The futuristic metropolis of Tokyo and its scenic bay have long invited outlandish concepts for drastic development. For evidence, look no further than the gargantuan Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid. However, a recent proposal from Kohn Pedersen Fox and Leslie E. Robertson Associates takes architectural ambitions for this vast urban center to a whole new level.
The two firms — specializing in architecture and engineering, respectively — have collaborated on a masterplan they call “Next Tokyo,” a high-density, city-sized development within the bay that would increase the region’s resilience to seismic activity while providing new homes for 55,000 people. The imagined city has been proposed in response to predicted climate change and environmental vulnerabilities facing Tokyo in the year 2045.
The plan envisions a honeycomb-like network of hexagonal lagoons with mixed commercial, industrial and leisure uses, which also serves to disrupt waves and acts as a temporary flood barrier during storm surges. At the center of this infrastructure, a mile-high residential tower rises, its tapered shape informed by an in-depth study of aerodynamics conducted using three scale models within a wind tunnel.
Inspired by the metabolist principles of legendary Japanese architect Kenzo Tange, the city harnesses cutting-edge engineering techniques and transportation technologies. For the mile-high tower, these include a unique system of elevators that utilizes newly developed magnetic-levitation technology, arranged as a series of unidirectional loops that enable the movement of thousands of people up and down the megastructure.
Solutions for powering the city include the capture of kinetic energy from the trains running across the bay, the use of solar electricity from photovoltaic cells and the use of wind power, harnessed through microturbines integrated at high elevations in the mile-high structure. The tower proposal also calls for an articulated façade that would harvest clouds as a water source, negating the need for expensive, energy-consuming pumps.
While the proposal appears outlandish at first glance, its authors have extensive experience in the design and construction of tall buildings; Kohn Pedersen Fox is set to complete the 1,821-foot-tall (555-meters-tall) Lotte World Tower in Seoul, South Korea, later this year. For more insight on large-scale projects by this international firm, check out its extensive firm profile on Architizer.
