Large cities, where space for housing and office construction has long been in short supply, are starting to grow upwards more and more. The Japanese, who never cease to amaze the world with their unusual technical solutions, apparently decided that since they are inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun, the sun should rise directly above their heads. As reported by Vremya Novostei, the Japanese corporation Taisei has developed a project for a 'residential mountain' – the X-seed 4000 skyscraper, which replicates the shape of Mount Fuji volcano. The four thousand in the name is not accidental – that is exactly how many meters the building's height will be according to the designers' plans. This means that the X-seed 4000 will be 200 meters higher than the famous volcano.
According to the project, the tallest building in the world – it will have about 800 floors – will be able to house from 500,000 to one million people. Investments in the ambitious project will also be record-breaking – construction of the 'residential mountain' will cost between $300 and $900 billion.
The foundation for the X-seed 4000 will be a platform six kilometers wide. A huge four-kilometer steel frame will unite several buildings that will 'ascend' to the sky. It will take about 30 minutes to reach the last of the eight hundred floors on one of the hundreds of elevators – a small number considering that even jet planes reach such an altitude in about the same time.
According to the designers' plans, the skyscraper will include systems that will protect its residents from pressure and temperature changes. Despite the fact that the 'city-home' is designed for about a million people, its creators promise that the X-seed 4000 will be environmentally friendly, because the skyscraper will be powered by solar panels installed on the roof. And since today every Japanese person strives to buy a robot vacuum cleaner, it will be packed with the latest technology. In addition, it will even be possible to ski down from it – special platforms will be equipped on one of the levels.
The 'race for height' has been going on in the world for a long time. Until the end of July, the leader was Taiwan's Taipei 101 tower, which had a height of 508 meters. However, at the end of July it was overtaken by the Burj Dubai tower, even though its construction, taking place in the UAE capital Dubai, has not yet been completed. It is expected that the skyscraper will 'grow' another 200 meters. Moscow also has a chance to join the list of 'high-rise' cities. The 'Russia' tower, being built according to the design of the famous British architect Norman Foster in Moscow-City, will be 636 meters high. Construction is expected to be completed by 2011.
At various times, the tallest skyscrapers were considered the legendary New York Empire State Building (381 meters), Shanghai's Jin Mao Building (421 meters), Chicago's Sears Tower (442 meters), and Malaysia's Petronas Towers (452 meters).