Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid1

Randall Kesselring

David Slivka

ISEN 689-602: Systems Thinking and Analysis

Problem Situation• Tokyo, Japan is the world’s most populous metropolitan

area with an estimated 35 million residents in the Greater Tokyo Area. In short, this city is overcrowded and land-locked with no available land for expansion. In addition to relieving the stress of overpopulation, the city needs means of alleviating the need for dependency on fossil fuels and nuclear power by incorporating the latest in eco-friendly energy generating technology. It is essential to design a system with will help alleviate the overpopulation issue, one which is self-sustaining through its use of eco-friendly means of energy production.

NYCTokyo Sample subway maps

Customer Requirements

• Shall provide housing for ¾ million people

• Must incorporate state of the art office buildings, residential, and other commercial facilities.

• Will provide all the comforts/services of a typical city

• Shall be nearly self-sustaining for its energy needs

• Must seamlessly be linked to the greater Tokyo area through public mass transit systems

NODES

Use Case Diagram

PIERS

TRUSSES

TRANSIT

BUILDINGS

POWER

COMMUTERS

RESIDENTS

ENVIRONMENT

GREATER TOKYO

Predecessor Systems

• Great Pyramids

• Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada

Derived Requirements

• Open structured pyramid

• Specialized concrete

• Nano-carbon tubing

• Eco-friendly energy sources– Photovoltaic film– Harness ocean currents– Algae powered fuel cells

Concept Exploration

• Self Supporting structure

• 36 large supporting piers

• “Dangling” skyscrapers

• Mass transit support system

• Energy requirements

• Cause for concern

Questions?

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimizu_Mega-City_Pyramid and http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/engineering/pyramidcity/interactive/interactive.html