Save this picture! Courtesy of Victor Kopeikin + Pavlo Zabotin

The design for the Citadel Skyscraper by Victor Kopeikin and Pavlo Zabotin is a symbiosis of a skyscraper and a residential tank creating a defensive shield to protect the island from the inside against external natural and anthropogenic influences. The project provides carrying the residential functions of cities in the land out to self-supporting residential units located in the sea (residential skyscrapers, citadels).These citadels interact with each other on the shoreline, forming a single closed defensive chain that operates both on the surface and underground. Thereby proceeds the mastering of new territories for the human life. More images and architects’ description after the break.

As of today, the most affected by natural disasters is Japan. On that example we see that even the most economically and technologically developed countries of the world are helpless towards the destructive forces of nature. Our view on this issue is focused on the development of the concept of a prevailing type of alternative settlement system in Japan. The main idea of the project is a creation of a “defensive shield” around Japan, graphically resembling a fortress. The so-called “defensive shield” is designed to protect the island from the inside against external natural and anthropogenic influences.

Save this picture! Courtesy of Victor Kopeikin + Pavlo Zabotin

1. Reallocation of the territories

The project is directed on the establishing of a new residential area and the creation of new economic nodes in the territorial structure of Japan. The whole residential function shall be carried out of the bounds of modern cities and it shall be concentrated along the coastline. It is suggested to relieve the overcrowded cities in Japan in such way, concentrating in it only economical and social function (enterprises, companies, state. institutions). Thereby a new functional area is forming.

- Economic Zone: (a city in a modern context), infrastructure and government buildings will be left untouched - Residential function will be taken outside the cities. - Economic (“agrarian”) zone will be located between the two previous zones (orchards, gardens, greenhouses).

2. The defensive shield

Earthquake and arise due tsunami – a centuries-old problem in Japan. The height of waves produced by an earthquake sometimes had reached 50 meters (in year 2011 – 10 meters).This problem is especially urgent for Japan, because country is situated in a seismically active zone. It is proposed to create a single “sheet” of the planned skyscrapers across the shoreline at a distance of 2-3 km from the shore, which will serve as a protective function for the whole island. Skyscrapers themselves are connected by a system of breakwaters and drainage channels, able to withstand waves up to 50 meters that prevent the destructive waves to reach the shoreline.

3. Skycraper – Citadel

Obvious is the fact that changes occurring to the planet today, eventually will acquire disastrous scale for human. A person may not prevent or affect these changes. But a person can accommodate to life in a permanently changing climate. In our opinion modern design should be aimed at building safe structures, bearing a protective function in the first place. As in the Middle Ages people were hiding from the enemy by the defensive wall, now the skyscraper serves as a defensive shield, but this time from the destructive forces of nature. The system of skyscrapers is connected with each other and it is located at a distance of 2-3 kilometers from the coast. The skyscraper is divided into three main functions:

- Residential function - Protection people against natural disasters - The formation of a protective shield for coastal zones

The structural system of the building is a solid metal frame system, that is similar to the frames. At the same time laying the foundation depth is 1,200 meters with a building height of 500 meters. At the same time laying the foundation depth is 1,200 meters with a building height of 500 meters. This system is the root of the tooth structure in the nature. In this form of the building it is almost impossible to influence seismically on it. The main feature of the building is the fact, that it is completely self-sustaining themselves with electricity.

It was decided to use the energy of the tides in the design of such facilities. The system of underwater routers situated along the perimeter of the building in-between breakwater corridors, where because of an artificially flow increases the velocity of the water masses. The building also has an autonomous supply of drinking water (boreholes) and the system of the ground floors with live fish tanks and warehouses storing food for the inhabitants of a skyscraper (a system of bunkers).