How The Jetsons inspired a 3-mile-high super tall
Engineers Arcon say the materials and technology to build this future cityscape already exist
Come 2062, skyscrapers three miles high could be a reality, according to a global technology, engineering and advanced manufacturing company. Arconic’s super-high-rise vision is a slender structure that reaches into and above the clouds. “There’s no limit to how tall we’re going to make the showcase buildings,” says futurist Kevin Kelly.
The tower was imagined by a collection of key Arconic engineers as part of the company’s forward-looking campaign, The Jetsons. The sci-fi cartoon series, which launched in 1962 and was set 100 years into the future, was the spring board for the firm’s imaginings.
For its ‘future of cityscapes’, Arconic’s vision combines futuristic building techniques, smart materials and a need for greenery. This last is satisfied by 3D printed building and construction materials, which “enable more organic shapes, inspired by nature”, says the firm. Despite its extreme appearance, Arconic claims that the tower could be built from materials that are either already available or are in development.
So its façade would have a self-cleaning coating technology, provided by Arconic. And the motorized windows would double as glass balconies at the press of a button – again, another Arconic product that is already on the market. Thomas Frey, futurist at the think-tank the DaVinci Institute, added, “We’re going to have lots of free-form structures that are unlike anything we have today.”
While it’s fun to think about future possibilities it's kind of difficult to see how a such a tall building with such bijou floor plates could be practicable. However, for more tall tales of a more built nature check out our very real architecture offerings in the store.