engineering

Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid

Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid rather than just read about it. In short: The Shimizu TRY 2004 Mega-City Pyramid is a proposed Shimizu Corporation project for the construction of a massive self-sustaining arcology-pyramid over Tokyo Bay in Japan that would have businesses, parks, and other services contained within the building. The structure would house 1,000,000 people.

Key takeaways

Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Shimizu TRY 2004 Mega-City Pyramid is a proposed Shimizu Corporation project for the construction of a massive self-sustaining arcology-pyramid over Tokyo Bay in Japan that would have businesses, parks, and other services contained within the building. The structure would house 1,000,000 people. The structure would be 2,004 meters (6,575 feet) high, including five stacked trusses, each with similar dimensions to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza. This pyramid would help answer Tokyo's increasing lack of space, although the project would only handle a small fraction of the population of the Greater Tokyo Area. The proposed structure is so large that it could not be built with current conventional materials, due to their weight. The design relies on the future availability of super-strong lightweight materials based on carbon nanotubes and graphene presently being researched. The plan was to start construction in 2030, but no further action has been taken. Shimizu is still determined to complete the project by 2110; if built, it would make history as the largest man-made structure in world history. This would also mean that the construction would last for 80 years.

History Tokyo has been having issues in regard to overpopulation, due to internal migration, among other causes. The Shimizu Corporation, which has been located in Tokyo since the Edo period, witnessed it firsthand. They had an idea for a solution that was different from other proposed ideas. It started in 1982, when one of the employees went to see Blade Runner and saw the opening scene showing the two pyramids the Tyrell Corporation operated from. The architectural marvel amazed the engineer, who told his other colleagues about it the following day, leading to the idea for the Mega-City pyramid. 10 years later, in October 1992, representatives travelled to patent offices the world over to patent their idea internationally.

Materials and construction process The pyramid's foundation would be formed by 36 piers made of special concrete. Because the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire cuts right through Japan, the external structure of the pyramid would be an open network of megatrusses, supporting struts made from carbon nanotubes to allow the pyramid to stand against and let through high winds, and survive earthquakes and tsunamis. The trusses would be coated with photovoltaic film to convert sunlight into electricity and help power the city. The city would also be powered by pond scum or algae. Robotic systems are planned to play a major part in both construction and building maintenance.

Interior traffic and buildings Transportation within the city would be provided by accelerating walkways, inclined elevators, and a personal rapid transit system where automated pods would travel within the trusses. Housing and office space would be provided by twenty-four or more 30-story high skyscrapers suspended from above and below and attached to the pyramid's supporting structure with nanotube cables.

See also Arcology Megacity Sky City 1000 X-Seed 4000 Proposed tall buildings and structures Ziggurat Pyramid, Dubai

References

External links Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering: City in a Pyramid Home Page for Bini Systems' proposed pneumatic construction method TRY 2004-Shimizu's Dream - Shimizu Corporation (Project site)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid

In research: Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Artificial islands of Tokyo, Proposed arcologies, Proposed buildings and structures in Japan, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid in simple terms?

Why does Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid.