News   Jul 12, 2024
199 Church Showcases Heritage Facade and Artwork at Street Level
 1.4K     0 
News   Jul 12, 2024
Six Points Plaza Redevelopment Advances With 36-Storey First Phase
 1.1K     1 
News   Jul 12, 2024
Trading Spaces: Can Real Estate Conversion Help Boost Housing Supply?
 407     0 

World's First, Building in Motion

khristopher said:
Why are you resorting to name calling? I'm allowed to have an opinion. If you don't like it, you can just skip right on over it if you have nothing good to say.
Click to expand...

Easy Khris. I know this one. Laugh this character off. His frustration in his inability to express an intelligent opinion is vented by tossing out insults to those sincere individuals like yourself who actually have something to say.
 
A few penthouse villas would spin on command using a voice-activated computer. The motion of the rest of the building would be choreographed in patterns that could be altered over time.
Click to expand...

The idea I think is interesting, and the renderings very nice, but the concept of allowing the penthouses independent control will throw the aesthetics off completely. Shame. (That's captialism for you: allow the richest buyers the option of mucking it up for the rest of the population.)

The first thing that came to my mind was that it would work for a while and then break down. But with more and more structures using moving parts (look at the retractable stadium roof phenomenon), it looks like they are thinking ahead about the maintenance. Still, I'd be happy to see Toronto wait until the technology is established before we jump in.

The other technical challenge I would like to hear addressed is flexibility. The tallest skyscrapers are designed to be slightly flexible in the wind. Would this be complicated by moving parts?
 
Dubai, 2033: "And up here was the famous moving building, whose floors could move independently from each other in the wind. Completed in 2011, it worked for eight years but as the fortunes of the UAE sank with their oil revenues, sand got in the works and gummed it up. At first only the 35th through 37th floors didn't move any more, but some residents moved out. They all gradually seized up, of course. The building's ultimate demise came in 2026 when the left half of floor 11 snapped off during the great Arab windstorm, after that it was largely abandoned. Today it is home to about 1,500 of the workers who disassemble scrap metal on the waterfront. Cannibals are said to have taken over the uppermost floors, accessible only by rope, but that is likely hearsay."
 
Hey, theowne, speaking of "getting it through people's heads", perhaps you've not heard that there's a difference between Dubai and the UAE?

CIA Factbook:
The UAE has an open economy with a high per capita income and a sizable annual trade surplus. Despite largely successful efforts at economic diversification, nearly 40% of GDP is still directly based on oil and gas output.

Oxford Economic Country Briefings:
... it is likely that the non-oil sector (equal to some 63% ot nominal GDP in 2006) ...

Also, how long do you think other sectors of their economy would last (construction, tourism) in the face of seriously depeleted oil reserves, should that come to pass?
 
Maybe directly but I'm sure its a lot more than 6% indirectly. Would Dubai be what it is today if the Middle East had absolutely no oil?
 
If (and when) the middle east has no oil, Dubai will likely return to roughly what it was ca. 1965. Can you say, "sand, camels and oyster diving?". The UAE has very few citizens per se, only about 15% of the residents. The other 85% are there for the making while the taking is good, and will begin fleeing at the first instance of political or economic uncertainty. I don't believe the UAE is likely to begin running out of oil for some time, but if there's ever been a place that is unlikely to thrive in the long term, this is it.
 
A good chunk of the countries in the Arabian Peninsula (and Sahara) can still be energy exporters after the oil age - their vast deserts are potentially perfect for having vast photovoltaic banks. Conceivably, the vast amounts of sand can also serve as feedstock for mobile and automated (?) construction systems since solar cells are mostly silicon-based.

AoD
 
Also, how long do you think other sectors of their economy would last (construction, tourism) in the face of seriously depeleted oil reserves, should that come to pass?
Click to expand...

That's the whole point of all this. To create other sectors that they can rely on when the oil is finished. I don't get it, if they rely on oil they're sneered at, if they try and create other sectors they're still sneered at because they used their oil profits to do so. It's already become an important business center in the region. With projects like this they're trying to let the tourism sector grow.

So what is it they should be doing?
 
Yes, the UAE is trying to attract finance and they are trying to attract tourists and they are having some success in that. But they have very few actual citizens, and don't seem to want to have any more. Perhaps if they allowed actual citizenship they would build a body of entrepreneurs who would sustain their current boom, but I don't see that happening. As soon as instability hits the region (and you can almost see Iran from the beaches of Dubai) that money will flee. If there is no oil there, there is no foreseeable reason for anything much to be there.

I'm not sneering, I'm simply stating fact.
 
What really grinds my gears about Dubai is this huge population they are building which will require air conditioning all year round, which is going to require a lot of electricity. Not to mention the way it's built is like a giant Mississauga with highways and roads for people to drive their giant air conditioned SUV's.
 
The population of Dubai is just under 1.4 million - similar in size to the population of Montreal (and Dubai is made up of foreign workers mostly).

Given that there is plenty of sun, Dubai would also have an electrical advantage with respect to any future advances in solar power (for AC and electric vehicles).

Maybe some of the wealthy citizenry in that city might want to sink some cash into such technologies?
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top