14 DAY TRIAL // We've all heard about Eco cities and how we could combine the best of human engineering with natural plant and animal life. Underwater environments haven't been tackled much though.
Oh, there have been plans for artificial islands, indeed some have even been created, with cities on top.
But submarine settlements still don't really exist, unless particularly oversized undersea aquarium levels count.
Knowing just how much real estate exists beneath the seas and oceans, Shimizu Corporation set about creating an undersea city concept.
After much time of planning and brainstorming, they came up with the idea of winding spires which go all the way from the sea floor to the surface, with one, large sphere near the top.
Thus, the city would actually be more or less spherical, only with a spiral “frame” holding it in place, like a really awesome anchor.
Japanese universities and other national agencies have been working with Shimizu on this idea, so odds are really high that it will come to fruition. Especially since submarine cities could help alleviate normal environmental problems.
The city's structure could even be designed in such a way that carbon pollution generated by land-based power sources could be sent to the sea floor, where they would be consumed by microorganisms and converted into methane gas.
This methane, along with other sea floor resources, would then be harvested for the city's own use.
The current underwater city (called Ocean Spiral Project for now) project includes 75 stories and would hold acquaculture tanks on the bottom of the sphere at the top, to produce food.
The reason 3D printing is being considered for the project is simple: the whole thing has to be built underwater, and that rules out pretty much every conventional method. Whether or not we'll ever see it happening depends on how willing authorities turn out to be about spending the needed $26 billion / €22 billion.
