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Carlo Ratti Designs Mile-High Observation Deck
That's Twice As Tall As Burj Khalifa
Keith Flamer Contributor
I cover design, architecture and luxury estates.
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
Lifestyle 2/26/2016 @ 12:48PM 560 views
Start spreading the news. Italian studio Carlo Ratti Associati wants to be a part of it—the Mile High Club.
Not that one, the super skyscraper club. The studio recently unveiled designs for the world’s highest
vertical park and outdoor observation deck, called “The Mile.”
“The Mile” features hundreds of plant species forming a vertical garden all the way to the 360-degree rotating
observation deck.
The extraordinarily lightweight, Seattle Space Needle-type structure features 124 floors, attractions, and a
lush, integrated ecosystem weaved throughout from base to the one mile-high apex (1,609 meters).
“Imagine you take New York’s Central Park, turn it vertical, roll it and twirl it,” says Carlo Ratti, CRA
principal and director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab.
The super lightweight, mile-high tower uses futuristic capsules that will transport visitors along a 20-meterwide central shaft which is secured by compression, pre-stressed cables and high-grade materials,
If constructed, the panoramic tower would test tourists’ bravery and shatter the record as the world’s highest
structure—surpassing Dubai’s Burj Khalifa (current tallest skyscraper at 829 meters), Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah
Tower (future vertical champion at 1,008 meters), and Iraq’s proposed tower, “The Bride” (1,152 meters).
These skyscrapers are hovering closer to small aircraft altitudes than the ground, but for good reason—
spectacular, unobstructed views. Admission to The Mile’s observation deck would cost approximately $40.
The Mile features a 360-degree rotating observation platform and a series of futuristic capsules that elevate
upward around a 20-meter-wide central shaft protected by compression and pre-stressed cables (which,
along with lightweight, high-grade materials, secures the tower’s heavenly height). Ecologically, the tower
would be covered with hundreds of plant species forming a vertical garden all the way to the observation
deck park.
The Mile’s observation deck would reach 1,609 meters, nearly twice as high as Burj Khalifa.
The Mile boasts several attractions (animal species, bird watching, rock climbing, restaurants) and a
dramatic ascent to the Sky Deck where visitors can congregate, dine and enjoy Sky Walk’s breathtaking
views.
Commissioned by an unnamed client, Ratti collaborated with German engineering firm Schlaich
Bergermann Partner and British digital design studio Atmos on the project. No pre-determined location has
been attached to the proposal, but several cities have expressed interest in building the tower, according to
Dezeen. The project will be officially presented to the public at Cannes real estate fair MIPIM 2016 on
March 16.