Imagine a future in which all the Earth’s divisions are removed: countries abolished, borders dissolved, and governments overthrown.
Such is the version of planet Earth for which “Civilization 0.000″, the 2013 master’s thesis project by Dimo Ivanov of RWTH Aachen University, is designed.
Envisioning a future free of “unnatural division” and where the earth’s resources are measured and meted out according to human need, the project proposes a series of interlinked skyscrapers or “0.000 Units” that harness local earth resources.
Each of the units assumes one of 6 key functions: living space, education, resource management, production, energy storage, and electricity generation. Functions are determined by the environment in which the units are sited.
Inspired by Jacque Fresco’s notion of the resource-based economy, Civilization 0.000 responds to what Ivanov describes as “our present dominant form of social structure—the so-called consumer culture… A system that pursues profit and not sustainability.”
At 520m tall, the Civilization 0.000 skyscrapers would stand on par with some of the highest skyscrapers in the built world. Ivanov proposes that the first of the units would be placed at Cape Horn in Southern Chile, and specialize in electricity generation. Making use of the ample wind, wave, and tidal energy of this region, the structure would utilize a combination of 19 wind turbines, 4 wave power plants, and 6 tidal power turbines to create electricity.
The entire structure is engineered to provide maximum energy levels, and would convert an estimated 40% of all kinetic energy received into usable electricity. It is projected that the skyscraper would create 100 million kWh of renewable energy each year. Hugging its coastal site at ground level and sinking 260m below the surface of the sea, Cape Horn’s Civilization 0.000 appears to emerge from the ground plane, clad in a material that the architect likens to the “surface of shark skin”.
Ivanov foresees a mixed-use program, with functions including research and education, a heliport, power stations, a port, and living areas. On-site accommodation in the structure’s upper levels would house 500 residents; 100 of these would be students, the other 400 scientists and researchers. Restaurants and social areas would support the residential program, alongside facilities for sport and leisure activities.
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