What will San Francisco be like 100 years from now? The History Channel sponsored a City of the Future contest for architects to show us their vision of Utopian metropolises from 2108, and the winner for the San Francisco version was IwamotoScott Architecture, conjuring up these wild hallucinations of a city run by geothermal power and tapping water from the city’s ubiquitous fog.
IwamotoScott envisions the city as Hydro-Net, using “Geothermal Mushroom” structures to extract heat and water from deep in the earth, and whimsical “Fog Flowers” to render moisture from the air and grow algae, which would then be turned into hydrogen for fuel. Zipping through underground tunnels are hydrogen-fueled hover cars, coursing through the multi-use veins of this future city that’s learned how to live without fossil fuels. Hope it’s earthquake-proof.
Check out the astonishing illustrations of the future world in the gallery below. Wow.
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IwamotoScott Architects on Flickr, via History Channel and Inhabitat
editor@dvice.com
By Peggy at 5:33 PM ON 03/14/08
I love that they included a hover car portal. It wouldn't be the future without hover cars!
By murc at 7:16 PM ON 03/14/08
ugly. thank god I'll be dead before something like this happens.
By Itaintrite at 4:04 AM ON 03/15/08
I agree with MURC. What a messy vision of the future. And can anybody say "xbox360-inspired"? ugh...
By Skip D. at 4:08 AM ON 03/15/08
This is the winning desing? Seriously? Were the loosing designs done in crayon and magic marker?
By Eric at 4:52 AM ON 03/15/08
Hello digg. This is a joke right?
By Mongo at 4:53 AM ON 03/15/08
Skip D. is right. These are CLEARLY 'shopped.
By symphonyx at 5:52 AM ON 03/15/08
It's interesting
By Bay Aryaan at 6:09 AM ON 03/15/08
Where's all the rubble from the earthquake?
By Zooto68 at 6:17 AM ON 03/15/08
That is without a doubt the worst bit of CAD design I have ever seen. The CAD images don't even blend in with the photograph. It is very amateurish.
By xispe at 6:37 AM ON 03/15/08
wtf?
By fountainhead at 7:59 AM ON 03/15/08
They forgot to add the 10 foot higher water levels around the city.
By Sparcler at 9:28 AM ON 03/15/08
This is fine and dandy, but where is Starfleet headquarters?
By Dave at 10:02 AM ON 03/15/08
Was this the only entry for San Francisco? I can't imagine any other reason that the judges would pick this as a winning entry.
By PenguinPD at 10:12 AM ON 03/15/08
No way. There's no way San Francisco's city council would approve something that ugly.
By RevSin at 10:38 AM ON 03/15/08
It's a chop, I can tell by the pixels and having seen quite a few of them in my time.
By yayster at 11:15 AM ON 03/15/08
worst navigation EVER on this page.
I hope that that stupid radio tower is gone in 100 years.
By a at 11:48 AM ON 03/15/08
this is retarded. my grandma could've come up with better ideas.
By Seth11111 at 1:47 PM ON 03/15/08
"this is retarded. my grandma could've come up with better ideas." Really dude? you could have come up with a city run by geothermal power and tapping water from the city’s ubiquitous fog? well then you should not be on the computer and you should be helping science and our future.... dumbass.
By mbj2sfo at 4:51 PM ON 03/15/08
Interesting, but how are they going to pay for this after tourism dries up due to loss of aesthetic decency?
By NoName at 11:09 AM ON 03/16/08
So not practical ... and therefor ... fail
By spacemaggot at 5:13 PM ON 03/16/08
In the fog, all those twisty structures.... looks like skyscraper sized bead trees. Annnnnd, yeah, dude needs to learn how to blend sh*t in.... my 6yr old with Downs Syndrome does a better job in photoshop. The SF area is too geologicaly unstable to support such an extensive underground system. This guys idea looks like a death trap to me... I live in the South Bay, and would not go near such ominously placed structures. I mean, look at it, giant mushroom??!! first good tremor and those neighborhoods would be filled with flattened homes and lotsa lotsa dead people. I agree with Skip D....were the loosing entries done in crayon, or chewed up food? Christ. BUT!!! All this is really academic, 'cause when WWIII starts in a few years, there won't be anyone left to really give a sh*t in 2108. Except for the radioactive mutant cockroaches that'll be taking over the world...
By Chris Bertram at 5:26 AM ON 03/17/08
There will be an ice age by then starting in 2036, according to ice core samples. There might also be a consideration for wave power from the oceans. Domes like at Disney World would be nice.
By cankers at 3:31 PM ON 03/17/08
What is missing from the project description is that the competition was only one week long. Read the proposals before bashing the entry's hurried graphics. I'd rather have a well thought out vision than meaningless sexy images.
By shaffizzl at 12:31 PM ON 03/18/08
where is the giant iphone?
ipizzl.com
By vortekxt at 7:17 PM ON 03/28/08
All the hater comments here must be from big-time a-holes. First off, there was one week to arrive at concepts, to design, fabricate the models and do all the renderings. The digital modeling is not "CAD" but Maya, Rhino and GC; and the physical models were 3D printed and lasercut (both CNC processes that require precision digital modeling). And sure the renderings are photoshopped into the actual context -- no one claims they aren't (and that was actually the point anyway). Also, FYI, the competition involved eight architectural firms, most with much bigger operations than these guys who pulled off an amazing feat with such a small office in one week -- enough that it convinced a quite esteemed jury for the grand prize. So all you who claim to have grandmas and downs syndrome kids who could do better: yeah right.