I Have An Idea For The New Skyscraper

I have an idea for the new tower at Queen City Square. In Dubai, construction is set to begin on David Fisher's Rotating Tower, a 59-story residential tower with independently rotating floors, completely powered by sun and wind.

Each floor is composed of 12 self-contained units, complete with plumbing and electrical. Each unit is attached to a central spine or axis, enabling each floor to rotate independently. Once the central spine is in place, each unit can be fabricated in a factory, sent to the site, hoisted up and attached independently. Over 90% of the tower will be manufactured.


In the comments of the linked blog, the challenges of such a design are debated. A local mention makes it through:

This is not as complicated as you’re all making it, Psuedo and PaTrond. Buckminister Fuller designed and built a rotating house, the Dymaxion House. Hell, there’s even a rotating restaurant in Covington, Kentucky, not to mention many far more cosmopolitan cities. Plumbing and electrical connections are not a problem. Rotation is typically no more than once per hour.

Please, how much more cosmopolitan can you get than Covington, KY?

The coolest thing is are the wind turbines sandwiched in-between each floor:

The 59-floor building will be powered entirely by sun and wind energy. And, the architect claims that the building will generate 10 times more energy than required to power it, thus making it a positive energy building. Solar panels will be fitted on the roof to harness sunlight, and a total of 48 wind turbines will be sandwiched between the rotating floors, placed so that they are practically invisible. Each wind turbine could produce up to 0.3 megawatt of electricity, and it is estimated that 1,200,000 kilowatt-hours of energy would be generated every year.

That would make a pretty nice addition to the skyline, eh?

Watch the PR video.