Tag Archives: eco-building

A flying skyscraper… Is this the future?

“Light Park” is a skyscraper designed to hover over the streets of traffic-jammed, polluted Beijing, by architects Ting Xu and Yiming Chen. They conceive the future of skyscrapers as mega-structures that make up for the shortage of urban space on the ground by hovering up in the air by means of a massive helium-filled balloon.

The Light Park uses non-polluting solar energy for its propulsion and is designed to provide  housing, commercial and recreational spaces – a sort of utopian eco-city.

The technology behind the Light Park is based on existing hellium balloon designs. It uses solar-powered propellers, airbags and atmospheric pressure for takeoff and cruise flight. Translucent solar panels located on the top of the aircraft. In order to avoid additional weight and decrease wind resistance, the skyscraper uses a cable-suspended structure to attach the slabs to the mushroom-like cap. The planting slabs are irrigated with rainwater collected on the large cap surface and are distributed in a way which allows maximum exposure to sunlight on each level.