshé Zwarts believes that draining canals, building under them and then re-filling them could provide space for parking, shopping and leisure.
Water-Scraper Self-Sufficient Floating City
(images via: evolo.us)
Like a combination of the Gyre and Australia’s ‘Syph’, the Water-Scraper is an inverted underwater skyscraper but also employs some stunning biomimicry. Designer Sarly Adre Bin Sarkum of Malaysia says “Its bioluminescent tentacles provide sea fauna a place to live and congregate while collecting energy through its kinetic movements.”
Hydropolis Hotel
(images via: builder blog)
It was supposed to be the world’s first underwater hotel, a massive 220-suite structure with a submarine ‘leisure complex’, an above-water land station and a tunnel connecting the two. But the Hydropolis Hotel was just a bit to ambitious of a project for the worldwide economic troubles of 2008-2010, even for Dubai, and though construction was set to start anytime, the project has been shelved.
Poseidon Undersea Resort
(images via: one nation)
Now that Hydropolis is off the table, Fiji’s Poseidon Undersea Resort really will nab the title of ‘world’s first underwater hotel’ – maybe. The resort was first supposed to open in 2008, but got pushed back to early 2010, which didn’t happen either. It’s unclear whether construction has even begun. But if it does ever become a reality, the resort will offer 24 suites on the floor of a 5,000-acre lagoon with stunning views for a fee of $30,000 per couple per week.
Alexandria’s Underwater Museum
(image via: national geographic)
Few people ever get a glimpse of the remnants of ancient Alexandria, long since sunken into the Mediterranean Sea. But all the treasures discovered by divers in the 1990s, including 26 sphinxes, could be visible to the public if the world’s first underwater museum ever gets built. The partially above-water museum would feature four sail-shaped structures representing the points on a compass, and would keep the ruins underwater to follow the UNESCO convention of preservation of underwater heritage. A team is still trying to determine how to build around such priceless artifacts without disturbing them.
Minnesota’s Secret Underwater City
(images via: io9)
Since 1996, people have been mesmerized by online accounts of a “secret underwater city” not under the sea in some exotic location, but deep within the Minnesota River. The “official Mankato, MN web page” has even lured tourists in with stories about an ancient city dating back to about 4,000 B.C., confirmed by “world famous astrogeologist Seymour Bottoms.” Getting the drift yet? The page was created by a professor at Minnesota State University to show his students that you can’t believe everything you hear on the internet – and yes, it has definitely resulted in some very disappointed and confused tourists.
Bioshock’s Underwater City of Rapture
(images via: the next side)
It never was and never will be a reality, but one of the most stunning underwater cities ever imagined is actually from a video game. The city of ‘Rapture’, from the game Bioshock 2, is entirely submerged somewhere off the coast of Iceland. Initially built as a utopian refuge from the post-World-War-II world, it fell victim to unrest from within, and it is the abandoned Rapture that gamers get to explore. This image is one of several by concept artist Tim Warnock depicting Rapture in all of its initial Art Deco glory.
R’lyeh, Home of Cthulu
(images via: john coulthart)
Long before any of the other undersea cities and buildings on this list were ever dreamed up, H.P. Lovecraft’s vision of R’lyeh was the most fascinating submerged metropolis since Atlantis. Illustrator John Coulthart brought it to frightening life in this incredible work of art, reminding us that undersea living isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
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Real-Life Water World: Futuristic Offshore Architecture
As rising seas overtake the shores and the human population continues to grow, some experts believe we’ll eventually have no choice but to live in a real-life ‘water world’, building hotels, ho…
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