Skypod

PLP Architecture has completed a Technical Demonstration project for Tyréns, one of Sweden’s leading structural engineering and urban planning consultancies and their research group responsible for the development of the Advanced Funiculator, an innovative concept that will redefine vertical transportation for ultra-tall buildings. The SkyPod project explores the topology of a looped system or a continuous and connected series of pods that snakes over the exterior of a tower exceeding a height of 1000 metres. The structural concept, the Tubed Mega Frame, repositions the main load-bearing columns or MegaFrames to the perimeter of the building, eliminating the requirement for a conventional core, vertical shaft and lifts. To move potentially 30,000+ inhabitants over such large distance (less than 2 minutes to 888m), the track configuration consists of a two-way high-speed track with pods measuring approximately seven metres by five metres stopping at dedicated destinations, and a local track whose travel direction changes in morning and evening rush hours with pods calling at stations on every level (duration 5 minutes).