Have you ever watched the Discovery Channel and marveled at the pyramids of ancient Egypt? We all have at one point or another. Imagine living in a pyramid. Sure the ancient pyramids might not be that comfortable given the walls are all made of stone, there is little ventilation and no modern amenities. Now imagine living in a modern pyramid. Can&;t picture it? Well the blue print has already been drawn up and we are about to explore the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid.

The Shimizu Mega-City is a pyramid proposed to be built over Tokyo Bay in Japan. The sheer size of the structure would dwarf all other structures at a size 14X larger than the great pyramid of Giza. It would be the largest man-made object in the world and hold 750,000 people (alleviating some of the crowding issues in Tokyo). In fact, the pyramid is so large it cannot be built with currently available materials due to their weight. The design is contingent on the future availability of strong, lightweight carbon nanotube technology.

The building would house it&;s own micro society. Included would be 240,000 housing units (enough for the 750,000 population). A large area of space would be allocated to offices and commercial facilities, which would provide employment for the community&;s population. The residence and businesses would be powered by a portfolio of renewable energy technologies including: solar PV film, wind power, and even algae/pond scum.

So how would you get around in a city hovering over the ocean shaped like a pyramid with no streets? Easy: accelerating walkways, inclined elevators, and a rapid transit system via automated pods.

This is a radical idea and isn&;t even close to being implemented. (We don&;t have the physical materials to build this structure; they haven&;t been invented yet.) But no great idea in the past seemed achievable when it was first dreamed up. The light bulb had 1000 failures before it had a single success. But that one success was all we needed to change the world as we know it.

So what makes this pyramid city so great?

• It provides clean rapid mobility for its citizens.
• The city will be better protected from tsunamis than modern structures being built today.
• It helps to solve the high prices for land in Tokyo (your living over water).

And the downside…

• If one truss fails 750,000 people crash into the sea… enough said.

What do you think about this super structure? Do the benefits outweigh the negatives? Are humans capable of creating such an amazing structure? Let us know in the comments below.

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Photo Credit: Wikipedia