JF Ptak Science Books LLC Post 880
I’m a sucker for cross sections, and this one has it all—nicely
drawn, a glimpse into the possibilities of the future, and technoid removed
from the realm of possibility. This
article appears in Popular Science
Monthly for June, 1934, and presents the possibility of extending downward
into the earth for future city development. (as a matter of fact, the fabulous Modern Mechanix site has a similar story on display,
asking the question “Are Skyscrapers Doomed?” for the same year, with the same
engineers.) Well. It seems as though in this cross section that residences for
people begin below the thirtieth floor, making living quarters starting at
about 350’ down. The story goes that it would
be possible to dig these cities up to about 6,000 feet into the earth, which of
course is a long way down. Its difficult
enough to drill an oil well hole to this depth; its difficult to imagine digging/outfitting/removing
the earth from something—I’m not even sure what to call it—that was,
potentially, thousands of feet deep and miles wide and long. That’s
playing with figures of a million cubic feet. Of construction.
Underground.
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