Hasta La Ideas

We’re no longer bitter about Chicago not getting the 2016 Olympics and seeing it go to Rio de Janeiro (stupid #@&* Rio). Nope, we’re perfectly fine to see that Rafael Schmidt is the first architect to turn in an entry for the city’s architecture competition for incredible things to build and be marveled at. Who cares if it’s an amazing thing called the Solar City Tower and it looks like a floating waterfall and doubles as a solar power plant? Why would you want some sort of awesome, beautiful structure that would greet arriving tourists by both air and sea? Personally, we’re more than happy to just keep to our familiar architecture and Calatrava holes in the ground. Yep. Have fun with your feats of modern engineering and design, Rio. Here’s a bit of the amazingness we’re glad the Windy City won’t have:

The project consists of a solar power plant that by day produces energy for the city respectively the Olympic village. Excessive energy will be pumped as seawater into a tower. By night, the water can be released again; with the help of turbines, it generates electricity for the night. The electricity produced can be used for the lighting of the tower or for the city. On special occasions, this “machine building” turns into an impressive wonder of nature: an urban waterfall, a symbol for the forces of nature. At the same time, it will be the representation of a collective awareness of the city towards its great surrounding landscape. Via an urban plaza located 60 meters over sea level you gain access to the building. Through the amphitheatre, you reach the entrance situated on the ground floor.

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