“Next Tokyo 2045” imagines a multi-faceted, mega-city built to withstand climate change and natural disasters.
The study includes a series of high density eco-district clusters built on an archipelago development designed to accommodate half a million occupants, as an exploration in the resilience of Tokyo Bay and the surrounding low-elevation coastal zones.
The site employs a number of sustainable resource strategies, starting with hexagonal infrastructure rings that serve to disrupt wave action intensity, while breakwater bars and operable floodgates defend the development in times of extreme storm surges. Captured kinetic energy from trains running across the bay, photovoltaic cells to generate solar electricity, and wind power harnessed through micro turbines strategically placed at high elevations in the mile-high tower, all serve as clean energy sources. The site’s largest infrastructural rings collect saline bay water in order to grow algae to provide both a renewable and efficient clean fuel source. The tall towers’ multiple facades integrate agriculture while community gardens and rooftop farms provide extra sources of food production, creating a secure and sustainable supply.
The keystone of this high density development is its proposed “Sky Mile Tower”, reaching over 1,600m into the sky, twice the height of the world’s current tallest building. The Sky Mile Tower provides a contemporary and elegant solution to concerns of environmental threat and urban sprawl through a focus on efficiency, safety, sustainability, and reliability. The tower forms a vertical network of residential communities connected by multi-level sky lobbies, offering a host of amenities including hotels, gyms, libraries, and clinics for the public and the building’s 55,000 occupants.
Status: Unbuilt
Location: Tokyo, JP
Firm Role: Architect
