See New Plans for a Self-Sustaining Vertical City in the Sahara Desert

French firms OXO Architectes and Nicolas Laisné Associés have partnered to produce an ambitious concept for a new style of desert living, proposing a vertical city—in the form of a sustainable 1,400-foot-tall tower—to be built in a Moroccan section of the Sahara. The structure’s massive footprint would provide 192 acres of floor space, and a ground-to-roof atrium would house a vertical garden to add lush greenery to the arid setting. While there are no plans yet to construct the City Sand Tower, the proposal is certainly alluring.

The mixed-use building would contain offices, residences, shops, conference and sports facilities, a hotel, a restaurant and bar, a museum, and an observatory. OXO and Laisné also left plenty of room for spaces to play, swim, and pray while enjoying sweeping desert views. Residents and visitors enter at ground level via narrow, curving streets styled after North African souks, or on the rooftop via helicopter.

The City Sand Tower is designed to complement the landscape both in form and function. With its asymmetrical silhouette and sandy, earthen colors, the building resembles a boulder. Solar power and deep geothermal wells will provide energy, while rainwater and recycled gray water will be the primary source of water for the people and plants of this vertical city.

For more information visit oxoarcom .

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