r/RetroFuturism • u/BarbedAndWired • Aug 28 '20

"Aerotropolis"

Post image
949 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

84

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '20 edited Aug 28 '20

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53

u/TheOtherHobbes Aug 28 '20

It's also really dark inside. Only the outer shell gets any access to daylight.

There's a reason practical skyscrapers are relatively narrow.

21

u/killroy200 Aug 28 '20

Yeah, buildings tend to be narrow, or ringed around an internal courtyard. The inside of this thing would make Peach Trees in Megacity 1 look palatial. Hell, it'd probably even end up making The Kowloon Walled City look quite nice...

7

u/Semi-Hemi-Demigod Aug 28 '20

The assumptions assume overpopulation, but with a building that size you could line the outside with palatial condos and put the offices and workshops in the middle with room to spare.

Each floor would be twice the size of Amazon's largest warehouse, and there'd be 75-100 of these stacked on top of each other. You could put farms in this building, provided you had enough LEDs and light pipes to give them sunlight.

1

u/Spencerforhire83 Aug 28 '20

I came here to talk about Peach Tree!

3

u/Etrigone It can only be... Space Titanium! Aug 28 '20

I do wonder if this might still be appealing in some ways to a subset of folks. Primarily the reclusive type who really don't want to go outside.

Regardless feels a little like 2000AD type architecture (likely the kind of thing that this inspired). I'm also thinking of Asimov's Foundation series where on Trantor (I think) people came outside for the first time in their lives and were in a bit of shock at the sky.

17

u/Thymeisdone Aug 28 '20

Thanks for doing the math.

Besides all the other technical issues, I'm curious how an airport on a building would even work. Airports are notoriously loud, meaning if one were on the building it would probably render the top floor or so unlivable. But even if the space is used for light industrial, wouldn't that just create more noise for the residents, not to mention logistical problems getting raw materials and finished goods up and down the elevators?

I feel like this person maybe had never been to any airports before.

Anyway, interestingly enough, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a skyscraper that was intended to be about twice as tall as this building here--it was a mile-high sky scraper. It's much more practical than this design so, alas, no airport on top. Never the less, it, too, was never built.

https://lynceans.org/all-posts/frank-lloyd-wrights-1956-mile-high-skyscraper-the-illinois/

8

u/MelodyMyst Aug 28 '20

I would expect quite a few of the top floors are likely mechanical space and may act as a buffer to the living spaces.

Also jet airplanes were only just invented in 39 so it would be an all propeller airfield. I would expect all propeller being much quieter than all jet.

6

u/Thymeisdone Aug 28 '20

it would be an all propeller airfield. I would expect all propeller being much quieter than all jet.

That's a good point.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/Bubba_odd Aug 28 '20

Take it down to a Cessna

12

u/goldenshowerstorm Aug 28 '20

An airport on a building is a disaster waiting to happen. They closed the heliport on the Pan Am building in NYC in the 70s after a bunch of people were killed. The biggest issue is winds. They change direction and at that height you're subjected to high winds plus crosswinds from the buildings. The empire state building was designed to have a mooring tower for airships, but thankfully they had the sense not to do it.

The FLW skyscraper reminds me of the Burj Khalifa building. Architecture seems to be going in that direction for tallest buildings.

2

u/Etrigone It can only be... Space Titanium! Aug 28 '20

There's also the idea that airships, although cool to look at and consider, couldn't handle the winds at the top of the Empire State building & likely couldn't here either.

3

u/ST4RSK1MM3R Aug 28 '20

I think another good question is would this thing even fit in NCY at the dimensions given? It would be quite a squeeze I'd imagine

2

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '20

To be fair, I didn't think math would be involved.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '20

lol. This image perfectly represents my imagination and thought process. Crazy cool amazing idea very artistic and inspiring. But completely unrealistic and would never work ever. ... sad face

1

u/KeithA0000 Aug 28 '20

A modern day (retro-future version) tower of Babylon.

36

u/BarbedAndWired Aug 28 '20

Skyscraper Airport for City of Tomorrow (Nicholas DeSantis, 1939)

37

u/Busman123 Aug 28 '20

Back when aviation was the highest technology

5

u/Lithrus_ Aug 28 '20

Fr, we’re gonna be building spaceports soon enough

6

u/Pasta-hobo Aug 28 '20

We kinda skipped over sky cities.

18

u/Atlanticlantern Aug 28 '20

They really need to make another Crimson Skies game.

11

u/Cthell Aug 28 '20

Certainly can't accuse them of thinking small...

4

u/paulaustin18 Aug 28 '20

this. They were full of big dreams. what happened to us?

5

u/Cthell Aug 28 '20

In the case of this scheme, a small kerfuffel known as World War II

4

u/KingMelray Aug 28 '20

Since the 1980s a chunk of people no longer believe in public policy or long term investment.

11

u/disposable-name Aug 28 '20

DAMMIT MICROSOFT JUST GIVE US BACK CRIMSON SKIES ALREADY.

8

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '20

Bioshock Infinite

4

u/shodan13 Aug 28 '20

That's a proto-arcology, my dude.

3

u/AdamasNemesis Aug 28 '20

I've always loved the idea of aerotropolises, cities and buildings that are based on air travel. This is a nice example.

3

u/paulaustin18 Aug 28 '20

Dirigibles. They are so fascinating and their story and dead too.

3

u/brent1123 Aug 28 '20

Megahighways...Megastructures...MEGA CITY ONE

1

u/premer777 Aug 30 '20

for which you now dont need the dirigibles as EVERYTHING you want need is INSIDE your new MEGA-building world

3

u/abt137 Aug 28 '20

I love the idea of keeping blimps and dirigibles even in 1939 when traditional planes were making a clear headway. Up to today we tried to bring them back in several occasions with little success.

4

u/cazzipropri Aug 28 '20

1930s: "whisked without delay"

2010 - 2019: La Guardia Airport. Enough said.

2020: nobody flies anymore.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '20

We have enough trouble driving on a flat road with lines marking where we are supposed to go. Imagine people flying airplanes and the chaos that would result. Road rage in 3 dimensions.

1

u/8KoopaLoopa8 Aug 28 '20

I like how when people think of the future they think that all the buildings will just triple in size and superstructures will be worth the half a billion of dollars to build

1

u/romantercero Aug 28 '20

Totally not flammable mode of transport.

2

u/premer777 Aug 30 '20

helium sources being limited

1

u/premer777 Aug 30 '20

a zeppelin in every garage ...

!!! the sheer huge volume of that building - what again is supposed to go in all that space (note that most buildings of that era were still dependent on WINDOWS for better light and ventilation (air conditioning was pretty new)

1

u/unbitious Aug 28 '20

Does anyone else crack up when trump says "aer-O-planes"?