First one to photoshop this structure with only the top 1/3 above water, wins.

Since when are there 20,000 people in New Orleans that could afford the rent in this thing? They can't even sell the empty houses they have.

I thought rebuilding in the natural depression known as New Orleans was crazy, but this takes the cake.

Hasn't anyone read *Shadowrun*? If this thing gets built, I guarantee someone will blow up the levees for the sole purpose of flooding Nawlins and this monstrosity.

Was this another one of Brad Pitts ideas?

I'm sure this is offensive to those still struggling after Katrina. Perhaps look at designing flood free housing - now that would be worthy.

Have you people not watched Dollhouse? Your self-contained habitat needs to be built underground. Duh.

This is nothing more than another rich peoples toy.

The money they will need to spend on this thing could help people to rebuild from the last disaster. Or it could be spent on shoring up for the next disaster to come.

There are more people in this country and in New Orleans tho aren't even at the middle class level. These people would never be able to take advantage of this building.

It seems to me that when the government and private sector buisness talk about building for the future they forget that most of the population won't be able to take advantage of the advancements. So, in the future the non rich will be left in the dust.

Perhaps the money that will be spent on that building could best be spent on ways to make things safer during the next disaster; perhaps it could be spent to help rebuild from the last.

Not every one can afford to fly out of the area at a moments notice when a hurricane strikes. Maybe building to help those people in the future would be better. Maybe a safe place to go to, enough food while they are there, a save place to be housed while rebuilding? The last time there was a disaster, the safe places turned out to be just as bad a situation as the disaster it's self.

It just seems to me that the hurricane cleared an area for the rich to play in. And, look at the toy they are building. I am not impressed, i'm more disgusted. The money could be better spent.

Face reality here.. You can't dictate how someone else spends their money..regardless of how 'worthy' your suggested alternatives are. Trying to guilt trip them will only get you ignored. We do need to start building alternative means of housing, and an Arcs should be the future - less train on the ecology, less commuting, actuall communities, etc. Make the businesses foot the majority of the costs. 3 casinos in this one.. Make them pay 1/3rd the building and maintainence (since honestly, a casino never truly benefits anything other than itself)

Because why should Dubai get all the gargantuan monstrocities?

Or...

So this is where all the taxpayer money went?

what about all that wasted space in the center of that structure? Is this just the shell?

This is a ridiculously ugly structure for New Orleans. I can see this type of structure being built near New York City, or San Francisco, but for New Orleans, this is just a pile of crap. Besides, as stated before. People there are still struggling with their lives after katrina. you really think they will be able to afford living in this area. And if it's meant to attract wealthy people to come to the city. Placing a giant sore thumb of a structure on the water front of New Orleans, is in itself a huge design flaw.

20 bucks says if it's built, the city around that structure will turn into slums and the building itself will just become a wore down abandoned building in the future.

1. it's ugly.
2. it will never be built.

All these eco-retarded structures that are coming out now are such a waste of time and computing power. As others have pointed out these pieces of crap will never be built, never. And obtw weren't we supposed to be in flying cars by now anyways?

Based on the presentation, and having actually been to the city, the base of this thing is atop one of the strongest natural earthen levees in the city, and thus higher than the waterline of the Mississippi River--very difficult to flood this structure without flooding the US south of say....Kentucky.

My dumb answer to the question bralenX asked

I'm thinking the wasted space in the center isnt' really wasted. They are planning ahead for the next big wind to blow through the area. It's harder for the wind to blow it over if the wind is passing through, rather than hitting a solid wall on the side of the building and blowing it over. That is a good idea if your building something like this.

Also The wind turbines are all over that structure, so I'm guessing it's hallow so the normal wind can pass through to make them work.

Also there are solar panals all over that thing so, the sun needs to be able to get to the pannals at any possition in the sky.

It's designed right for the purpose it's supposed to server. I still think it's nothing more than another rich peoples toy.

I wonder how the wind turbines will work with a Volvo stuck in them!!
Remember, its not the fact that the wind is blowing in a hurricane, its the fact the it is blowing a Volvo...

U have to say that it would be one big money eater for many reasons (high maintanence and many other things to come). Although i have to say it does look kinda kool and thay have the right idea of being green with energy. But it definitely would not be friendly to the economy...

U have to say that it would be one big money eater for many reasons (high maintanence and many other things to come). Although i have to say it does look kinda kool and thay have the right idea of being green with energy. But it definitely would not be friendly to the economy...

After watching the video the question is how is this helpful

AHAHAHAHAHA......good luck finding investors! Especially in New Orleans, of all places! It's the Super Mall of the future: one thousand shops, and nobody cares enough to shop there!

Does it float? I thought NO was going to be completely underwater in 10 years?! Perhaps it should be built on a fault line or over an active volcano. Now, there's an energy source!

You've all missed the scale of the thing. Think St. Louis Arch, and you'll have it. The entire point of an arcology is to be large and self-contained. You never have to leave for work, shopping, school -- for anything. It's an entire, self-contained city-in-a-box (or in this case, a pyramid). And finally, it's literally across the river from the French Quarter and the Superdome -- it won't flood. If you build this, they will come...probably out of the woodwork.

I'm a sci-fi geek, and a La. native, but all I can think about when I imagine this in New Orleans is crime, crime, crime...let's call it the 10th ward..?

How the hell do you make an elevator that goes upwards slightly askew.

Everyone please read "Oath of Fealty" by Niven and Pournelle. Every single pro and con to this idea can be found in that book, plus, it's an excellent read.

>How the hell do you make an elevator that goes upwards slightly askew.

Easy. Hire any NYC construction outfit and make sure you tell them it HAS TO BE straight.

> How the hell do you make an elevator that goes upwards slightly askew.

Just like they did the ones in the Luxor.

With this much naysaying, it will most likely be a huge success!

Did someone say Titanic? lol , I like the look as it reminds me of the pyramids but i'd rather see it built in Canada eh , like on lake Ontario or the west coast in B.C. , if i win the lotto i'll support the prodject but i want a penthouse suite. :)

The views of the outside of the structure are nice and so are the views of the interior, as much as was given. Why are there no views of what the shops and living areas will look like? I sure wouldn't rent a store or apartment without seeing what it looks like first. And would the medical area include a place to do surgery or a birthing area for having babies? Too many unanswered questions to make this feasible. It might be pretty on the outside, but there needs to be some practical answers to what is on the inside.

this sounds great, but we should try to first help the people that lost everything, then help fix the city, i'm all for the wave of the future and all, but we need to help our fellow man, get the money that you want to spend on this monster of a building, help the people of New Orleans, then you can build the structure

Does anyone seriously think this will be built in NO? Besides the fact that it would cost a fortune and require changing local, state and federal laws; there isn't a demand for something like this there. It's a nice concept and looks pretty in the little video, but it isn't happening in Louisiana anytime soon.

They were supposed to build one of these arcos in Japan a few years ago.
Never got built. If Japan, the gadget capital of the world, can't get it built......

Well, at least now all of new orleans will have some reliable high ground to run to when their cost-inefficient sub-oceanic crapshoot of a city floods again. Which its going to, quite obviously.

I thought that wisdom and vision might have prevailed after Katrina with major parts -- or all of -- N.O. relocated to higher ground. Building this structure -- however visionary in itself -- on that location would be insanity. And yes, it would be a rich people's toy and yes there is still lots of empty housing. I would love to hear what Paulo Soleri, who invented the concept of the Arcology (Architecture + Ecology) has to say about this.

A few things to keep in mind:

(1) Actually, it DOES float. Not only would it float on rising storm waters, it's actually designed to float all the time. When they say it's "on the river", they mean that literally.

(2) There will always be a need for a city on the Mississippi Delta, because it is such a high-traffic area for shipping. If we're going to have a city there, why not make it one that's actually designed for that environment, rather than trying to force the environment to accept the standard idea of a city?

(3) All that having been said, it's not going to be built anyway. Arcologies will eventually be constructed, but they will be in very wealthy, high-density areas where preserving a sense of history is considered unimportant - none of which describes New Orleans.

Being from New Orleans, the area that the pictures show did not receive major flooding from Katrina. However, there is a good amount of river traffic in the area.

I would also agree with the fact that the demographics of the area do not play into this idea at all. The population breakdown would not support this unless it was geared as some sort of gigantic new tourist attraction - Old World (French Quarter) meets New World. I just cannot visualize there being enough people having the means to make it a viable neighborhood/community. BTW, what is the point of creating a structure that would have all the elments of a city....in a city? Wouldn't it make more sense to place them in more remote areas to spread out the population density?

Well, if they sold the right of the image to the guys who created Civ 1-4, and SimCity to use, some of that money could be used for the project.
Seriously tho, I've rewatched the video several times and I wonder if this version of an Arcology really is designed to float and rise with the tidesor is it anchored? I agree with the person above regarding building it somewhere else like, Detroit, Dallas, or Chicago. Tourists would eat it up. I can see Spielberg doing a great Sci-Fi movie with this floating away or capsizing if built in New Orleans or Superstorm Tornado in Dallas. Posiden Adventure anyone?

A new modern Pyrimid, I love it, green, something different than the square lego block building of our past. Our world needs new fresh ideas like this one. Someone will invest in this and they will build it sooner or later. I just hope the world see's it for what it really is a start towards our future...great job .

Well, it isn't a waste of space because if hurricane winds do hit this structure they will blow right through it, hence the design. Plus the geometry "triangle" and Octagon and Pentagon shapes are structurally very stable and very strong. Sure it looks very futuristic but like one poster put it, in San Fran or New York it might fly, but it would look hugely out of place in New Orleans.

This structure is proposed close enough that I could see it from my house! Great design and a wonderful contrast to the French Quarter architecture. However, innovative ideas do not work well in New Orleans.

For one thing, some idiot in this city would insist that space be set aside for "mixed income" housing. Consequently, within ten years it would be nothing but a floating slum.

Well sooner or later, we or our children will have to face the FACT that our existence cannot be sustained by today's urban infrastructure designs. Cities will HAVE to be rebuilt to handle the demands of insurmountable population increases, and the resources needed to sustain such a populous (food, water, fuel).

Structures like this are one possible solution and can actually be attained by todays tech and funding (unlike the flying car we're all supposed to be driving mentioned above). Other solutions will surface as time goes on, but for now we should be wary about our attitudes toward civil innovation. Calling out "flood-proof houses, tax payer dollars, toys for the rich" is short sighted conjecture.

Let's look at the problems that could be solved and compare that to the problems it would cause. My two cents, and trying not to sound hostile :)

Guess this will only take one ZPM to run and fly it away from Earth(it is SSSOOO UGLY )? On a side note it does look like a ship in the Halo games(a Forerunner ship(?)). Also, it doesn't belong anywhere but in the these photos/renderings even that it debatable.

I saw a very similar thing on Megastructures (I believe that was the program) The Japanese had a similar design. They went through all the engineering issues and such. The answered the elevator issue, too. They also have the same elevator in Las Vegas (I hear anyway) in that Pyramid hotel/casino. While this is a great couple centuries old idea, it is impractical. Better suited for an initial permanent settlement.
But, they need some purpose to be there. Most of the jobs would mainly be farming, teaching healthcare and sales and building maintenance. I don't see 20,000 people doing that, even if let's say 25% are children, which you would need to keep the teachers employed. I took several classes on this and actually designed ideas for them. In the end, it's a nice idea, but not practical.