Taking design to a whole new level is a construction company in Japan called ‘Shimizu’ that is currently working on building an underwater metropolis by 2030. Named very aptly as ‘Ocean Spirals’, the underwater city would take the form of a floating dome featuring hotels, residential spaces and commercial complexes. “This is just a blueprint by our company, but we are aiming to develop the technology that would enable us to build an underwater living space,” said Shimizu’s spokesman, Masataka Noguchi, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
According to the Shimizu group, the ocean spirals will include a spherical structure of 500 meters floating near the water’s surface. It will include a spiral path underneath that will directly connect it to the research excavation centre, situated on the ocean bed. People would be able to live inside the 500 meter pod and the spiral paths, which would carry resources from the deeper surface. They would also guard the buildings against strong tides and natural calamities. The sci-fi design of Ocean Spirals is a result of a collaborative effort by the University of Tokyo, Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology and Fisheries Research Agency.
The construction company also boasts that Ocean Spirals will use temperature differences in ocean water to create energy and produce desalinated water using hydraulic pressure. They strongly believe that “the ocean has an infinite amount of possibilities” and this revolutionary project could help mankind put them to practical use. While the construction giants have not yet revealed the exact year in which this advance project would be ready, but they have estimated its cost to three trillion Yen ($25 billion).