Tornado Tower Looks Like A Cloud, Makes Its Own Energy

Ignoring the laws of physics again?

MePerson

One of the major considerations with any preforming arts building is the ability to get either scenic pieces (in the case that there is no shop attached) or raw materials (in the case that there is a shop attached) into the space. Scenery usually must fit in a semi if it's a traveling show, or on scenic trailers if it's not a traveling show. I don't see an easy way of getting anything large into this space unless the whole shaft is a giant freight elevator.

A3rd.Zero

I love how they show the bird in the foreground, soon to be shredded to itty bitties by this monster - oh, the birdmanity!

banmojo

@electricarchie: No, this was a competion for a real design for a real building, that real people would pay for, and real people would die in when it came crashing down.

AreWeThereYeti

the next earthquake will keep it in "it's only a design phase"!

@bosskev: 1 fatality aside, that still cracks me up. I mean, the three workmen in the pictures who are just staring at it... "Right, ok. Erm. Well... we could try lifting it back up again?"

Kirioth

Anyone else think about the jetsons?

Michael Vasquez

@nickpadovani: "building that's literally designed to take as much wind load as possible"

I doubt it's actually buildable, especially Taiwan's typhoon prone..

Firebrand

@FriarNurgle: Keep telling your self that.

nightwheel

Looks like a golf club...

@Buildings don't just fall over. Sheesh.

@electricarchie: Don't forget the life sized gundam in japan.

@rrwakc: Do they have tornadoes in Taiwan?

Dumb! Taiwan is an active earthquake zone. I could easily see this monstrosity falling over.

Dacker

@NastyInThePasty: I'd be more worried about the obscene line to get on the elevators more than anything else.

/cranky realistic draftsmen

MDevonB

Addendum: on occasion the batshit crazy stuff gets built. Re: Frank Gehry's Serpentine pavilion or Diller & Scofidio's Blur Building.

electricarchie

@redkamel: To play devil's advocate, part of the point of competitions is to create batshit-crazy stuff that could never be built. It's the time when Architects/designers get to play.

electricarchie

@NastyInThePasty: I think Mies and Corb did this same thing in the first half of the century.... it was called "pilotis". Just more sculptural.

electricarchie

the neck is way too thin looking. If people are going to get paid to "design things" ie "photoshop whatever stupid idea they have until an engineer fixes it" they shouldn't enter it in contests before checking for "common sense" problems.

redkamel

and the fact that this is tornado tower probably set up in tornado area. Designed to harvest the wind "energy". To me looks more like disaster waiting to happen. It should be more like a bunker not a thin tower with a giant sail on top

@Jakooboo would do anything for a Klondike Bar.: There is no such thing as too high.

no.

deliciousburglar

Why that's just stupid. How are you supposed to get the monster trucks up there for the show...

/sarcasm

I think it's pretty cool. No, I wouldn't go into it. But it's cool none the less. And what a headline it would make when something did go wrong.

CaptCaveman

@bosskev:
Yeah if they built it they'd figure that out fast and soon the whole thing would be covered in chicken wire...seen many buildings with this >.<

TheCrudMan

@bosskev:

I don't know if that's even the main concern. Having lived in Taiwan with some pretty powerful typhoons, I have no idea how something like this would sustain the windspeeds. Any huge building like this in Taiwan needs to be strong enough to sustain bigass Earthquakes, and bigass typhoons...both which are fairly common in Taiwan.

@NastyInThePasty: I am no engineer or architect, but that thing just does not look structurally sound.

@NastyInThePasty:
Not to mention cost - the yield strength of the steel you'd have to use for that little twig of a column to support a building that's literally designed to take as much wind load as possible would be so high, this building would cost big $$$$.

/cranky realistic engineer

nickpadovani

That is a huge bird or a small building like thing

It would be kind of fun to watch the actors screaming their lines to be heard over the constant rumble of 360º turbines.

@Shikestarr: It's Taiwan. This helps solve one of their main problems - overpopulation.

Hello Mister Walrus

Yes, lets make it look like a cloud and put it up in the sky where the planes cross by. What could possibly go wrong?

@Shikestarr: What evacuation, comrade?

Jakooboo would do anything for a Klondike Bar.

@Shikestarr: Not really. Each one of those vents does double duty as a trap door under every seat. Pretty fast evacuation actually...

@Shikestarr: Nonsense, everyone gets a parachute

Purple Monkey Dishwasher

fire evacuation nightmare.

Shikestarr

Interesting idea to reduce the physical footprint on the ground, if nothing else.

Otherwise, bah humbug.

/cranky realistic architect

NastyInThePasty

You'd spend five times the amount of money on maintenance for this thing as you'd save on energy.

@Daniel Rosenthal: Too high, my friend, too high.

Jakooboo would do anything for a Klondike Bar.

No. Thank. You. Sir. Gahhhh... That thing is fucking SCARY!

Jakooboo would do anything for a Klondike Bar.

I love how the rendering includes a large bird flying by--which is quite appropriate as this design would no doubt quickly fill up with thousands of avian residents, clogging all those open vents and rendering them useless. Yes, this idea is, perhaps quite literally, for the birds.

how high was that supposed to be?

Daniel Rosenthal

@Dacker:
Aaaahhh but maybe you haven't seen the counter weight system in the Taipei 101 building.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101

ChunkAhoy