Dive Brief:
- Architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox and structural engineering firm Leslie E. Robertson Associates have revealed their design for the mile-high skyscraper — at 5,577 feet tall — which will serve as the centerpiece of the Next Tokyo development, a proposed chain of hexagon-shaped islands that will form a barrier to protect Tokyo from flooding.
- Project designers said the "Sky Mile Tower," which will be built in Tokyo Bay, will be able to house 55,000 people, move people vertically and horizontally in elevators, and collect and distribute rainwater with a specially designed facade. A Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) study said the structures in New Tokyo could be connected via a system like Elon Musk’s Hyperloop.
- Developers said they plan to complete Next Tokyo in 2045. The complex is predicted to house approximately 500,000 people and provide clean and renewable energy via algae grown in water-filled rings. See renderings of the complex here.
Dive Insight:
If completed, the Sky Mile Tower will be more than twice the height of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s nearly 2,700-foot Burj Khalifa.
The CTBUH reported the number of "megatall" buildings — those taller than 1,968 feet — will double in the next five years and that there were more skyscrapers built in 2015 than any prior year. However, because of pushback by critics who are trying to limit skyscraper construction, the CTBUH said, the "era of the megatall" building might be over by 2020.
Other megatall buildings around the world include the Shanghai Tower (2,073 feet) in Shanghai, China, and the Makkah Royal Clock Tower (1,972 feet) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Additionally, although it is still in the planning stages, the Basra province of Iraq could soon be home to the 3,780-foot Bride of the Gulf skyscraper. If completed, it would be more than 1,000 feet taller than the Burj Khalifa but still almost 1,800 feet shy of the Next Tokyo skyscraper.