Underwater Skyscraper is a Self-

Sufficient City at Sea

ARCHITECTURE

 02/15/2011
 under Architecture, Environment, Floating Houses, Green Building, Water Issues
 21 Comments
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 Flip

by Mike Chino
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Ocean levels are rising around the globe, so rather than tethering our buildings to the sinking
shoreline why not suit them for a life at sea? That’s the approach behind the Water-Scraper,
a futuristic self-sufficient floating city. A special mention in the eVolo Skyscraper
Competition, the design expands the concept of a floating island into a full-
fledged underwater skyscraper that harvests renewable energy and grows its own food.

Touted as a self-sufficent floating city, Sarly Adre Bin Sarkum’s Water-Scraper utilizes a
variety of green technologies. It generates its own electricity using wave, wind, and solar
power and it produces its own food through farming, aquaculture,
and hydroponic techniques. The surface of the submerged skyscraper sustains a small forest,
while the lower levels contain spaces for its inhabitants to live and work. The building is kept
upright using a system of ballasts aided by a set of squid-like tentacles that generate kinetic
energy.
The architects “envision a future where land as a resource will be scarce; it is only natural
progression that we create our own. Approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface is ocean,
even more if climate change has its way, hence it is only natural progression that we will
populate the seas someday.” As anyone who has seen Waterworld will attest, it’s a grim
future indeed — which is why it’s essential that we do what we can to stem the course of the
world’s rising tides.
+ Water-Scraper
+ eVolo 2010 Skyscraper Competition