The madness of a revolving skyscraper
Surely a revolving building will make a significant number of people inside it constantly nauseous? Plans have been announced for a $700m moving skyscraper, the world’s first, in Dubai. The 80-storey tower will open its doors for business in 2010. You can be certain people like myself who suffer from balance disorders and disabilities will not, unless extremely foolish, ever set foot in such a building. Chances are, even looking at it would trigger the symptoms of my Mal de Debarquement Syndrome to go into overdrive.
But you don’t need to see, or even consciously sense, movement for it to have a negative impact upon the body. Consider, for example, the effects of zero gravity on astronauts, or the fact that some people get travel sickness in aeroplanes even when they don’t look out the window and are seated.
If people want different views, they should go for a walk. Or if they’re rich enough to buy into this revolving skyscraper, buy a few houses across the world. The amount of money being spent on this thing would be better off invested in people, or green energy initiatives—although the building will be energy self-sufficient as the 79 giant power-generating wind turbines located between each floor will produce enough electricity to power the entire building and feed surplus power back into the grid.
tags: architecture, balance, balance disorders, Dubai, nausea, skyscrapers
