SKYSCRAPERS TO THWART ARMAGEDDON

A pair of Ukrainians – Victor Kopieikin and Pavlo Zabotin – watched the 2011 tsunami ravage Japan and determined that with all of the weather-related changes coming to planet Earth, they needed to design “a complex system of ocean-based skyscrapers that would house the country's population while also protecting the island from almost any type of natural disaster.”

Thus, they created the "Citadel Skyscraper," awarded an honorable mention in the eVolo competition. The skyscrapers consist of three key elements: 1) They are designed to withstand waves 50 meters high, 2) they would be erected to create a barrier a mile or so off-shore and 3) have enough features and charm to attract tens-of-thousands of people to “relocate into these self-contained Citadels.”

“The prototypical skyscraper for this project has a metal frame; its foundation is poured at a depth of 1,200 meters and it reaches 500 meters into the sky. By burying the structure so far into the earth, it is protected from seismic activity (earthquakes up to a magnitude 11), waves (up to 40 feet tall) and man-made disasters (such as the explosion of atomic weapons).

“A system of bars forming a single, one-piece shield around the building serves as its protection system. They are energetically self-sustaining, using wave power for energy generation, and they have live fish tanks to provide food for residents.”

On the plus side, Kopieikin and Zabotin aren’t proposing the skyscraper concept to thwart avenging angels, attacking aliens, rogue planets, solar flares or other mythological nonsense.

On the negative side, while it all sounds just peachy, I can’t help but wonder if tens-of-thousands of people will be willing to trust their very survival to a skyscraper jutting out of the ocean floor?  Let’s face it, if one topples, it could create a domino effect and, oops!, there goes the neighborhood.