VNRE - A Mexican architecture firm called BNKR Arquitectura has designed an inverted skyscraper for Mexico City that stretches deep into the ground, rather than soaring into the sky.
The "Earthscraper", as the firm refers to it as, aims to allow for dense habitation of a small area while still preserving the city square and the view of the buildings that surround it. Mexico City only permits structures up to eight stories in height, but the Earthscraper will have 65 stories -- with the top ten dedicated to a museum.
The design was inspired by the layers of buildings that comprise the historic centre of Mexico City. Over the centuries, various civilisations have simply built on top of the existing buildings -- the modern city is built on colonial ruins, which were built on Aztec pyramids, which were built on older Aztec pyramids, and so on. ArchDaily says that the skyscraper "digs down through the layers of cities to discover our roots".
The inside of the structure is hollow, allowing habitable spaces around the edges to see out onto a central void for lighting and ventilation. At the very top will be a reinforced glass floor, so that the normal activities that occupy the square can still take place, albeit slightly terrifyingly for those standing on it.
The building covers an area of 775,000 square metres, and was a finalist in eVolo Magazine's 2010 skyscraper competition.
Source: Wired.co.uk
The "Earthscraper", as the firm refers to it as, aims to allow for dense habitation of a small area while still preserving the city square and the view of the buildings that surround it. Mexico City only permits structures up to eight stories in height, but the Earthscraper will have 65 stories -- with the top ten dedicated to a museum.
The design was inspired by the layers of buildings that comprise the historic centre of Mexico City. Over the centuries, various civilisations have simply built on top of the existing buildings -- the modern city is built on colonial ruins, which were built on Aztec pyramids, which were built on older Aztec pyramids, and so on. ArchDaily says that the skyscraper "digs down through the layers of cities to discover our roots".
The inside of the structure is hollow, allowing habitable spaces around the edges to see out onto a central void for lighting and ventilation. At the very top will be a reinforced glass floor, so that the normal activities that occupy the square can still take place, albeit slightly terrifyingly for those standing on it.
The building covers an area of 775,000 square metres, and was a finalist in eVolo Magazine's 2010 skyscraper competition.
Source: Wired.co.uk
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