Malaysia's Floating City?
Sarly Adre Bin Sarkum's concept design for a monumental 'Waterscraper' has caused quite a stir in monumental architecture recently as its entry for this year's eVolo Skyscraper competition has been noted not just for it's not to sustainability but also to its rather unusual take on the competition's design criteria.
Sarkum's design has quite literally turned the skyscraper idea by pointing his monumental structure not upwards but down. Down into the sea that is. Almost the entire city would face downwards into the ocean's depths with only a couple of stories exposed above sea level. Although the project only exists as a concept (there are no current plans to actually build it), it does, nevertheless, raise some interesting architectural and ecological possibilities.
This is due not only to its unusual structure and location, but also to the design's pointed nod to sustainability. Designed to be a kind of floating city, Sarkum's design would 'stand' almost to the same height as the Empire State Building and exist as an entirely 'self-sufficient, floating 'acrology' without any need of mainland assistance.
The waterscraper could, in theory house thousands of people who could subsist by way of hydroponics, aquaculture and by growing their own food (a farm and livestock space would stand atop the structure) and have all their energy needs taken care of by way of Wind, Wave and Solar sources. To keep the structure level in its aqueous environment, ballasts would be used, in much the same way as on a submarine.
Long tentacles are also included at the bottom and around the city and will be moved around by the waves taking advantage of its kinetic energy possibilities. Sarkum may not be planning to actually build his floating city any time soon but there is no doubt that the ideas arising from the design offer some crucial planning alternatives for the future.
Image taken from eVolo
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