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May 21, 2007
Helix Skyscaper
Riddle me this, what takes the form of a transverse wave? A Helix! Okay now what if we applied that shape to a building? What would it look like? How would it function?
It's an interesting design question that could cause in paradigm shift in building design. The degree of incline would be so slight, people inside would have no idea they were moving from floor to floor. It would probably feel like a really long circular hallway. This design characteristic would eliminate the need for stairs. The building would be 100% wheelchair friendly since it's just a rising slope. Structural rigidity would be improved since it's just a corridor wrapped around a central core but there are some problems with this design.
The taller you build, the longer it takes for someone to get to the top. Sure you could build an elevator but since there are no defined floors, elevators would have to be redesigned. An alternative is to use moving walkways but that would still be a slow climb to the top. The second problem is levelness. What happens if I drop a ball. Even at a slight 14º grade, the ball would roll and provided there are no obsticles, keep rolling. That pretty much applies to anything with wheels.
However there is a huge advantage in using a Helix. The shape inherently holds a lot of volume without much mass. That's why our DNA strands are helices. Following DNA as an example you could place two helices into a building that intertwine. They would never touch and the overall mass of the building would stay the same. Imagine that? Apple and Microsoft could exist in the same building without ever seeing each other.
via absidea
Posted by tranism at 1:40 PM | Permalink
Comments
That sounds cool. Elevators seem like they would still work - the floor height remains the same - the elevator is comeing to the same place at each "floor," so it wouldn't be a biggie.
However, the grade of incline would be steeper near the core - assuming the building is the same height in the center as it is at the outer perimeter. The distance available to spread out the incline is much greater near the outside windows, making the ramp noticeably steeper neat the core. I suppose it depends on how wide the core is.
Another nice thing - it's *really* easy for the IT people to fix things / run new cable - just make the dividing space between floors accessible from the core.
Posted by: Alex at May 21, 2007 2:09 PM
You could do away with elevators and have a mass transit system built right into the building, since "up" would be pretty much the same thing as "forward". It would carry a lot more people at once, too.
Posted by: Erik at May 21, 2007 6:37 PM
i love this!
though it's totally silly now imagine the elevator spinning up the helix like a threaded screw - could stop anywhere you want... would be a fun ride :-)
Posted by: emh at May 22, 2007 8:03 AM
what about the rooms in the building, would they remain level? staggered up the helix...
someone needs to render this.
Posted by: emh at May 22, 2007 8:06 AM
Never happen, fire. You would have to create a wall in which all the doors remain shut every "floor".
Posted by: j at May 22, 2007 9:00 AM
the new national art musuem in beijing has a partial design like this for their ancient art gallery
Posted by: macha88 at May 24, 2007 3:35 PM
Well, a normal elevator could work, even better would be to work with 4 elevators (one for the north/south/east/west side of the building). Sure you couldn't use a regular elevator, as the height of each level isn't standard, but this is not that hard to overcome.
Also, 14° isn't a slight slope, that's a 24% slope. I one does a little math, one can find the actual slope: about a 5°. How one calculates this: let's consider the central core to have a diameter of 10 meter (or a 5 m radius), which I find reasonable to fit in some wiring, structural support and an elevator eventually. Next, let's say each level has to have a height of 2.5 meter. Some simple trigonometry shows:
the length along the central code (following the horizontal): 2*pi*(10m/2)
the height: 2.5 meter, so if one wraps a large triangle whose hypotenuse is the actual floor around this core, one can calculate the angle of the slope: tan a = 2.5/(2*pi*5m), thus a = atan 1/4*pi = 4° (approximately).
But indeed, the safety aspect isn't negligible: a fire will immediately spread, things will roll down when dropped. Although, the latter can be stopped by using some kind of labyrinth of hallways (as an object will only roll down and not sideways). Eventually I picture just the main core with an elevator (and if done right, perhaps a bit larger than 10 meter in diameter, a bit more and one could also put in restrooms, closets so the actual building would only consist of offices. Between each one or two levels a big wall. This wall is needed for security but also for privacy and rest (imagine a giant call center where hundreds of people sit in the same room, cubicles won't stop the sound, only a decent wall will).
And eventually, to level the rooms, one could use these walls: if one leveled each room, instead of trying to level a whole building. The only downside is that the larger a room, the more space is lost (and the higher each level has to become).
Posted by: Egon at August 21, 2007 11:51 AM