Back in the early nineties, an American architect of Chinese origin, Eugene Zsui, set out to design a tower of five hundred floors, which would “paint in paint” all the high-rise buildings in the world. According to the project, the height of the Ultima Tower is 3219 meters.
Eugene's ambitious plans far surpassed anything previously created by humanity. He decided to encroach on the laurels of the Tower of Babel and Noah's Ark at the same time. The idea, embodied in the material, promised to help in solving the problems associated with overcrowding in large cities.
The Ultima concept emerged from San Francisco research. In the process, the architect learned how small the green spaces that this huge city can offer to residents. In an effort to curb the growth of megacities and minimize the loss of useful natural areas, the author has developed a vertical structure, the idea of which was borrowed from African termite mounds.
The towers created by microscopic insects amaze people. Termite mounds are able to withstand strong winds and have a large margin of safety. The internal structure is riddled with passages and tunnels that provide natural ventilation. Thanks to this, termites maintain a comfortable temperature even on hot days.
According to the architect, the main goal that he set for himself is to turn San Francisco into a standard of “natural way of life”, to make it an example for all mankind.
Tower ecosystem
Throughout his career, Eugene has distinguished himself by pursuing unconventional ways of building houses. Eco-architecture has become a niche in which he has distinguished himself by creating several successful projects on a smaller scale. This skyscraper remained on paper and is one of the most ambitious ideas.
Promotional video:
Two more non-embodied structures - a floating bridge across Gibraltar, which was supposed to connect Europe and Africa, and the "Eye in Heaven" tower, three times the size of Seattle's space needle.
But Ultima is truly a unique project because it is conceived as a closed ecosystem the size of an entire city. The structure of the tower consists of many floors, each of which has its own ecosystem with water bodies and landscape.
At the base of the tower, according to the plan, there are lakes and waterfalls. According to the laws of physics, they should cool the upper levels of the building, similar to how it happens inside a termite mound. Natural air conditioning is designed to solve the problem of stagnation and oxygenation of the internal volume. For enough sunlight, giant mirrors are provided in the central part, reflecting the rays falling through the aerodynamic windows.
Eugene promotes the idea of renewable materials, so the building should be made of recycled materials, and there will be toilets on every floor to collect waste and create compost. The recycling system includes wastewater treatment and irrigation of the gardens within this giant human termite mound.
Power supply of the Ultima project
To provide energy for such a colossus, the author provided for natural sources - solar panels on the outer surface and wind farms around. According to the idea, this should be enough for the needs of the inhabitants. The system of natural ventilation and heating of the premises is designed to reduce the energy consumption of the tower.
It would have taken a little less than ten minutes to get to the very top, but since then elevators have become faster and this data is slightly outdated. The author of the project has developed protection against soil vibrations in the form of double spiral reinforcement penetrating the conical surface of the walls. According to Zsui, his brainchild is able to accommodate all the residents of San Francisco, or rather, a million people.