Page 82 - Vertical City
P. 82
82 The vertical city
The base of the tower
The base of every construction has to do with the “acti-
vity of the street”, except for our project of a small ver-
tical city where it is surrounded by nature.
Inappropriate for habitations, it is generally devoted
to administrative activities, commerce, education or
other uses.
Costs or environmental constraints will soon make it
unthinkable, even if still popular in Asia and the Middle
East, to conceive immense commercial bases, some-
times 10 stories high, at the foot of one or many high-
rise apartment buildings (without natural daylight and
ventilation). The cost of air-conditioning, but particularly
of artificial lighting will become unreasonable and wha-
tever the activity, these towers of the future will be,
insofar as possible, illuminated and ventilated naturally.
The architecture of the base must also enable devia-
tion and speed reduction of descending winds on the
facades of the tower.
