A Japanese Company Imagined the World's First Underwater City

Take a closer look of the world's first underwater city as imagined by a Japanese company.

Over the years, humans have explored forests, deserts, mountains, and even outer space in order to make room for a growing population. The only area—which takes up 70 percent of the earth—that hasn't been tapped yet has been the ocean. Up until now, that is. A realistic possibility drawn up by Tokyo-based construction firm Shimizu Corporation seems to imagine a 21st century Atlantis. Named Ocean Spiral, this massive, floating sphere would sit on the top of the ocean and submerge itself during bad weather, particularly earthquakes.

Plans for the structure, which is still only in the concept phase, reveal that it's connected to a research center on the ocean floor by a gigantic spiral structure that plunges 2.5 miles below sea level. In the Guardian, Shimizu spokesman Hideo Imamura states that Ocean Spiral would be capable of housing hotels, businesses, and up to 5,000 residents. "This is a real goal, this is not a pipe dream," he says. Although Shimizu Corporation offers extremely realistic blueprints, the technology needed to complete this project will not be available until the next 15 years. Take a closer look at what we may be facing in the next few decades.

[via Design Boom]

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