I'm an A-Level student (UK) doing an Extended Project over the summer and I've chosen to investigate the idea of arcologies.
I'm not sure how familiar the average architect is with arcologies but an arcology is essentially a city, completely contained in one building , and is completely self sufficient (or close enough) in terms of power supply, waste management, food production etc.
I am new to Architecture and hope to study it (or civil engineering) in the future and so I need to do a large amount of research as part of the project.
Can you recommend some books/textbooks that I could read to introduce me to things like sustainable building, basic construction techniques (for skyscrapers), environmental concerns with large buildings, small scale transport systems, integrating vegetation with architecture, that sort of thing.
Beautiful book, amazing drawings and ideas way ahead of their time. Its wonderful, well worth the USD 100 price of admission.
If you want to get really down to earth with this though, your going to have a hard time, as most superstructures of the acological type on the boards right now use more bespoke engineering solutions, like welded steel mega columns, or things that haven't been field tested yet, like carbon nano-tubes. If you're going to investigate arcologies though, I'd start with the conceptual stuff as laid-out by Soleri (there are others who've done related work but i can't think of them off the top of my head). Arcologies can be way more than just a really big skyscraper poking out of an urban downtown. Arcosanti, as small as it currently is, is the only "real" arcology as defined by Soleri in existance right now and it is a perpetual work in progress.
I spent a week out in Arcosanti, AZ with a mix of architecture geeks and environmental hippies working on Soleri's prototype arcology. I would describe it as more of a laboratory than an actual arcology though. I don't think it's quite reached critical mass yet.
Reading materials for a project on Arcologies...
I'm an A-Level student (UK) doing an Extended Project over the summer and I've chosen to investigate the idea of arcologies.
I'm not sure how familiar the average architect is with arcologies but an arcology is essentially a city, completely contained in one building , and is completely self sufficient (or close enough) in terms of power supply, waste management, food production etc.
For a lengthier explanation you can go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcology
I am new to Architecture and hope to study it (or civil engineering) in the future and so I need to do a large amount of research as part of the project.
Can you recommend some books/textbooks that I could read to introduce me to things like sustainable building, basic construction techniques (for skyscrapers), environmental concerns with large buildings, small scale transport systems, integrating vegetation with architecture, that sort of thing.
Much appreciated.
Paolo Soleri literrally wrote the book on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Arcology-City-Image-Paolo-Soleri/dp/0927015153.
Beautiful book, amazing drawings and ideas way ahead of their time. Its wonderful, well worth the USD 100 price of admission.
If you want to get really down to earth with this though, your going to have a hard time, as most superstructures of the acological type on the boards right now use more bespoke engineering solutions, like welded steel mega columns, or things that haven't been field tested yet, like carbon nano-tubes. If you're going to investigate arcologies though, I'd start with the conceptual stuff as laid-out by Soleri (there are others who've done related work but i can't think of them off the top of my head). Arcologies can be way more than just a really big skyscraper poking out of an urban downtown. Arcosanti, as small as it currently is, is the only "real" arcology as defined by Soleri in existance right now and it is a perpetual work in progress.
in b4 sim city 2000 reference
I spent a week out in Arcosanti, AZ with a mix of architecture geeks and environmental hippies working on Soleri's prototype arcology. I would describe it as more of a laboratory than an actual arcology though. I don't think it's quite reached critical mass yet.
http://www.arcosanti.org/theory/arcology/main.html
Anyway, Soleri has written some books on the subject.
http://www.arcosanti.org/arcoCart/viewCatalog.jsp?category=Books
Not sure who else has written on the concept, I'm no expert.
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