Have you ever wished that your urban center had more green space? More parks, pools and areas in which you could relax and waste away the summer days?

Well,‚ San Francisco-based designer‚ Joanna Borek-Clement has got something for you.

The 2009 eVolo Skyscraper Competition contestant has created Sky-Terra towers (which is freaky because we have a blog called Sky and a blog called Terra here at Blast), a network of interconnected towers rising above the city’s skyline inspired by the shape of neuron cells. The skyscrapers are meant to add a new layer to the city, one full of green space, pools, recreational facilities and amphitheaters.

Borek-Clement designed the buildings with Tokyo, an over-congested city in which the public has demanded more recreational space, in mind.

The buildings rise 1,600 feet above ground, and their ultra-flat top is supported by a narrow, strong base. Borek-Clement says the structures would tower over existing buildings, effectively creating a new city above an existing one.

As for what could go atop the ultra-flat towers, well, the sky’s the limit. Borek-Clement, in his drawings, created 4-foot wide roadways for electric cars and footpaths which connect each neuron. Anything that isn’t a footpath, a roadway or a pool would be green space. Rainwater collection would aid with landscaping and the building, according to inhabitat.com, would be created using modular parts to conserve energy.

The narrow base will house an elevator that transports people from street level to the top. The large fins that stretch out of each Sky-Terra end could be used for anything from office space to condos. Imagine living in this thing.

Now after looking at these neurons and reading the story, I was thinking the same thing you may be thinking. What about the people down below? Wouldn’t these huge towers block out the sun and create a shaded city, kind of like what Mr. Burns tried to do in The Simpsons? Borek-Clement said there would be holes in the flat top to allow light to beam through, but that still makes no sense because the majority of the light at street level would be blocked out except for randomly placed sunlight beams coming from 1,600 feet above.

The idea needs some work, perhaps that’s why, as cool as it is, it didn’t crack the top eighteen at the eVolo Skyscraper Competition.

Check out the eVolo website for the winners and mentions. Click on 09 Competition winners and make sure to take a look at the designs by Nicola and Adelaide Marchi (second place), Stefan Shaw and John Dent (mention), Park Ju Sin and Lee Min Cheol (mention) and Wei Wei and Luping Yuan (mention).

About The Author

Sachin Seth is the Blast Magazine world news reporter. He writes the Terra blog. You can visit his website at http://sachinseth.com or follow him on twitter @sachinseth

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