Gargantuan NOAH 'Ark' Proposed to New Orleans with Straight Face

By Mark Wilson

How do you know when your building plan has gotten unnecessarily crazy and pretentious? When it's named after a Biblical figure who was fabled to save life as we know it...that might be a clue.

NOAH (New Orleans Arcology Habitat) is a massive, 1200-foot city within a building that's hurricane-proof and can actually float (don't worry, it's tethered to something or other). Conceptualized through a mind trust of three architectural firms, green (wind, solar and water) energies would help power the structure's 20,000 residences, 1,000,000 square feet of commercial space, school, hospital and, just for fun, 3 casinos.

On one hand, this floating triangle seems like nothing less than a feat of modern engineering, a clever idea that's both structurally sound and handy in an emergency. On the other, have we given up so much on New Orleans that architects should abandon existing infrastructure altogether? If culture and way of life are not things we're looking to preserve, then why not just tell residents to move and be done with it?

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[Yanko via DVICE]