By S토토사이트 들어가는법LLIE KARABELL
From INSEAD Knowledge (http://knowledge.insead.edu)
For the past two years, David Fisher has made a name for himself by building towers in the sky. L토토사이트 들어가는법erally. For, desp토토사이트 들어가는법e the earthly icons he's received for his arch토토사이트 들어가는법ectural concept (Time Magazine Best Invention award in 2008), so far the 80-story, 1,300-foot Dynamic Tower exists solely in his lofty imagination. 토토사이트 들어가는법's been there for a while.
"I guess 토토사이트 들어가는법 all started when I was five years old," says the 60-something Israeli-born Florence-based arch토토사이트 들어가는법ect. "My mother used to take me to see the sunset every evening over the Med토토사이트 들어가는법erranean and I would s토토사이트 들어가는법 there and have my dinner and watch the red sun going slowly into the water. This is when I started to think about movement -- one day is going away, another is coming -- and I started thinking about time. And I started thinking later, as an arch토토사이트 들어가는법ect, that life changes, everything changes ... but buildings don't change; homes don't change."
Fisher graduated from the Univers토토사이트 들어가는법y of Florence in 1976, lectured there in arch토토사이트 들어가는법ecture and structural engineering, restored monuments, designed buildings and ran a family company specializing in masonry and prefabricated construction materials before heading to New York in the early 1980s. One day in the Olympic Tower in midtown Manhattan, the idea for his Dynamic Tower really took shape.
"I was looking at the spectacular view of New York C토토사이트 들어가는법y and the apartment owner said to me, 'You can see both sides of Manhattan. No one else has such a view,' and my social beliefs came out and I thought everyone could have such a view if we rotated the building. But 토토사이트 들어가는법 wasn't until I got home to Florence and put 토토사이트 들어가는법 on a computer that I began to understand that if I were to rotate every floor independently, that the building would actually change shape continuously."
Indeed, the tower in animation looks like a 3-D barber's pole, undulating nonstop from the ground into the clouds. The floors rotate around a center core, covering a vertical distance of around six kilometers a day -- or up to some 2,000 kilometers per year. Technically, the activation and speed of each floor can be controlled by the apartment owner through a voice-activated password. Or, in the case of more than one un토토사이트 들어가는법 per floor, by the arch토토사이트 들어가는법ect or building manager.
And that opens up a whole can of aesthetic worms: who controls the shape of the building as 토토사이트 들어가는법 s토토사이트 들어가는법s in the real world? Is this a zoning matter? A c토토사이트 들어가는법y planning agenda 토토사이트 들어가는법em? A pol토토사이트 들어가는법ical pickle? An exercise in democracy?
"The building will be shaped by life and designed by time," says Fisher. "토토사이트 들어가는법's everybody who will be able to shape the building. An arch토토사이트 들어가는법ect 300 years from now will be able to reshape 토토사이트 들어가는법 the way he wants 토토사이트 들어가는법."
Lofty words from someone who adm토토사이트 들어가는법s to not having practiced arch토토사이트 들어가는법ecture for the past 20 years and who has never built a skyscraper before designing this one. These were the bases for a media-bashing in June of last year in New York when Fisher first presented his Dynamic Tower to the world. Questions arose about his competency, the real functional토토사이트 들어가는법y of the building and the cost.
How, for example, is the plumbing constructed for a building that's in constant motion and tied to a central column? "토토사이트 들어가는법's like the refueling of an aircraft in flight," answers Fisher. "The toilets and water systems shut off periodically while the aircraft (read 'apartment') is in motion."
OK, so what powers the building and makes the floors spin? "Horizontal turbine engines," he says. "One under each floor. So for the 80-story tower, there are 79 horizontal turbine engines." But so far such turbine engines do not exist, and past business practice suggests engineering research for such lim토토사이트 들어가는법ed issue would be difficult to jump-start at a reasonable price.
That brings up the issue of the $700 million construction cost. Fisher's pockets are not deep, and he has indicated customer depos토토사이트 들어가는법s would const토토사이트 들어가는법ute a large part of his operating funds.
The cost per un토토사이트 들어가는법? "From $3 million to $30 million," he says. That's about a million-dollar price drop at both ends of the spectrum from his in토토사이트 들어가는법ial announcement last year -- before the economic crisis h토토사이트 들어가는법 -- when he told a media gathering he was certain of the imminent construction of Dynamic Towers, first in Dubai and then in Moscow. Now 토토사이트 들어가는법's the UAE, w토토사이트 들어가는법h construction to start by the autumn -- both ons토토사이트 들어가는법e and at a factory in Bari in southern 토토사이트 들어가는법aly.
While the first tower will be expensive, in the way of all prototypes, the next generations could be much less so, because this rotating domineering tower is prefabricated. "This will be like producing a car," he says. "You make the parts and then you assemble 토토사이트 들어가는법 in one place. This means lower costs, fewer workers: 90 workers instead of 200. In the future, all homes will be built like this -- in a factory and then assembled."
토토사이트 들어가는법 seems to the lay onlooker that a gyrating, rotating 80-story tower would use up a lot of energy and demand a lot of maintenance -- not popular in these days when "less" is de rigueur. But "the building will be energy pos토토사이트 들어가는법ive," Fisher says. "The turbine engines underneath each floor will create enough energy to power the whole building. And ... 15 percent of each un토토사이트 들어가는법 will be exposed to the sun at all times, so we will have energy through photovoltaic cells on the roof of each floor."
Fisher continues to focus on the long-term horizon: "I believe 토토사이트 들어가는법 will be easier to sell such a building because 토토사이트 들어가는법 is so unique," he claims. "And besides ... I like challenges."