Highway6 Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Discovery Channel Mega Engineering - Dome over Houston.Don't know if this episode is new or not.... but its on right now for those interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Discovery Channel Mega Engineering - Dome over Houston.Don't know if this episode is new or not.... but its on right now for those interested.Oh, you beat me to the punch by 8 minutes. I'm watching it too.This could never happen, but it's neat to look at all the CG they put into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 Yah. Crazy idea.. but still fun to watch.And yah... the opening sequence with our skyline was pretty neat.How the dude is pronouncing GeoDEEsic though is killing me. It's Geo-des-ik fool !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyBaby's Dear Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Yah. Crazy idea.. but still fun to watch.And yah... the opening sequence with our skyline was pretty neat.How the dude is pronouncing GeoDEEsic though is killing me. It's Geo-des-ik fool !!http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/geodesic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/geodesicFoo !!!!.... You're Just Wrong.... Now go make me a sandwhich !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatesdisastr Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 damn yall for beating me to it. im watching it. i have a feeling its new, ive never seen it on the discovery channel before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 So, a 1 mile wide dome will save the city? What do we do with the other 629 square miles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 So, a 1 mile wide dome will save the city? What do we do with the other 629 square miles?No kidding... and I'd hate to be in whatever neighborhood right outside the dome.When it rains, that water has to run-off somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 No kidding... and I'd hate to be in whatever neighborhood right outside the dome.When it rains, that water has to run-off somewhere.We'd need a slew of Ashby Highrises to get enough people under this thing.never happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Oooh, here comes the Cat 5 'cane! Can't wait to see Hurrican Ike turn this thing into a Dallas Cowboys practice facility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 No kidding... and I'd hate to be in whatever neighborhood right outside the dome.When it rains, that water has to run-off somewhere.It looked to be more than 1 mile in diameter to me, but let's go with that. That's .785 square miles covered, and if we had a 6-inch downpour as cited in the Category 2 hurricane scene, that's a runoff of 251.2 acre feet of water. Hopefully Original Timmy Chan is reading this and can give us his engineer's opinion on how to deal with that (if it's possible). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 Crap.. are all of Mega Engineering's episodes so far fetched ? Does this mean we wont have the train to nowhere from Russia to Alaska either ??Back to the dome... What would we do with our tunnel system ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Oooh, here comes the Cat 5 'cane! Can't wait to see Hurrican Ike turn this thing into a Dallas Cowboys practice facility.They glossed over it. What they didn't address at all was that if you have the failure of even one panel, the wind breaches the building envelope and damages everything around it. With each additional panel that is compromised, the stress forces to the structure increase geometrically. I think that there's the potential for a catastrophic chain reaction based on the failure of just one out of hundreds of thousands of components. I don't like the odds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Crap.. are all of Mega Engineering's episodes so far fetched ? Does this mean we wont have the train to nowhere from Russia to Alaska either ??Back to the dome... What would we do with our tunnel system ??Let's assume that the willingness of voters to issue bonds to fund the construction of the dome wouldn't change our willingness to issue bonds for jails, which the voters apparently aren't willing to do. We'll need more jail capacity. The tunnels could satisfy that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Seems to me that if you are going to build this dome, it would be wasted over downtown. Rather, a 1 mile mixed use project without streets, would be better. Not as much wasted space. Run a couple of light rail trains through it to get people to the parking garages located outside the dome. Could hold a bunch of people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Seems to me that if you are going to build this dome, it would be wasted over downtown. Rather, a 1 mile mixed use project without streets, would be better. Not as much wasted space. Run a couple of light rail trains through it to get people to the parking garages located outside the dome. Could hold a bunch of people.Yeah, I know it goes against the ideal of sustainability, which demands not developing greenfield sites, but it seems like building a city from scratch on a large tract would be ideal. Maybe this site, which would be really easy to connect up to the Red Line (if METRO could get their act together, which seems unlikely). It's well-located, but still too small for a dome as large as was portrayed on the show.Otherwise, maybe somewhere like that section of vacant land in between the San Jacinto River and Spring Creek just north of IAH. Or near the new airport that's between Katy and Brookshire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midtownuser Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 The http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mega-engineeri...ngineering.htmlhttp://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mega-engin...ith-a-dome.htmlHouston, Texas is in peril. The country's fourth most populous city faces hurricanes, heat, and the growing consequences of global warming. Only a radical solution can save the city, a solution that may lie with a massive dome, 1,500 feet high and a mile in diameter that will rise over the city center. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Actually, the far cooler idea was seen in the New Orleans episode, where they showed water houses built in the Netherlands. They had a full floor located underwater and made out of concrete. It made the house very stable. They are building 300 of these 2 story homes over there right now. Pretty badass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Theres aready a thread for this, and its never 'Going Up' lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Actually, the far cooler idea was seen in the New Orleans episode, where they showed water houses built in the Netherlands. They had a full floor located underwater and made out of concrete. It made the house very stable. They are building 300 of these 2 story homes over there right now. Pretty badass.Yeah, I researched those at one point when I was looking into the possibility of developing multifamily housing on large deck barges in order to avoid paying property taxes. Seattle has some pretty impressive floating homes as well, but certainly nothing as innovative as what the Dutch have to offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMidtown Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 ....Simpsons Movie anyone.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgriff Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 They never seriously addressed the need for support while the dome is being built. Other domes have used scaffolding but that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 I've never seen this show. Who actually came up with this idea? An actual private company or Discovery Channel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 I've never seen this show. Who actually came up with this idea? An actual private company or Discovery Channel?Dont know... but here is more info on the show and the dome episode.http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mega-engineeri...ngineering.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Topics combined.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 Actually, the far cooler idea was seen in the New Orleans episode, where they showed water houses built in the Netherlands. They had a full floor located underwater and made out of concrete. It made the house very stable. They are building 300 of these 2 story homes over there right now. Pretty badass.I agree.. Though i didn't like the idea of actually tying it in and making it a New Orleans replacement. The floating city had N.O Bourbon St stle architecture. Ridiculous. Transferring a city's populace to a new area doesnt make that new area that city.... so why even try.Concept is cool.. but start from scratch... i don't want a floating Bourbon St.The netherlands 2 story houseboat.. yah.. very cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20thStDad Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 I forgot to watch this. Did they address weather conditions inside the dome? There would definitely be factors to worry about like air movement and excessive humidity. Also air conditioning, it would be a tough battle to cool if you have lots of big buildings with air conditioners inside, all heating the air around them. I agree that a development with no cars and specifically designed from scratch for this purpose would make it a way better idea.I don't want to live in a dome. I hate the sun, but I love me some wind, rain, and clouds. However, I would visit it if they installed extremely long zip lines in various places. That is fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicey Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 It looked to be more than 1 mile in diameter to me, but let's go with that. That's .785 square miles covered, and if we had a 6-inch downpour as cited in the Category 2 hurricane scene, that's a runoff of 251.2 acre feet of water. Hopefully Original Timmy Chan is reading this and can give us his engineer's opinion on how to deal with that (if it's possible).Most modern new skyscrapers are being built to recycle rain water for use in the buildings. I imagine that any such structure would apply a similar concept. It's based on the use of ETFE, which was successfully used in the Chinese National Aquatics Center built for the Olympics. I don't think it's a terrible idea...we're going to have to come up with solutions for coastal regions because of global warming. Unless we're just planning on abandoning cities. Of course, the Port of Houston is probably more important than the entire downtown (especially the refinery center, that's the whole reason this city exists as it does)...so I don't know they are necessarily aiming at protecting the right thing. I like the idea of having a car free structure using trains/monorails to transport people to the edge parking to pick up their cars. Of course...since downtown already has massive freeways, and this is a huge city that already has enough traffic issues...how does one get around the dome? Most of us have had to travel from one edge to another, and you have to interchange downtown or face a very, very long circle drive.Interesting idea...application would take a lot of planning, and a lot of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicey Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 I forgot to watch this. Did they address weather conditions inside the dome? There would definitely be factors to worry about like air movement and excessive humidity. Also air conditioning, it would be a tough battle to cool if you have lots of big buildings with air conditioners inside, all heating the air around them.I thought they were proposing total control of the temperature inside...(which could be insane...I wonder how much downtown costs to keep cool anyway...but you're dealing with a geometrically much larger area with all that space)Humidity wouldn't be an issue with a sealed structure...the ocean air is the main contributor in coastal regions. They were talking about having huge vents at the top of the structure that would control air flow, regulate temp, etc. There are tons of issues...how do you keep downtown trees like the ones overhanging mainstreet (which as someone who moved here is a really cool site to see tree branches overhanging completely on 4 lane roads) growing without rain? The whole thing is Houston itself is gigantic. The population "officially" is listed around 2.4, 2.5 million...but for me I would consider Houston to be all the outlying regions as well, since it's basically one big metroplex, any area extending for a few miles past the beltway is Houston. So most of our electricity use may in fact be more outside downtown Houston, so does this really save power? One of the goals. They did say every panel could withstand sustained winds (they didn't give the gust wind rating, but I imagine its higher) of 180 mph, specifically to withstand the biggest Cat 5s we've ever seen. ________The need is probably there as long as we have to have gasoline and petrol products, which even with targeting reduction we will have for many decades more. Just Ike shutting the city down for a few days was bad for the rest of the country (as Houston produces something like 30-40% of the gasoline for the US). A Cat 5 shutdown would be a disaster bigger than Katrina. Just thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 I forgot to watch this. Did they address weather conditions inside the dome? There would definitely be factors to worry about like air movement and excessive humidity. Also air conditioning, it would be a tough battle to cool if you have lots of big buildings with air conditioners inside, all heating the air around them. I agree that a development with no cars and specifically designed from scratch for this purpose would make it a way better idea. I don't want to live in a dome. I hate the sun, but I love me some wind, rain, and clouds. However, I would visit it if they installed extremely long zip lines in various places. That is fun. Can't they just make it retractable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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