From the Ancient Wonders of the world to modern day skyscrapers and monuments, the human race has been preoccupied with building enormous edifices. This preoccupation with erecting "god-like" structures has been passed from one civilization to another, much like the folklore of our ancestors. Though the technologies used to build the Pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge may be lost to modern science, mankind is persevering to create new architectural wonders such as: the Millennium Tower a hundred and seventy story vertical city in Hong Kong, the Gibraltar Bridge connecting Europe and Africa, and the Freedom Ship, an enormous floating city.

Are we dreaming too big, is there a limit to this so-called "mine's bigger than yours" mentality that seems to inspire modern marvels? Will science fiction become reality?

Is all this really necessary, have we truly run out of living space to justify the funding of these so-called "impossible" projects?

Will our modern marvels withstand the elements and the most destructive force of nature, time?

Some ancient large buildings were made specifically to last "for ever", to secure a pharoah's place in history for example. They were very big on eternity.

Large buildings these days are not a matter of "mine is bigger than yours". They are a matter of efficiency of space. You can either make a tall building on a small bit of real estate, or you can be a complete moron and buy ten square blocks in the middle of the city and make a very low building. People who talk of modern skyscrapers being phallic symbols and ego-trips are, to be blunt, morons. And these are not supposed to last for ever.

While building up, in cities, is more space efficent than building out I do not believe this is the lone motivator. I think the mine-is bigger-than-yours mentality is a good explination. Mankind has shown itself to be a very competitive species in many other areas. Why not in the making of buildings too?

It would be catastrophic if we werent competitive to the point of madness. We would have never gotten to the moon or done many other wonderous things. We would find an equilibrium where we were comfortable and we would sit and fester until we went extinct.

Amen to that. Our competitiveness makes us the most powerful species on earth. Same to our ambition.


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There is no god, afterlife or divine love. There is only Entropy, the mother from which we were all born. She tugs our souls with the beautiful, maternal love of chaos. Why do you keep Her waiting?

In many of the large metropolis areas, land is sold by the square foot. The closer to the center of the area, the more expensive it is. This alone encourages the buildings to go up instead of out.

New construction materials and methods encourage architects to devise ways to show them off. I have often wondered if it would not be smarter not to build skyscrapers. If you are trapped with a fire between you and the ground, you are not going to get out. Your only hope is that the fire will be contained if the fire escape is breached.

Large buildings require that there be control of the air flow from ground level, so you wind up with the air seal/revolving door setup. It has been some time since I have been in major cities where they practice such, now preferring the rural areas so I can not say that those building practices are still in use. I would think so as tried and true methods will always be the ground work for newer approaches.

The older marvels of ancient times also involved a religious theme or support for many of them. That gave them an impetuous not seen in most modern building methods today. As such, time was of little consideration but longevity was. In our modern days, the phrase that time is money, rules.

the bigger we build structures.... the more damage mankind will suffer...

what if these "floating citys" are to be destroyed.... like 911...
do we really want to go thought such a thing again?


mankind sets itself up.. and knocks itself down

you are too pesimistic and besides- would you prefer if we never "came down from the trees"

with the way we are heading, i wouldnt be surprized if mankind will end up like life on the movie "Judge Dredd"...

we'll get through it somehow

chill out and think of smthing - that always works

Some links to sites that supports this topic:

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/eti/eti.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/

http://www.new7wonders.com/e/index.html

http://www.thevenusproject.com/