Archive for the ‘Floating Cities’ Category

Underwater Skyscrapers, Vertical Prisons, and Other Winners of the eVolo Skyscraper Contest

Monday, March 15th, 2010

We’ve written about floating airports, and there are reports of man-made floating islands to fight rising sea levels. But floating skyscrapers? That’s what Malaysian designer Sarly Adre Bin Sarkum suggested at this year’s eVolo Skyscraper Competition, which seeks to find “outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the use of new technologies” and “change the way we understand architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments.” Click through our gallery of the remarkable structures that won special mentions and prizes, with designs ranging from vertical prisons to buildings made of steel nesting to towers that filter the air around them.

Winners of the 2010 eVolo Skyscraper Competition

All photos are courtesy of the 2010 eVolo Competition.

A Peek Inside the World’s Biggest Cruise Ship (And How It Manages to Run)

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Cruise lines seem to be in a perpetual race to have the “biggest ship in the world” in their fleets. Though Royal Caribbean has really set a new bar with the Oasis of the Seas, a brand new floating monster that’s five times the size of the Titanic and cost a whopping $1.4 billion to build. The bridge has a clearance of 213 feet above the water, and the ship normally has an air draft of 236 ft. To power this thing, you need six marine diesel engines: three Wärtsilä 16-cylinder common rail diesels producing 18,860 kilowatts, and three similar 12-cylinder engines each producing 13,860 kilowatts.

The ship boasts seven “neighborhoods,” including Vegas-style simulacra of Coney Island and Central Park, and can hold 6,300 passengers. Excess is the name of the game: For a mere $34,000 a week, you can have a private two-story loft-like cabin. Other features include Broadway shows playing off the boardwalk, a zip-line that runs nine stories above the main deck, a climbing wall (which, these days, is de rigeur on mega-ships), a mini-golf course, and the obligatory casino and theme parks and pools etc.

Here’s the captain’s first video log, which offers a fascinating description of the work behind the maiden voyage (seriously, the fact that this floating city can travel and maneuver is impressive in itself):

And here is Good Morning America’s bubbly segment on the ship’s amenities: