Vibrant planetary background

November 4, 2010

Water Scraper!

Oceans cover approximately 71% of the surface on Earth which greatly limits the amount of usable living areas on Earth. It is no surprise that ideas and designs of aquatic living quarters continuously spring up as necessity fuels inventions. Although this design is limited on specifics and contains flaws that hampers its viability, it is an excellent platform for discussion on the respective subject.

The Water Scraper was designed by Sarly Adre Bun Sarkum for the eVolo 2010 Skyscraper Competition. Although this skyscraper variant did not win the competition, it received special mention along with the excellent exposure.


The structure is theoretically kept upright through a system of ballast tanks, balancing tanks and tentacles. More specifically, the tanks are placed at the lowest levels of the structure where it would have the greatest balancing effect. The tentacles aid in balancing the building by constantly moving with the rhythm of the water. As mentioned, the multifunctional tentacles also provide a home for fauna and collect kinetic energy.

In reality however, I am still expecting the upright position of this structure to be one of the trickiest challenge to this design especially when there is turbulent weather. Keeping the surface from getting wiped out by large waves alone seems improbable.


This project is designed to be completely self sustaining with eco-friendly technologies. Food is produced through farming, aquaculture, and hydroponic techniques while energy is generated through wave, wind, current, solar, and bio.

Ultimately, even this feature would most likely need more details and work in order to be realistic. Most of the visible light spectrum is already absorbed by the 10 meter depth and greater abundances of particles in the water decreases the light penetration further. If the building requires power to lights 24/7, that would greatly reduce its sustainability. There would also be a need for a system to avoid collision with land or any other floating variants.

(Source via eVolo)

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love big architectural projects like this. They're so delightfully ambitious.

George said...

I would seriously live on one of those, it would be pretty crazy.. The fishing would be great I bet :)

Dan said...

Holy crap dude that is amazing! Wow, I have never thought of that before. Dang, I would totally live in there if I could work from there.
wow, really sweet idea. Gotta tell my friends

Anonfourtwenty said...

Thats an awesome concept, I would love to live in one of those!

Anonymous said...

concept and visuals are fantastic

Frank said...

Holy shit, that thing is fucking AWESOME !!

David Davidson said...

Bloody hell this is brilliant. Though you're right about the storm, seriously, that thing looks fragile and any storm would do considerable damage.

I wonder what would happen if a whale ran into it...

anon1337 said...

That#d be awesome. I just want a huge underwater city (Rapture)

Skimbosh said...

Theoretically, a shark could come smashing through your living room window.
Great concept, but I'll pass.

Anonymous said...

holy shit amazing find friend, and yet another interesting post. frankly this is the first i have ever heard of this...imagine the possibilities if it were to come to fruition

Nerd Life said...

I would want to live on one of these artificial floating islands

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