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)
