Digital City Briefs - Future Habitats

The Future of Glass and Digital Connectivity

A Daylight Window of the Future

2012-08-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

The control of daylight for energy efficiency, lighting as well as interior comfort is an important area of research. Here is a world of possibilities according to Phillips.

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A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley

A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley

The Future of Glass and Digital Connectivity

2012-08-14T14:23:00.002-07:00

What does the future of glass and digital connectivity look like? Here is a brief glimpse into the future by Corning.

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A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley

Alien Landscape on Earth

2012-06-30T17:52:00.004-07:00

Where were the films such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and The Voyage Home filmed?

Vasquez Rocks County Park located just North of Santa Clarita in California provides the breathtaking landscapes for these films. The park has also been used for Hollywood comedy films such as the Flintstones, Little Miss Sunshine and the Blazing saddles.

Named after an outlaw called Tiburcio Vasquez, who took refuge at this location in the 1870s, Vasquez Rocks resulted from ancient geological activity associated with the San Andreas Fault.

Watch a video: "Sunrise over Vasquez Rocks Natural Area"

Reference: Vasquez Rocks County Park
For images of Vasquez Park: Kay’s Photoblog

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A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley

The Space Lab

2012-06-30T17:46:00.002-07:00

Spacelab is developed on a modular basis and can be varied to meet specific mission requirements. Its four principal components are the pressurized module, which contains a laboratory with a shirt-sleeve working environment; one or more open pallets that expose materials and equipment to space; a tunnel to gain access to the module; and an instrument pointing subsystem. Spacelab is not deployed free of the orbiter.

The space station is a working laboratory orbiting 240 miles above the Earth and is home to an international crew. The station has more than 15,000 cubic feet of habitable volume, which includes more room than a conventional three-bedroom house. The station provides a laboratory complex where gravity, a fundamental force on Earth, is virtually eliminated for extended periods. The ability to control the variable of gravity in experiments creates unimaginable research possibilities.

The station is vital to human exploration. It is where we are learning how to combat the physiological effects of being in space for long periods. The space station is our test bed for technologies and our decision-making processes when things go as planned and when they don't. It is important to learn and test these things 240 miles up rather than encountering them 240,000 miles away while on the way to Mars or beyond.

A Live view of earth from the Space Station.

Photo credit and reference: NASA

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A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley

Dholavira - A Futuristic Metropolis of the Harappan Era

2012-06-30T17:30:00.001-07:00

Dholavira is one of five largest Harappan cities discovered in the Indian subcontinent. It dates back from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The city is remarkable for its exquisite planning, monumental structures, aesthetic architecture, amazing water harvesting system and a variety in funerary architecture. Archaeologists have also discovered large signs and inscriptions engraved on large stone slabs. The area is surrounded by the desert of Kachchh. The cityscape consists of a citadel, a middle town and a lower town. There are also two stadiums and a series of reservoirs inside the fortified area. Seventeen gates, all built in the fortification walls with equally interesting add-on components, have been exposed so far. In all, certainly in the north gate, there was a door with double leaves within a massive frame with a sill of limestone at either end of the deep passageway. At each end, there were, perhaps, two doors, one above another as this gate seems to be a double-storied construction. Very likely, the north gate and also the east gate inter alia served the purpose of royal procession on occasions and the little stadium had a role in that too.

The other area in which the Harappans of Dholavira excelled spectacularly pertained to water harvesting with the aid of dams, drain, reservoirs and storm water management which eloquently speak of tremendous engineering skill of the builders.

The citadel has yielded an intricate network of storm water drains, all connected to an arterial one and furnished with slopes, steps, cascades, manholes (air ducts / water relief ducts), paved flooring and capstones. The main drains were high enough for a tall man to walk through easily. The rainwater collected through these drains was stored in yet another reservoir that was carved out in the western half of the area.

A brief video

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A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley

Life in 2050

2012-06-30T17:21:00.002-07:00

Here is a video on Life in 2050 according to Ulrich Eberl:

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A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley

2012-06-30T17:08:00.001-07:00

A Danish architectural firm has proposed a new entrance and a major highway junction for Stockholm. The proposal includes a sculpted bowl-shaped valley that would connect adjacent neighborhoods with smart, pedestrian oriented design. It would mark a new entrance portal for Stockholm. The excavated soil will be used to create a sloping valley full of natural vegetation, wetlands and landscaped areas to reduce noise and air pollution. The self-sustaining sphere will be covered by solar panels, which would power the sphere itself as well as 235 houses. The bottom of the sphere will have mirrors to provide 180-degrees view to the drivers.

Reference and Photo: Courtesy Dailey, Jessica, BIG Unveils Energy Valley With Floating Solar Sphere for Stockholm, Inhabitat.com, March 22, 2011

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Carbon Neutral Island in Azerbaijan

2012-06-24T15:43:00.000-07:00

A Danish architectural firm has proposed a carbon neutral eco island in the bay of Baku in Azerbaijan. The proposed scheme is an attempt to show that a community can strive on wind and solar power. The design is based on the seven peaks of Azerbaijan and its natural eco system. They will constitute seven major structures which would be connected by trails, greenbelts and the coastline.

The project will utilize heat pumps, photovoltaic cells on exteriors, desalination plant for potable water and off-shore wind farms on existing oil rigs to generate energy. “Zira Island is less of a city and more or a resort, but it still holds the same promises of sustainability and will use the sun, wind and water to heat and power the island.”

Reference: Meinhold, Bridgette, Azerbaijan’s Carbon Neutral Zira Island, Inhabitat.com and Beingdevelopment.com.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Being Design/Development

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Thomas More’s Utopia

Floating Structures of the Future

2012-06-24T15:41:00.001-07:00

Here is a video on the Floating Structures:

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A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley

Thomas More’s Utopia

Self-erecting Structures on Venus

2012-06-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a video on the Venus Project:

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A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley
Carbon Neutral Island in Azerbaijan
Floating Structures of the Future
MIT's Mars Homestead Project

MIT's Mars Homestead Project

2012-06-24T15:36:00.000-07:00

The journey to Mars will take seven months. The space travelers will be in a space ship that will be as big as a minivan during those seven months. They would be anxious to move out into a comfortable home once they arrive on Mars. In order to simulate Martian experience, an organization known as the Mars Society has already constructed a prototype Martian city on Devon Island in Canada. It is known as the Flashline Arctic Research Station. You can explore the Martian landscape at ExploreMarsNow.org.

MIT's Mars Homestead Project is an ambitious undertaking with its designs for high-tech and locally-fabricated homes on Mars. Each home will be outfitted with amenities such as a garden, library, greenhouse, and private parking space. All homes will be made locally, using materials occurring naturally in the atmosphere and soil. The homes could also be built into the Martian hillsides, which would be accessible through multiple airlocks. The airlocks, in tandem with reinforced building materials, will prevent explosive pressure leaks: “Materials such as brick and stone will have to be lined or sealed with plastic or fiberglass, and sufficiently reinforced with soil or other materials to prevent the buildings from exploding”.

Reference: Mark Baard, “Builders in a Strange Land,” 18 June 2004, Wired online.

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A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley

Thomas More’s Utopia

Thomas More’s Utopia

2012-06-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

First published in 1516, Saint Thomas More's Utopia is one of the most important works of European humanism. Through the voice of a mysterious traveler, More describes an utopian city-state which was governed by reason. More dwells on many important issues such as religious pluralism, women's rights, state-sponsored education, colonialism, and justified warfare. The idea of "Utopia" remains timeless nearly five centuries after it was written. This book is a foundational text in philosophy and political theory.

Utopia may mean a "good place" or "no place." Utopia is an important Renaissance work because it imagines a way to redesign human culture. This is in contrast to medieval thinkers, who assumed that most human innovations were flawed due to our fallen intellects (Genesis).

A Video on Utopia

Illustration Credit: Utopia (book)

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A Floating Solar Sphere Overlooking an Energy valley