A Skyscraper in the Arctic

Toronto architect Reza Aliabadi took a trip into the far northern reaches of Nunavut, Canada's Inuit territory. There, the flatness of the tundra and the stone stacks made by the Inuit inspired him to propose a stacked housing tower.

1 minute read

September 27, 2011, 7:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur

The fanciful design, which Aliabadi entered in a contest looking for "fresh approaches to adding density," will never be built.

Aliabadi's idea is "...a high-density residential structure designed along the lines of the Inuit sculptures he saw at Pond Inlet, and deposited on an ice floe in the Arctic, one of the lowest-density spots on earth. The imaginary tower consists of large stacked boulders, each hollowed out to provide one or more apartments per rock, and arrayed vertically along a service and elevator shaft."

Photo courtesy of Reza Aliabadi.

FULL STORY: An Arctic inspiration for high-rise living

Monday, September 26, 2011 in The Globe and Mail

Architecture Canada Skyscrapers Nunavut Inuit

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