Category: Buildings

Learn about the history and significance of the most impressive buildings and the secrets behind their design.

The Illinois Tower: Chicago’s Mile-High 1956 Skyscraper
The Illinois Tower, also known as the Mile High Illinois or Illinois Sky-City, is a 1-mile (1,600 m) building designed in 1956 by the famous American architectural engineer Frank Lloyd Wright. The planned location for the structure was in Wright’s unbuilt metropolis of “Broadacre City.” But it was later moved to the lakefront in Chicago, not far from the Adler Planetarium. The Illinois Tower would span 528 stories and have a total floor area of 18.46 million square feet (1.71 km²). Chicago’s proposed tower has not yet been built, but if it were, it would still hold the title of the highest man-made building in the world. It would be almost two times taller than the tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
The Illinois Tower in Numbers
The Illinois Tower height comparison.
It was in Illinois that Frank Lloyd Wright, “the father of modern architecture”, began his 70-year career. All 528 stories of Frank Wright’s “Sky City” or the Illinois Tower were meticulously planned. This office-type structure is exactly 5,280 feet (1,609 m) long with a total area of 423 acres (171 ha).
The building is designed to house 130,000 people. It features 76 atomic-powered elevators, 15,000 parking spots for cars, and platforms for 150 helicopters. There is an earthquake-resistant tapered foundation, and aluminum and stainless-steel frameworks. According to the Italian architect Bruno Zevi (1918–2000), you could construct a new Manhattan Island with the help of just 10 Illinois Towers.
Chicago’s unbuilt masterpiece, the Illinois Tower in 3D modelling. (Image: Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, David Romero)
The Illinois Tower’s so-called “architectural height” is 5,280 feet (1,609 m). But with the more than 330-foot (100 m)-high antenna situated on top, the total height is actually 5,705 feet (1,739 m). The building was estimated to cost $3 billion at the time.
The Illinois was planned to have conference rooms, meeting rooms, workplaces, residences for 100,000 people, stores, hotels, concert halls for 70,000 people, and hanging gardens. The building’s top nine stories were also reserved as TV production space. During peak hours, there would be facilities to send and receive messages from overseas territories.
If built, the Illinois Tower would appear like this. Courtesy of On Stride.
The SOM company used the Illinois Tower as inspiration when creating the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (2,716 ft; 828 m), in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The History of the Illinois Tower
Wright’s inspiration for the Illinois Tower’s form is a mystery, though there are two popular hypotheses. An idea for a building in Chicago that would stretch half a mile was supposedly what got Wright started on the design. And according to the report, in response to this proposition from Chicagoans, Wright said: “Why a half mile? Why not a mile?“
According to another story, Wright was asked to design a television antenna. On August 25, 1956, he presented the design and indicated that this “Illinois Tower” was still in its early stages. Although Wright noted that the building’s construction was costly, he promised that the cost of renting office space there would be relatively inexpensive.
In the middle of October, Wright spent three days in Chicago promoting his mega-tall tower. At his presentation in Chicago, he showed a 22-foot-tall (6.7 m) architectural sketch of the building. There, he also announced the structure’s name: Illinois Tower. After Wright’s fascinating presentation, then-Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley proclaimed October 17 to be “Frank Lloyd Wright Day.” By doing that, he recognized Wright’s prediction that the Illinois Tower would become the “eighth wonder of the world.”
Frank Lloyd Wright presents his Illinois Tower during the Illinois Press Conference on October 16, 1956.
A contractor in Chicago provided a cost estimate for the Illinois Tower, which came in at $3 billion ($33 billion in 2023). The contractor also opined that sufficient funding would never be obtained for the building. Therefore, the Illinois Tower project never got off the ground.
The Architecture of the Illinois Tower
The cantilevers, or floors, of the Illinois would be connected to a stainless steel and concrete foundation. Wright argued that this design was as conventional as a tree trunk with connected branches. Wiring and plumbing systems would form the core of the structure.
The Illinois Tower’s exterior would be made of plexiglass with a gold-tinted metal frame. The inverted cone foundation would extend 1,000 feet (or 305 meters) into the ground for support. This giant, dagger-shaped building could house all the government personnel in the state of Illinois.
The Illinois Tower by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, David Romero.
Wright claimed that because the steel frame wasn’t very complicated, the building could be built at a low cost and with little effect on the environment. The plan calls for each of the 76 elevators to be equipped with its own engine, run on nuclear power, and move at a mile per minute.
The elevators could fit 100 people, which would be more than enough for the daily commute. There would be a parking garage for 15,000 cars and more than 100 helicopters at the building’s base. Wright also speculated that a nuclear power plant would be installed at the structure to supply its electricity requirements.
The rendering of the Illinois Tower in Chicago. (Image: David Romero, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation).
Criticism of the Project
At the time the idea was suggested in 1956, Frank Lloyd Wright thought it would be possible to construct a structure of this height given the proper environment. At only 1,454 feet (443 m), the Empire State Building in New York City was still the world’s tallest building. Even if a building achieves such a dizzying height, it still has to deal with a number of problems:
Transportation
The enhanced version of the 3D design of the Illinois Tower. (Artist: Milkomède – CC BY-SA 4.0)
Architect Bryon L. West of Toledo, Ohio, was graduating from the Illinois Institute of Technology when Wright gave his talk. He mentioned that the crowd seemed interested in the idea. And this was probably because of Wright’s reputation. The next day, West and his peers figured out how long it would take for Chicago’s trains to transport 100,000 workers to Wright’s tower. It would take 10 hours if an 8-car train arrived every 5 minutes.
Oscillation
Steel, which can be easily bent, was a common building material at the time the Illinois Tower was being made. Wright’s idea was that if a mile-high building had been constructed of steel, it could still hold its own weight regardless of the surrounding environment.
However, a steel structure at the height of the Illinois Tower would wobble a lot even in a subtle wind. And this would make those living on upper levels pretty uncomfortable. The architect was aware of that, and it was Frank Wright’s hope that the tower’s three support pillars would dampen any such swaying.
But now we know that the only sure way to stop a tall building from wobbling too much is to put in an internal counterweight. This is also called a “mass damper,” just like in Taipei 101.
The mass damper in the Taipei 101 counterbalances the swaying.
Water and Sewage
Because of the Illinois Tower’s extraordinary height, water and sewage dumping on the higher levels was also an issue. Transporting household water and wastewater between such heights needs extremely high water pressure and a complicated system of pipelines. And both of which take up a lot of valuable floor space. A potential solution could be a closed water circuit on the upper floors.
But today, it is much simpler and more practical to construct a waste purification system on the higher levels of a structure as part of a water recovery system than it was back in the 1950s.
Nuclear Elevators
The biggest technical challenge in building the Illinois Tower was putting in 76 lifts so that enough people could move between the upper and lower floors. The area taken up by elevator shafts was disproportionately large compared to the amount of usable floor space. Wright’s original design didn’t provide a workable answer to this major technological hurdle. And this was one of the reasons Illinois Tower would never be constructed.
Possible Solution
The lack of lift rooms has always been a major problem for buildings that are extremely tall. There are, however, ways to end or lessen this friction. By installing a second elevator shaft, the Taipei 101 structure was able to save significant floor area. The higher levels of the World Trade Center (WTC) are separated into different sections, each with its own viewing deck. After taking the main elevator to this level, visitors can transfer to the lesser elevators located throughout the structure to reach their respective floors.
Even if these were applied to the Illinois Tower, its height would still make things impractical. In the 1950s, with the advent and prevalent use of nuclear energy technology, Wright envisioned fixing this height problem by equipping the Illinois Tower with nuclear elevators traveling at rates of 60 miles per hour (100 km/h). In Wright’s design, each of the 76 elevators could service five levels at once. And with a grouping of five, each group of elevators would service a hundred floors in the structure.
Building Material
The Illinois Tower by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, David Romero.
Concrete, another less malleable substance, has also seen significant increases in its load-bearing capability over the past decades since Frank Wright proposed the Illinois. Unlike in the 1950s, concrete can now be used as the main material for tall structures without allowing them to collapse under their own weight. This ostensibly resolves the challenge and criticism of building 1-mile-tall structures like the Illinois Tower.
Safety
There was also the problem of making sure everyone would be safe in case of a fire. Putting in fire stairs would have taken up most of the space on the ground floors. Wright suggested that one solution could be to build elevators that are fire-resistant and can still work in the event of a disaster.
In case of an evacuation, there should be more stairwells leading to the exterior of a structure from the lower levels than there are from the upper stories. Otherwise, the people streaming down from the higher levels would mix with those streaming down from the lower floors, making the overall crowd denser.
Wright fixed this problem by installing emergency lifts all over the Illinois Tower. These lifts can be used in the event of a fire, earthquake, tsunami, or other disaster. According to Wright, these elevators would allow people to escape the building in just an hour.
Concerned with keeping people secure, Frank Wright still devoted the majority of floor space on each level to emergency stairwells. This was especially true for the lower levels.
The Illinois Tower Gave Rise to the Tallest Buildings
From a financial point of view, supertall buildings like the Illinois Tower continue to be a problem. However, there is an ongoing competition between humans and land in large towns because of the anomalous growth of metropolitan areas. And humans are now completely capable of constructing towering buildings like the Illinois Tower.
More than halfway to the planned height of the Illinois Tower, the Burj Khalifa, and the proposed Illinois Tower are remarkably alike in appearance. But is the Illinois Tower the tallest building ever proposed? The visionary X-Seed 4000 skyscraper in Japan is actually the tallest proposed building (13,100 ft; 4000 m) with a completed blueprint to date.
On the other hand, the first completed 1 km (3,281 ft) tall building in history is about to be the Jeddah Tower. Just like the Burj Khalifa, it is also inspired by the Illinois Tower. However, the construction is still halted.
Today, Frank Lloyd Wright is still considered the greatest American architect of all time. And the Illinois Tower is still one of the most popular unrealized skyscraper projects.
Other Visionary Projects Never Realized in Chicago
Even though the Illinois Tower received the most attention, it wasn’t the only big building plan for Chicago that never happened. When it was unveiled in 1900, Constant-Désiré Despradelle’s “Beacon of Progress” made waves. But the project never received enough financial support to move forward.
It seems unlikely that any of these spectacular, highly sophisticated structures like the Illinois Tower will ever be built in the coming years. But if building technology continues to advance, maybe one day it will be possible to build these or even taller structures.
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Aeropolis 2001: 1.25 Miles (2 Km) Tall Visionary Skyscraper
Aeropolis 2001 is a hyper-building project with a height of 6,565 feet (2,001 m) and 500 stories, proposed by Obayashi Corporation in 1989. The Aeropolis 2001 project envisions a 740-meter-diameter artificial island, located 6.2 miles (10 km) off the coast of Urayasu to be built over the course of 25 years at a cost of 46 trillion yen (343 billion USD).
If built as planned, the Aeropolis 2001 will be five times as tall as New York’s World Trade Center (1,368 ft) and one-quarter as tall as Mount Everest (29,030 ft). This extremely tall building will accommodate approximately 450,000 people.
The Design of Aeropolis 2001
Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1956 “Mile-High Skyscraper” was an inspiration for the Aeropolis 2001.
As an extremely high-rise structure, the design of Aeropolis 2001 was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1956 “Mile-High Illinois,” which envisioned a building a mile high (about 1,600 meters) in height. It was a showcase of cutting-edge construction technology developed by the Obayashi Corporation.
The Aeropolis 2001 skyscraper has a floor area of 4.23 square miles (11 km²), a total of 500 floors, and a height of 2001 meters or 1.24 miles. If constructed today, it would be the tallest man-made monument in history. The name Aeropolis literally means the “Sky city”.
The main structure of Aeropolis is a super structure (giant frame system). This is a structural form in which the entire structure is divided into large two-dimensional and three-dimensional sections, and each section is designed to resist external forces (wind load, seismic load, etc.).
It is a steel-framed superstructure consisting of three columns at the vertices of an equilateral triangle measuring 100 meters (328 ft) on each side, and large beams installed every 80 meters (262 ft) in height. It can be called a structural backbone.
The Aeropolis’ computer-generated structure (left) and its steel-framed superstructure (right).
The design of Aeropolis 2001 is founded upon this 328-foot- or 100-meter-sided equilateral triangle, where every facility is positioned along the lines connecting each vertex. Each building module in Aeropolis 2001 will have its own triangle apex with a base 50 meters (164 ft) wide, a shaft 100 meters (328 ft) high, and a peak 20 meters (65 ft) tall.
There are also smaller substructures between the pillars, each one standing 80 meters (262 ft) tall. The components of the building are gradually and spirally augmented from the top.
The entire building is constructed by incorporating substructures used as units for businesses, residences, and commercial spaces. A single unit of substructure constitutes a large atrium space, equivalent to the scale of a 20-story building combined.
- 50% of the area is distributed between ground level and 1,640 ft (500 m) altitude,
- 28% between 1,640-3,280 ft (500-1000 m),
- 15% between 3,280-4,920 ft (1000-1500 m),
- and 7% between 4,920-6,890 ft (1500-2001 m).
The oscillation period of the whole structure is between 15 and 20 seconds, but the oscillation period of the substructure is only 1 second. This gives the whole building a seismic isolation effect.
In Aeropolis 2001, both passive vibration control using water tanks and active vibration control using water jets will be utilized on the bottom and top of the structure to deal with high winds. Because, at an altitude of 2000 meters (6,560 ft), the average wind speed reaches 45-60 mph (72-96 kmh).
The water tanks in Aeropolis 2001 provide a passive vibration and oscillation control system.
A water tank passive vibration control system is installed inside a large beam at heights of 1,840 m and 1,760 m. When the building shakes, the water in the water tank also begins to move in synchronism with the building’s cycle, the inertial force of the water acts in a direction that cancels out the external force.
This vibration control system can limit the shaking to a maximum of 10 gals (1 gal is 1/980th of the acceleration of gravity) over a 5-year return period.
Living Inside the Aeropolis 2001
The official artwork for the interior of the Aeropolis 2001.
The Aeropolis 2001 will be fully sustainable and air-conditioned. In the building, the surface of the first three stories will function as a sky deck, complete with a center area illuminated by both natural and artificial sources of light.
Cultural, economic, and recreational facilities, as well as emergency shelters, will be located here. The mega building is designed to provide a feeling of metropolitan unity by including a variety of uses within a single area.
In Aeropolis 2001, there will be designated locations with green floors for employees to have lunch with their children. Isn’t that fantastic?
There will be 40 high-speed “shuttle elevators” with a capacity of 100 people on the main thoroughfare of Aeropolis 2001. They will be powered by magnets and linear motors. The shuttle elevator will allow citizens to move from the bottom of the structure to its 500th floor at the top in only 15 minutes while stopping every 40 floors.
The plan for the Aeropolis elevators shows the linear motor magnet elevators on the left and the traditional elevators on the right.
To go from one place to another, whether it be an office or a home, a movie theater or restaurant, a school or hospital, a post office, or any of a number of other establishments, these shuttle elevators will be utilized often.
There will also be a “local elevator” in the form of a traditional rope lift. If there is a fire and the first attempts to put it out fail, robots with infrared eyes will be sent via a special shaft to put out the blaze.
When it comes to traveling between Aeropolis 2001 and Tokyo, everything is already thought out. The mega skyscraper will be accessible through a linear shuttle and expressway that runs from Tokyo International Airport to Aeropolis, Chiba City, and Narita International Airport.
Another access point will be the railroad to suburban residential areas and resorts on the Shinjuku-Tokyo Waterfront-Aeropolis-Katsuura/Kamogawa route. Let’s not forget the high-speed ferries to major cities along Tokyo Bay, including Yokosuka, Yokohama, Urayasu, and Narashino. The plan includes the addition of ferries to these cities in the Tokyo Bay area.
The Purpose of the Aeropolis 2001
The Aeropolis 2001 is more than just a building project; it’s an arcology that combines architecture and ecology. Like the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid, Ultima Tower, X-Seed 4000, and Tokyo Tower of Babel, it aims to tackle the issues of population growth and environmental degradation, rather than just being focused on architectural design.
As Tokyo’s population currently stands at 14 million, the proposed supercity could potentially provide accommodation for a significant number of inhabitants of the city, helping to alleviate the shortage of living space in the area.
This ambitious building is a futuristic way to deal with the problems of housing a growing population and protecting the environment at the same time.
The Construction Period of the Aeropolis 2001
The estimated construction time of the Aeropolis 2001 is around 25 years. And the total construction cost of this mega-skyscraper would be around $380,000,000,000 in today’s dollars.
- Height: 6,565 feet (2,001 meters)
- Effective floor area: 118 million square feet (11 million square meters)
- Working population: 300,000 people
- Residential population: 140,000 people
- Total population: 440,000 people
- Construction period: 7 years for foundation (12 years in part), 18 years for ground construction
- Phase 1 (height: 1,050 ft / 320 m): 15 years
- Phase 2 (height: 3,150 ft / 960 m): 20 years
- Phase 3 (height: 6,565 ft / 2001 m): 25 years
- Total construction cost: 46.63 trillion yen / 348 billion dollars
- Civil engineering work: 6.63 trillion yen / 50 billion dollars
- Upper construction work: 25.38 trillion yen / 190 billion dollars
- Facility construction: 14.45 trillion yen / 108 billion dollars
Is Aeropolis 2001 Ever Going to Be Built?
The Obayashi Corporation, which was behind the Aeropolis 2001 project, still had plans for the construction of this hyper skyscraper in 1995. During this time, they also released their plans for establishing a settlement on the Moon by the year 2050.
Even though visionary megaprojects like the Aeropolis 2001 are designed to solve the lack of residential areas in Tokyo, the project is probably not going to be completed anywhere in the next 50 or 75 years.
This futuristic structure was one of the many tall hyper-buildings proposed during the Japanese economic bubble that ended in the early 1990s. The lack of appropriate technologies to carry out such a massive undertaking is likely to blame for Aeropolis 2001’s indefinite postponement.
However, considering the ever-shrinking living space of Tokyo, the metropolitan city will need visionary tall residential structures like Aeropolis 2001 at some point in the future.
References
Structures in the New Millennium – P.K.K. Lee, Google Books, July 2017 issue.
Economist, 1992, p. 31.
Obayashi Corporation, “Moon Base 2050”, Archived.
February 20, 2023
Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid: 14 Times Taller Than the Great Pyramid
Planned for Tokyo Bay, Japan, the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid is a massive metropolis in the form of a gigantic pyramid. The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid is 6,575 feet (2,004 meters) tall, or roughly 14 times as high as the Great Pyramid of Giza. If constructed, it would unquestionably stand as the tallest man-made monument in history. This proposed hyperbuilding can accommodate between 750,000 to 1,000,000 people at once.
The building was designed in 2004 by the Italian architect Dante Bini, and David Dimitric from the Shimizu Corporation of Tokyo. The Shimizu Construction Corporation is planning to start constructing the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid in 2030.
If built, Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid would appear like this. (Rendering: NeoMan Studios).
The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid is a bold new engineering proposal that represents a radical new approach to urban life. It would be one of the most difficult engineering projects in history, and the results would completely alter Tokyo Bay.
It may have some reminiscences of ancient constructions, but this pyramid is really special. The population of San Francisco is compressed onto an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, along with 24 buildings with an average height of 80 stories. It’s like a city inside a city; it has everything it needs.
The Design of the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid
The components of the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid.
With its 3.1 square miles (8 km²) of base area, a total of 275 city blocks’ worth of land would be consumed by its footprint. The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid has many layers of hollow trusses in the shape of a diamond or the Great Pyramid of Giza.
This mega city pyramid is the first offshore city ever proposed. Also known as TRY 2004, the structure stands at almost 6,600 feet above sea level. Its foundation will consist of 36 piers made from exceptional concrete and they will be the biggest underwater footings ever created.
The body of this mind-bending mega pyramid will be constructed from 204 individual pyramid pieces and have a total surface area of about 34 square miles (88 km²).
These fundamental pyramidal construction units are 1,150 feet (350 m) long on each side. Each unit is wide enough to enclose a 100-story office building.
The towering apartment complexes.
Structures on both sides of the city’s fundamental construction units keep its office towers, residential buildings, and other complexes afloat. Because of the facilities’ flexible structural layout, huge foundations aren’t necessary.
At 6,575 feet (2,004 m), the monument will be 14 times taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza which is 456 feet (139 m) tall. In all, the glass city will be made up of 55 individual pyramids, each around the size of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.
The base of the mega building covers an area of 1,980 acres (800 ha). And the Great Giza Pyramid covers a base area of 13 acres (5.3 ha). This makes the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid around 150 times larger than the Giza Pyramid.
Shaft construction system.
The large support shafts, some 33 feet (10 m) in diameter, others 52 feet (16 m), and both 1150 feet (350 m) in length, will house the city’s infrastructure. They will include electrical and plumbing networks, transit systems, and observation windows. The connecting nodes will function as transit hubs.
They will be coated with a crystalline glass sphere to allow sunlight to permeate the whole metropolis through fiber optic cables. Standardized materials and components, as well as robotic self-assembling and pushing-up systems, will streamline the building process.
Living Inside the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid
One of the mega pyramid’s many nodes and tubes.
Faster walkways, slanted elevators, and a private high-speed transport system made up of self-driving compartments going inside the framework will make up the method of getting about this massive structure. To do this, the robotic pods will move about within the trusses. The residents will be traveling across these large grids of hollow supports.
Connecting them is a network of 86 miles of horizontal and diagonal aerial tunnels and 55 nodes between them. This design allows to fit a subway system the size of San Francisco’s into an area barely one-fifth as big.
At least 24 structures, each with 80 floors, will serve as residential and commercial spaces. They will be suspended like fruits from the pyramid’s upper and lower levels by nanotube cables. The building uses solar panels mounted on the trusses to convert sunlight into electricity. Algae and the power of waves hitting the structure will be the additional sources of energy.
Tubes, nodes, and hanging skyscrapers.
The area this hyper pyramid would cover if you placed it over New York City includes Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and New Jersey. The pyramid will be constructed of steel tubes and glass by robots while using solar and wind energy to regulate the temperature inside. Huge steel and ceramic composite pillars will stand horizontally and diagonally to support this city of glass.
Infrastructure such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electrical, communication, plumbing, and lifts will all be maintained by these pillars. And the crystal spheres measuring 164 feet (50 m) in diameter will contain their intersection points. Those spheres will concentrate sunlight and distribute it through optical fibers to the rest of the city.
Elevators installed in diagonal shafts will allow residents and visitors to the city to travel between floors vertically. The horizontal shafts will house a linear-motor transit system that the residents will employ to go laterally. People will utilize moving walkways, escalators, or corridors to go from a node to a building.
Indoors, people will take the lifts. For vertical movement, the city’s developed distribution system will use a continuous circulatory transport system. When a package reaches a node, the automatic transfer loader will put it on a container carriage or conveyor belt for horizontally-automated distribution.
The Octahedral Building Units
The TRY 2004 is an innovative building with octahedral modules that are 1,150 feet (350 m) on one side. These modular units can be expanded vertically or laterally to meet changing demands.
This is because they are built by uniting two pyramids at their bases. Each module can sustain an integrated structure on all sides. This is while still reducing wind load thanks to its wind-permeable construction.
The flexible octahedral units are one of the fundamental construction units of the mega pyramid.
When it comes to its aerial structures, the TRY 2004 minimizes vibrations and distortions by strategically installing vibration-control devices at key locations. The structural integrity of commercial and residential structures, as well as ancillary amenities, is ensured by this three-dimensional layout.
With its glass exterior, natural light floods the rooms of the transparent pyramid. Also, the thin pipes utilized in the three-dimensional trusses allow sunlight to penetrate deeply into the infrastructure, making for a useful and visually beautiful setting.
Inspired by the 1982 Blade Runner Movie
The pyramidal headquarters of the fictitious Tyrell Corporation, seen in the 1982 film Blade Runner served as inspiration for the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid’s futuristic architecture. One of the engineers at the Shimizu Company got the concept for the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid after seeing the movie in 1982.
In the 1982 movie “Blade Runner,” the headquarters of the made-up Tyrell Corporation are shown to be shaped like a pyramid.
The design was copyrighted by the company in October 1992. And unlike other visionary hyperbuildings, it is still an officially ongoing project. Also, Kenneth William Gatland and David Jeffries’ Future Cities: Homes and Living into the 21st Century, published in 1979, proposes a comparable gigantic floating metropolis in the form of a pyramid.
The Purpose of the Shimizu Pyramid
Just like the Ultima Tower, X-Seed 4000, or Tokyo Tower of Babel the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid is an arcology (“architecture” and “ecology”) project rather than solely an architecture project. Right now, 14 million people in Tokyo are squeezed between Mount Fuji and the Pacific.
But this supercity could house one-fourteenth of Tokyo’s population. It would contribute to the shortage of housing space in Tokyo. Similar to other visionary mega towers, it’s a solution to both population growth and environmental destruction.
The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid’s artwork.
There will be offices, residences, research facilities, an underground transport system, and resorts in this mega building. Buildings of various types (homes, offices, etc.) will be found in the first 1–4 layers. And layers 5–8 are where people will find the majority of the research institutions, recreational facilities, hotels, etc.
Each layer will be 820 feet (250 m) in height. There will be 240,000 homes inside the structure and 5,930 acres (2,400 ha) of space will be dedicated to office use.
Of its total 22,000 acres, more than 12,000 will be used for homes, 6,000 for businesses, and 4,000 for amenities like parks and schools. Separate power plants will be installed for each structure.
Small businesses and homes alike will be constructed in pyramidal shapes using 400 square foot (37 m²) modules that can be stacked in any configuration to create larger buildings.
The world population is increasing by 1% on average every year. The hypothetical “hyperbuildings” like the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid suggest verticalizing highly populated urban areas to solve the overpopulation problem. Urban planners are looking for ways to reduce the heat island effect in densely populated areas for future generations.
Hotter cities and other environmental issues are to blame for this phenomenon. The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid makes it possible to construct a massive city without negatively impacting the surrounding environment.
The Construction of the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid
The illustration of the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid.
But the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid is too heavy to be constructed with currently available technology and resources (steel, concrete, etc.). Because a single 80-story skyscraper made of steel and glass alone weighs 365,000 tons.
According to estimates, the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid will weigh approximately 1,800,000,000 tons. Therefore, each of the 36 foundations would need to be able to sustain 50 million tons. This is more than 50 times the weight of the Golden Gate Bridge.
In order to build the huge structure and prevent its inevitable collapse due to its own weight, what is required is a new type of ultra-lightweight and strong carbon nanotube and graphene material.
This material is much lighter than steel while still being thousands of times stronger. For the same reason, the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid has to be built on water due to the lack of land suitable for this pyramid.
The Shimizu Megacity Pyramid’s exterior is made up of massive hollow trusses constructed of carbon nanotubes. These carbon nanotubes reduce the weight of the building by 100 times and last nearly forever, even outlasting the Egyptian pyramids.
Since these mega trusses are flexible, they allow powerful typhoons with winds of 130 mph, devastating earthquakes, and tsunamis to pass through them. This is necessary since the Japanese archipelago is intersected by an active fault in the Pacific Rim subduction zone (the Pacific Ring of Fire).
The materials are currently the subject of intense study, and the construction of the building is still scheduled to begin in 2030. However, as of yet, little real progress has been made.
Founded in 1804, the Shimizu Construction Corporation is still leading the effort to complete the construction of the biggest man-made structure ever by the year 2110. The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid will be built and maintained with the help of robots.
The Cost of Building the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid
The cost of building the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid is expected to run around $600 billion or €560 billion. It is one of the relatively cheaper visionary projects to build. For comparison, the X-Seed 4000 costs $1.3 trillion, the Tokyo Tower of Babel costs $25 trillion, and the Ultima Tower costs approximately $210 billion to build.
References
The Guardian – Unbuilt Tokyo: ‘depthscrapers’ and a million-person pyramid
Edward Relph, “The Modern Urban Landscape.” (Book)
(2007) “Population of Tokyo” by Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
Nydailynews.com – Incredible concept designs of future cities that seem out of this world
February 18, 2023
Ultima Tower: The Tallest Building Ever Envisioned for the US
February 16, 2023

Tokyo Tower of Babel: World’s Tallest Building Ever Planned

The Tokyo Tower of Babel is a proposed hyperbuilding in the city of Tokyo that is 33,000 feet or 6,2 miles (10 km) tall. The Tokyo Tower of Babel was designed as a new megastructure by Professor Toshio Ojima of Waseda University. And it is the world’s tallest building ever envisioned by humankind. This ultra-skyscraper requires approximately 100 to 150 years to complete. But once built, it has the capacity to house 30 million people.

The name alludes to the aspiration that it ascends to the heavens like the biblical Tower of Babel, which was 8,150 ft (2,500 m) tall. If built, the Tokyo Tower of Babel would reach a height that is 3,770 feet (1,150 m) higher than Mount Everest. This makes the project an unprecedented architectural achievement.

What is the Tokyo Tower of Babel?

The 3D modeling of the Tokyo Tower of Babel. — The 3D modeling of the Tokyo Tower of Babel by MetaBallStudios (MBS).

The Tokyo Tower of Babel is an urban structure that is 33,000 feet (10,000 meters) in height. The building was proposed at the 1992 Brazil Earth Summit by the architect Toshio Ojima. At the time, it was one of many 1,000-meter-class eco-friendly ultra-high skyscrapers.

These skyscrapers were designed by major construction corporations and developers in the 1980s and early 1990s. Among them, the Tokyo Tower of Babel is the tallest visionary skyscraper ever put forward.

The closest building in height to the Tokyo Tower of Babel would be the X-Seed 4000 which is only 13,100 feet (4,000 m) tall. X-Seed 4000 has 800 floors. But, the Tokyo Tower of Babel has around 1969 floors on average.

The structure’s logarithmic design, conical shape, wide base, and narrowing top parts make it strong enough to bear any force applied to it. The Tokyo Tower of Babel is an example of arcology because the project focuses on biodiversity preservation.

Tokyo's metropolitan area begins to live in a single megastructure in the final stage of its growth, or the 8th generation. — Tokyo’s metropolitan area begins to live in a single megastructure in the final stage of its growth, or the 8th generation.

The growth of the Tokyo metropolitan area is split into eight different generations. It begins with the Edo period in 1880 and continues into the far future. In the final stage, or the 8th generation, all of the residents of the area will begin to live in a single megastructure, similar to the Tokyo Tower of Babel. This megastructure is designed to mitigate the negative environmental effects of urban growth.

In the 8th generation, this mega building or the Tokyo Tower of Babel begins housing 30 million residents. This hyperstructure is supposed to be located on the inner side of the Yamanote Line, one of Tokyo’s busiest lines that was opened in 1885. The blueprint and model of the building were based on the concept art of Masaki Yabuno.

The Purpose of the Project

Hyperbuilding projects like Japan’s Tokyo Tower of Babel propose verticalizing overpopulated metropolises. The aim is to address the issue of unorganized, flat urban buildings in Tokyo city. The megastructure brings together all of the city’s government, business, and recreation facilities into one huge building. Urban planners are working on a solution to the heat island effect of overpopulated cities for future generations. This effect is brought on by the buildup of waste heat from urban activities as well as other environmental issues. This includes vehicles’ exhaust emissions and access issues like traffic congestion.

After Japan’s economic bubble burst in 1994, the Japanese Hyper Building Study Group was formed to continue researching hyperstructures such as the Tokyo Tower of Babel. But the frequent changes in government and the frequent earthquakes were the last straw for this study group.

As a result, the Tokyo Tower of Babel was never constructed. As the Japanese economy collapsed, it seems that bold ideas like this were put on hold. Most of them failed to see the broader social and economic implications. Because they were too preoccupied with the technical possibilities of the moment. One of them was undoubtedly the Tokyo Tower of Babel.

The Tokyo Tower of Babel's height in comparison to other tallest buildings such as the Burj Khalifa or the Empire State Building. — The Tokyo Tower of Babel’s height in comparison to other tallest buildings such as the Burj Khalifa or the Empire State Building.

At a height of 33,000 feet (10,000 m), the Tokyo Tower of Babel dwarfs even the biggest structures. This includes the Burj Khalifa (2,716 ft/828 m) and Everest (29,032 ft/8,849 m). If built, it would be without question the highest structure on the planet.

For comparison, jet planes go no lower than 33,000 ft (10 km) on domestic flights and 39,000 ft (12 km) on international flights. At a height of 33,000 ft (10 km), the air pressure is one-fourth that at sea level, and the temperature is about -67 degrees Fahrenheit (-55 degrees Celsius).

The Cost of the Tokyo Tower of Babel

With a capacity of 30 million people, the Tokyo Tower of Babel is an enormous megastructure. The building’s construction cost is 25 trillion USD. It comes with a basal area of 42,5 mi² (110 km²), a total floor area of 656 mi² (1,700 km², including all levels of floors) and an impressive steel volume of 10 billion tons. This total floor area is equal to the area of the city of Houston (4,460 mi²).

According to a 2010 estimation, building the Tokyo Tower of Babel would cost 3 quadrillion yen, or 3,3 quadrillion yen in 2023. This makes around 25 trillion USD in today’s money (or 25,500,000,000,000 US dollars). The structure was expected to cost about 30 years of Japan’s national budget, or six times the country’s GDP.

This was solely because of how impractical and destructive the plan was. The megastructure was devised in the so-called booming era of the “bubble economy” in Japan, lasting from 1986 to 1991.

Tokyo Tower of Babel’s Design

Tokyo Tower of Babel sections — The six different territories of the mega tower.

The Tokyo Tower of Babel reaches all the way to 33,000 feet (10,000 m) in height. Thus, the overall design of this mega building is separated into several designations. They are divided into specific heights, and each of them provides specific functions.

Territory	Facilities	Height	Area
Geo Territory	underground infrastructure, energy plants, parking lots, and generators	Underground	–
Human Territory	residential and commercial complexes	Up to 3,300 ft (1,000 m)	250k ac (100k ha)
Cloud Territory	commercial, office, and hotel spaces	Up to 11,500 ft (3,500 m)	75k ac (30k ha)
Sky Territory	educational, administrative, and leisure facilities	Up to 19,500 ft (6,000 m)	50k ac (20k ha)
Ultimate Territory	industrial, experimental research, and base facilities	Up to 30,000 ft (9,000 m)	50k ac (20k ha)
Space Territory	solar energy collector and a space development center.	Up to 33,000 ft (10,000 m)	250k ac (100k ha)

The Challenges to the Tokyo Tower of Babel

From 1840 to 2110, Japan plans to surpass the United States in tall buildings: The Sky City 1000, X-Seed 4000, and The Tokyo Tower of Babel from right to left. — From 1840 to 2110, Japan plans to surpass the United States in tall buildings: The Sky City 1000, X-Seed 4000, and the Tokyo Tower of Babel from right to left.

The Tower of Babel is designed to be environmentally friendly and energy efficient. In theory, large swaths of the Kanto Plain, the largest plain in Japan, would be made available as a result of the construction of this hyperbuilding. However, there are a few challenges to the Tokyo Tower of Babel project:

Extreme cost

First, the task of creating a budget for the proposed construction of the Tokyo Tower of Babel is challenging. This is due to the extreme cost of the project and the need for expensive, semi-permanent repairs. Relocating the residents and businesses in the area surrounding the tower would take a significant amount of time and money.

A large plot of land

To build the Tokyo Tower of Babel, you would also need a large piece of land with a minimum size of 10.5 km. This is for a square foundation. For a circle foundation, the minimum radius would be 6 km (12 km in diameter).

Restricted flight zone

When a building’s height exceeds 3,300 feet or 1,000 meters, the airspace around it will have to be restricted. This is due to the risk of aircraft collisions caused by man-made or unexpected difficulties, such as terrorism. In order to reduce the likelihood of accidents, flying would need to be closely regulated or outright forbidden in the area of the building.

Potential death toll

There is a potential death toll from the collapse of the Tokyo Tower of Babel caused by an earthquake or other disaster. And this could be in the tens of millions, particularly in earthquake-prone areas like the Tokyo metropolitan region. To avoid the loss of many lives in the event of a structural failure, the Tokyo Tower of Babel must meet extremely stringent safety standards.

Harsh weather conditions

Moving on, the inhabitable space on the upper floors of the Tokyo Tower of Babel would have to be as airtight and heat-retaining as a jet airliner. This is to protect the people inside from the harsh weather outside, such as broken windows, strong gusts of wind, and temperatures as low as -67°F or -55°C.

FAQ About the Tokyo Tower of Babel

Will the Tokyo Tower of Babel be built?

It’s quite doubtful that the Tokyo Tower of Babel will ever be constructed in the next 100 years. But if it were, it would be the highest building in the world, making Mount Everest seem like a toy by 3,770 feet (1,150 m).

How long would it take to build the Tokyo Tower of Babel?

The construction of this ultra-skyscraper is projected to take between 100 and 150 years. But once completed, it would be large enough to house 30 million people.

How high is the Tokyo Tower of Babel?

Professor Toshio Ojima proposed the Tokyo Tower of Babel in 1992, and it stands 33,000 feet (6.2 miles) or 10,000 meters tall.

How many floors does the Tokyo Tower of Babel have?

The Tokyo Tower of Babel has around 1969 floors on average. The structure is famous for its height.

February 14, 2023

X-Seed 4000: A Man-Made Building Taller Than Mountains
What is X-Seed 4000?
The X-Seed 4000 is a tapered, pyramid-shaped megastructure with a sea-based location, inspired by Mount Fuji, designed as an artificial island with interconnected nodes, resembling a “sea mountain,” featuring an open-style steel framework, housing a variety of facilities and a microclimate support system, supported by a 2000-foot-thick steel base allowing it to float on the ocean.
X-Seed 4000 is a 13,100-foot (4,000-meter) tall megastructure with 800 floors. It has a capacity for 1 million people living inside at the same time. The X-Seed 4000 is a floating “ocean city” off the coast of Japan. It is designed as an artificial island and will be home to a million people once completed. This unfinished ultra-skyscraper project was first conceived by Taisei Corporation in 1995. With 17,300 acres (7,000 ha) of total floor area, the base floor is 21,300 feet (6,500 m) in diameter and located on the sea. The width of X-Seed 4000 gradually narrows as it rises. The skyscraper takes on the shape of Mount Fuji, Japan’s highest mountain at 12,388 feet (3,776 m). Each of the 30 floors of X-Seed 4000 is completed every 330 feet (100 meters).
The Cost of X-Seed 4000
X-Seed 4000 stands in Tokyo city as envisioned by the Taisei Corporation.
Projects like X-Seed immediately conjure up images of Earth’s inevitable transformation into an ecumenopolis or multicultural metropolis. This is similar to Coruscant from Star Wars.
The building’s most distinctive characteristics are its sea-based location and its form which was inspired by Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji. It has the form of a pyramid, with several nodes connected by long, snaking tubes. Each node is like a miniature city. There are enough facilities inside—including a gym, a supermarket, and a garden—that its residents wouldn’t need to leave the building.
More than three million tons of steel would go into making this superstructure. Thus, the construction of X-Seed 4000 was expected to take 30 years and cost 170 trillion yen, or 1.3 trillion USD. As the first man-made mountain ever envisioned, the cost of building X-Seed 4000 would be more than the yearly budget of several nations. But the price tag might vary. It amounted to around $900,000,000,000 in 2006 dollars and approximately $1,000,000,000,000 in 2016 dollars. In 2023, the X-Seed 4000 would cost 1,300,000,000,000 USD in today’s money.
X-Seed 4000’s Design
X-Seed 4000 is next to the tallest buildings ever planned, the Tokyo Tower of Babel, as well as the Ultima Tower of San Francisco.
If built, the X-Seed 4000, with a height of 13,100 feet (4,000 meters), would be the second-tallest man-made structure ever proposed. It would be behind the enormous Tokyo Tower of Babel (6.2 mi or 10 km high). Because of its current elevation, the building is almost halfway up Everest (29.030 ft or 8.849 m high).
As a visionary project, X-Seed 4000 is an example of arcology because of its focus on preserving biodiversity. With its tapered logarithmic structure, cone shape, large base, and gradually narrowing upper sections, the structure is well-equipped to withstand any force applied to it and not collapse.
Because of its elevation, its summit would always be blanketed in snow, making it ideal for use as both a ski area and a weather observatory. There would be a university among other amenities like parks, hospitals, and marinas. This is because the city is being constructed on an artificial island. The project is intended to solve Tokyo’s overpopulation and environmental problems. That is why it is more than just a simple skyscraper.
This is what the interior of the X-Seed 4000 would look like.
X-Seed 4000’s Construction Site
The imagination of the planners is unbounded. Often, new ideas are formulated that seem to be straight out of science fiction. But in fact, they are the result of extensive research and careful calculation. However, only a small fraction of these proposals will be workable, at least in the next 30 years.
The design of the X-Seed 4000 is based on Peter Neville’s ideas. However, since this construction is notoriously challenging, no viable options for the project have been explored until now. Due to the project’s massive magnitude, the construction location chosen for X-Seed 4000 is to be on Tokyo Bay and on water. The supertall skyscraper would cover 26 square miles (26 km²) of land at its foundation in Tokyo Bay. This makes around 750,000,000 square feet of living and working space.
Yes, X-Seed 4000 is a “sea mountain.” Because the only practical site to construct such a massive structure is on the water due to the lack of land suitable for the task.
The Features of X-Seed 4000
The 4000-meter, or 2.5-mile, steel mountain is supported by a 2000-foot-thick (600 m) steel base, allowing X-Seed 4000 to float on the ocean. A large number of separate “building cells” are housed in the open-style steel framework. Steel legs hold walkway connections. Massive magnetic elevators can carry as many as 200 passengers through the steel arms at once. Skiing is always possible all year at the top of the building, and it takes around 30 minutes to reach the top of the building thanks to Maglevs (magnetically levitated speed trains).
The X-Seed 4000’s first blueprints were drawn up back in 1980. However, no one had ever really thought seriously about building it. Constructed in the form of a mountain, the skyscraper is a state-of-the-art structure that blends cutting-edge technology with an eco-friendly design. If X-Seed 4000 were to be built, it would be taller than many tall mountains in the world. In fact, it would be almost 738 ft (225 m) higher than Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, and the seventh-highest peak of an island on Earth.
Internally, an electromagnetic train system transports both people and cargo across the complex. Unlike other skyscrapers, the X-Seed 4000, with its towering height, must protect its occupants not just from the forces of gravity but also from the changing temperature outside. Ecological comfort is ensured by the presence of environmental controls in the building.
The blueprint of the structure includes the use of solar power for heating and cooling purposes. In X-Seed 4000, photovoltaic energy controls light, temperature, air pressure, etc. to power the whole microclimate support system.
Given its location in the Asia-Pacific volcanic region, the X-Seed 4000 must be resilient enough to weather tsunamis and earthquakes. This is a region called the Pacific Ring of Fire, the world’s strongest volcanic activity zone. The same threats will also be experienced by the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid. The structure’s enormous height makes it ideal for shielding its residents directly from severe air pressure differences and extreme climatic shifts, unlike “regular” skyscrapers.
The Purpose of X-Seed 4000
X-Seed 4000 next to skyscrapers for comparison.

There have been rumors that the Japanese were about to start building the X-Seed 4000 skyscraper some time ago. But this does not appear to be the case anymore. Georges Binder, general director of Buildings & Data, a company that maintains information on buildings throughout the globe, claims that the X-Seed 4000 will “never be built.” According to Binder, the purpose of this plan was to build a reputation for the company, and it worked.
In 2007, when the Sears Tower and the Taipei 101 were fiercely competing to be named the world’s tallest building, rumors began circulating that Taisei was planning to construct X-Seed. In theory, it could surpass the current tallest building in the world, the Burj Dubai, with 828 meters (2,716 feet) in height. Even though it seemed like the project wouldn’t get off the ground, the building has become something of a legend in recent years.
Shohei Ogawa, manager of Taisei’s worldwide division’s planning department, says that the company currently has no plans for the X-Seed 4000. The whole project was the company’s fantasy proposal for the kinds of technical progress they envisioned for the future.
Is X-Seed 4000 Possible to Build?
X-Seed 4000 compared to Everest.
The X-Seed 4000 was inspired by a 1966–1967 proposal by V.I. Travush and also by M.V. Nikitin at the request of a Japanese firm. M.V. Nikitin was the primary designer of the Ostankino TV tower in Russia. But it was later decided to put an end to the project indefinitely. Today, the X-Seed 4000 is recognized in large part because the project’s blueprints were actually finalized by the construction firm. As such, it is a structure that could have been erected had full construction plans been developed utilizing the technologies available at the time.
While it may seem impossible to build X-Seed 4000 now, the goals are actually within reach. Because almost any building project with any span or height is feasible to build from a technical perspective. The electromagnetic trains, or Maglevs, could make such a big building easy to navigate around and eliminate the time people wait for an elevator to reach the 800th floor. However, the project may still not be practical in reality.
The Challenges to Building X-Seed 4000
Height comparison between the Burj Dubai (the tallest skyscraper at 828 m or 2716 ft) and the X-Seed 4000.
Financing a project that may cost over a trillion dollars is challenging. This includes acquiring the required permissions to erect the structure. Because no citizen would want a 2.5-mile-high skyscraper next to them. A two-mile-high skyscraper will already cause a downdraft at its base and throw lengthy shadows on citizens, almost darkening the streets permanently.
Elevators, water systems, and fire safety equipment may be particularly challenging to install in a skyscraper that would be almost five times higher than the current highest building in the world. For starters, the sky-high expenses of building and maintaining such a large skyscraper that costs trillions would make it unaffordable for the vast majority of people.
Intensifying the building’s population might help lessen the financial pressure. The costs would be more fairly divided if 100 million people lived there instead of 1 million.
X-Seed 4000’s height compared to other tall buildings.
Building X-Seed 4000 as envisioned is impractical due to the project’s scale. Not only are the production costs too high, but there are also collateral issues with real experimentation and the verification of natural accidental loads.
At such an extreme height, this includes structural oscillations caused by wind and a different atmospheric pressure. Let’s not forget the reactions of those who will live in the building and the implications for them. Those factors make the project problematic.
It’s not clear how many engineers will be needed and how they will be managed to build such a structure. Since Japan’s population is forecast to decrease by the year 2050, the megastructure, which was built to accommodate a rapid population increase, is becoming more irrelevant. It’s quite unlikely that the X-Seed 4000 project will ever go forward.
X-Seed 4000 and the city of Tokyo under the clouds.
The World Financial Center (2008) in Shanghai, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, is an excellent illustration for building tall structures. The shape of this building is like a blade with a huge porthole at the top. It is designed specifically according to the characteristics of the most frequent winds in the area to limit the impact of these gusts on the skyscraper and the people who work inside it.
The Tallest Man-Made Structures Ever Planned
San Francisco’s 3,218-meter (10,558-foot) Ultima Tower, Dubai’s 2,400-meter (7,900-foot) City Tower, Japan’s 2,004-meter (6,575-foot) Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid, and either Hong Kong’s or Shanghai’s 1,228-meter (4,029-foot) Bionic Tower is one of the five tallest man-made structures, along with Tokyo’s 13,100-foot (4,000-meter) X Seed 4000, ever planned in the history of mankind.
FAQ About the X-Seed 4000
When is the X-Seed 4000 going to be built?
The precise answer is unknown, but a project like the X-Seed 4000 is unlikely to be built within the next 50 years.
Who designed the X-Seed 4000?
The design of the X-Seed 4000 is based on Peter Neville’s ideas. This unfinished ultra-skyscraper project was planned by Taisei Corporation in 1995.
What is the X-Seed 4000?
X-Seed 4000 is an ocean city that is 13,100 feet (4,000 meters) tall with 800 floors and a capacity of 1 million citizens. The building was intended to solve Tokyo’s overpopulation problems.
References
Taisei Corporation’s Official Webpage Regarding X-Seed 4000.
Michael Anissimov (2006). “Accelerating Future » X-Seed 4000”. Archived.
Ernest Burden, Visionary Architecture: Unbuilt Works of the Imagination. Amazon.
February 13, 2023
Filippo Brunelleschi’s Masterpiece: The Florence Cathedral Dome
Even though Brunelleschi lacked architectural training, he was awarded the commission to construct Florence’s famous dome. He did that against a familiar foe’s plotting. The dome of Florence Cathedral, known as the Brunelleschi Dome (also known as Cúpula de Santa María de las Flores), is perhaps the most recognizable symbol of Florence, just as every city has its own unique monument. The uniqueness of this building lies in the fact that Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1466), a goldsmith, rather than an architect, designed and oversaw its construction.
More than 500 years after it was built, Brunelleschi Dome is still the biggest brick dome that has ever been built.
A massive artwork known as a fresco is painted on the interior of Brunelleschi’s Dome. The painting on the dome was created by Giorgio Vasari and his pupil, Frederico Zuccari, about 1579. The Last Judgment is shown in the fresco. The pictures of heaven are painted on one side of the dome, while the representations of hell, including a demon, are painted on the other.
Brunelleschi’s work on the Florence Cathedral dome marked a major architectural and engineering achievement. He used innovative techniques, such as a double-shelled dome and herringbone brickwork, to build the largest dome in Europe during his time.
Origin of the Cathedral
Santa Maria del Fiore or Florence Cathedral.
However, the cathedral’s origins may be traced back decades before Brunelleschi was even born. The Florentine Republic had its capital in Florence in the 13th century. Not unlike the other republics in northern and central Italy, it was eager to impress its peers with displays of pomp and circumstance.
Most importantly, Florence wanted to show rivals like Venice and Pisa that it could keep up with their own impressive developments. This led to the 1296 decision to construct a cathedral. Arnolfo di Cambio was commissioned as the architect, and construction began with the laying of a foundation stone at the site of the bishop’s church of Santa Reparata. There, he would join the ranks of other great architects.
The cathedral was not complete until the early 15th century because of disruptions caused by conflicts with neighboring republics and the plague, which killed as much as 20% of the population in 1347. Santa Maria del Fiore was chosen as the original name for this beautiful Florence Cathedral.
The dome, however, was still absent. A gaping 147-foot-wide (45-meter) crater stood above the church until 1418. There was no blueprint for how such a large dome would be built.
Linear perspective is a technique in art that creates the illusion of depth and three-dimensionality on a flat surface. Brunelleschi made significant contributions to linear perspective by developing a system that allowed artists to accurately represent spatial relationships in their paintings.
There Is No Blueprint for the Cathedral Dome
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446), the goldsmith and master builder. (Credit: Jason Pier, Flickr)
The traditional way of building would have needed too much wood to support the arches using a wooden scaffold. The manner of construction also necessitated that the scaffolding be left up for a minimum of 16 months. But after so much time, the wood is likely to be rotten. In addition, not even the building itself seemed to be a sufficient safety precaution. The weight of such a dome would have been too great for the walls to bear. The whole structure may have been toppled by the dome.
An alternative strategy was required. The Opera, the institution responsible for building the cathedral, declared a contest. They aimed to find an approachable design for the dome’s construction. The prize money was a hefty 200 florins (30,000 to 200,000 USD) as well.
Time for Filippo Brunelleschi had come. He was a professional goldsmith, therefore he was no stranger to contests. Earlier, in 1401, Brunelleschi had competed against goldsmith Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378–1455) and lost to him. This was 17 years ago. For that time being, the doors of the Baptistery were at issue, which was their profession of interest. However, this time, a really groundbreaking feat of architecture was required.
Some of the mysteries of its construction, which Brunelleschi pioneered, remain a mystery even now despite his leaving neither blueprints or drawings behind.
For the preceding decade, Brunelleschi had been traveling extensively, spending most of his time in Rome. There, he examined old structures, or what remained of them, in the spirit of the emerging Renaissance.
Herringbone brickwork is a pattern of bricklaying that resembles the bones of a fish. Brunelleschi used herringbone brickwork in the construction of the Florence Cathedral dome to provide stability and strength to the structure, allowing the dome to stand without the need for additional supports.
There Was No Need for a Timber Structure for Constructing the Dome
It was time for Brunelleschi to put in his bid, and he did so with Tuscany’s top architects. Specifically, he was interested in constructing a “double shell,” or two separate domes. Anchors and chains of iron and wood, like those used to hold a barrel, were planned to be used to keep the walls in place and prevent them from collapsing. Most importantly, his design wouldn’t require the use of a wooden scaffold, which was how most builders traditionally supported a dome during construction.
Two shells were created by Brunelleschi for the internal framework. A lighter inner shell and a heavier outer shell built of wind-resistant materials. Brunelleschi avoided the weight issue during construction by building two domes, allowing workmen to perch atop the inner dome while constructing the outer dome.
However, Brunelleschi’s involvement in the competition raised eyebrows due to his unusually low profile about the specifics. Brunelleschi’s paranoia about intellectual property theft was not wholly unfounded. The Opera eventually settled on a middle ground, adopting most of Brunelleschi’s design but assigning him a second construction manager, who was Brunelleschi’s opponent from 1401, Lorenzo Ghiberti.
A massive artwork known as a fresco is painted on the interior of Brunelleschi’s Dome.
It was estimated that it would take 16 years to finish building the dome. A considerable amount of time, during which Ghiberti made many attempts to replace Brunelleschi. One possible explanation is that he saw that Brunelleschi was the more talented and creative master builder. As an instance, he built a herd of oxen with a “gearbox” that allowed them to go backwards. Because of the height of the dome, Brunelleschi knew that the standard horse-drawn vehicles of the time—a form of impeller with gears—were not enough for lowering loads. But the gears on Brunelleschi’s ox team allowed this to be done without reharnessing the animals.
The dome’s construction also ended up being an architectural wonder. Using the so-called opus spicatum technique, the bricks for the inner dome were arranged in a herringbone pattern. Having done so, the dome’s stability was greatly improved, and collapse was avoided.
Brunelleschi had no professional training in architecture. Experts are still unable to completely comprehend his ingenious construction techniques for the dome.
The Challenger to Brunelleschi’s Dominance Was Eliminated
At the beginning of the 14th century, the competition to create the bronze doors for the Florence Baptistery was the city’s most important public commission. For the “Binding of Isaac”, Lorenzo Ghiberti’s work on the right; Filippo Brunelleschi’s on the left. (Credit: The Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore)
Reportedly, Brunelleschi used a ploy to get rid of Ghiberti and his disruptive influence. One day he claimed to be sick so he could force Ghiberti to bring in the crucial wooden beams, knowing full well that his opponent was unable to do so. Suddenly feeling better, Brunelleschi showed up at the building site to publicly criticize Ghiberti’s work, leading to the architect’s dismissal. Brunelleschi was finally able to build the dome without interference. The cathedral was dedicated on March 25, 1436, exactly 140 years after the first stone was put.
The lantern structure that was to make the city’s highest building even taller (374 feet or 114 meters) was put off for another decade. However, on April 15, 1446, not long after the building project had begun, Brunelleschi passed away. He was so well-respected at the time that he was laid to rest in the cathedral’s crypt. This distinction was reserved for the city’s most notable citizens, and in this instance, it went to a jeweler and a self-taught architect.
Brunelleschi became well-known because of the dome he designed. Most importantly, modern scholars recognize him as a pioneering Renaissance architect, despite the dome technically not being a Renaissance-style building. In contrast to the Roman Pantheon’s dome, which Brunelleschi may have used as inspiration, Santa Maria del Fiore’s dome is made up of four arches and separate components.
Brunelleschi’s whimsical interweaving of multiple disciplines and utilization of historical structures as inspiration, however, have led many to label him the archetypal Renaissance man. The next two centuries of history were supposed to be molded by the ideas of the Renaissance, not only in the Florence area, but all across the heart of Europe.
December 12, 2022