[binabik]

i was wondering if it would be possible to buid a structure that would have all the ammenaties of a small town including recreaation and law enforcement and firemen and maybe even a few lanes of bowling. It wouldn't be a skyscraper it would probably be no more than 5 stories high max and sprawling, there wouldn't be any houses but the apartments would be fairly big and i was also wondering how much this might cost. maybe the apartments can be on the upper 3 or 4 floors and have the bottom or city commons or what not be two stories high so it seems bigger and allows for bigger stuff to be in it and a little more freedom. also the roof could be used for a recreation area with a pool or golf course or something. or a park.

i am mainly focusing on cost for this thing.

[Overdog]

Originally Posted by binabik

i was wondering if it would be possible to buid a structure that would have all the ammenaties of a small town including recreaation and law enforcement and firemen and maybe even a few lanes of bowling. It wouldn't be a skyscraper it would probably be no more than 5 stories high max and sprawling, there wouldn't be any houses but the apartments would be fairly big and i was also wondering how much this might cost. maybe the apartments can be on the upper 3 or 4 floors and have the bottom or city commons or what not be two stories high so it seems bigger and allows for bigger stuff to be in it and a little more freedom. also the roof could be used for a recreation area with a pool or golf course or something. or a park.

i am mainly focusing on cost for this thing.

4 billion.

Foster + Partners

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/12/26/...ing-to-moscow/

[binabik]

well that is interesting but i am not worried about asthetics so i think i could strike 1 or 2 bil from that. considering that aircraft carriers cost about 5 bil to make for the nimitz and i don't need it to float or have giant steam hydrolics to make planes take off faster i don't think it would cost anymore than that

thanks for the imput

[Nitack]

Originally Posted by binabik

i was wondering if it would be possible to buid a structure that would have all the ammenaties of a small town including recreaation and law enforcement and firemen and maybe even a few lanes of bowling. It wouldn't be a skyscraper it would probably be no more than 5 stories high max and sprawling, there wouldn't be any houses but the apartments would be fairly big and i was also wondering how much this might cost. maybe the apartments can be on the upper 3 or 4 floors and have the bottom or city commons or what not be two stories high so it seems bigger and allows for bigger stuff to be in it and a little more freedom. also the roof could be used for a recreation area with a pool or golf course or something. or a park.

i am mainly focusing on cost for this thing.

This reminds me of those super structures in Sim City 2000. Who remembers that?

[Zythryn]

Originally Posted by binabik

well that is interesting but i am not worried about asthetics ...

Binabik, perhaps you could give us some idea of the living standards you want to have for the inhabitants? This would have a large impact on the costs.

Individual rooms, living spaces, communal living, 5 star eateries, movie theaters, etc??

[Zythryn]

As an addition to my above post. You may want to start with the cost of the Mall of America and add half again the cost for the residential quarters?

[binabik]

nitack i remember them, i remember my brother waiting for them to fly into space which never happened.

zythryn it will be great quality though it should be able to cater to all types of people, it will be a minimalist comunity and they can eat what ever they want, it will have a little of everything, maybe to the point of having like 4 lanes of bowling, 1 theater where people can schedule movies to be watched so they can get the movie theater experiance even with older movies

i don't know exactly how the living spaces would be organized, maybe have it partly like dorm rooms or privet apartments with sound dampening or what not.

thanks keep the info comeing.

[Zythryn]

Well, the Mall of America cost 650 Million. Contains a number of restaurants, fast food joints, and other entertainment.
Now, for a self sufficient city, not all those stores are needed. But what type of population are you looking for?
The mall is 4 levels, if you converted 1 level to housing, added 3 levels of housing, I would guess that would give you about 1000-1500 families housing units. Perhaps more than you need, so maybe only 2 added levels are needed. Which, as a very rough guess, would be about 1.5 Billion.

Fun thought exercise, my guesses really are rough ballpark. So if anyone has any better cost estimates, please speak up

[binabik]

i would say 2000-2500 people are plenty, eventually if this was to work then a bigger one might be good or maybe make it so that ou can build them over and over next to each other and they would compliment each other

[Donk]

It sounds to me as if you're talking about an Arcology. Take a look at Arcosanti.

Or if you'd prefer speculative fiction, read Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. They describe a working arcology - people live there, work there, eat there, play there. Many never leave the building. Always, though, the design is being tinkered with. The initial planning was long and thorough - then they realised that they hadn't included an undertaker. And so on.