Horizontal ... is the new Vertical
"MULTI" is world's first "rope-free" elevator. The innovative project was recently introduced by German elevator manufacturer ThyssenKrupp. Their team claims that this disruptive new tech will usher in a new world for elevators and toss away 160 years of rope-dependency. The pilot project uses linear motors to move multiple cars within a single shaft both vertically and horizontally. What I found especially interesting is that the project drew inspiration from rapid transit trains; technologically and in terms of circulation. Trains work most efficiently in loops, also what MULTI is doing. Trains connect different geographies and neighborhoods within a city. MULTI argues that skyscrapers are becoming more and more like cities and that we need to discover more efficient ways of connecting the different neighborhoods that reside on each floor.
The proposal is a dynamic solution towards more efficient buildings. As a designer myself, I'm very curious to see how this might change the form and design of buildings as we enter the 21st century.
"Buildings are becoming like vertical cities, and they need a FLEXIBLE TRANSPORT SYSTEM similar to a metro. SPEED alone does not solve the challenges posed by tall buildings." - Markus Jetter (Head of Research, thyssenkrupp Elevator)
Horizontal elevators solve a huge waste problem. Across the globe there are more than 12 million elevators that make seven billion trips and shuffle over one billion people every day. Over the course of a lifetime in New York City (where I live) workers spend a cumulative 16.6 years waiting for elevators. (Study conducted by IBM in 2010). That's a massive amount of time. In the city that never sleeps... time is money!
Space is expensive. As cities grow and expand, traditional elevator banks and shafts will become increasingly cost prohibitive. The infrastructure within buildings will need to slim down in order to keep up with growth.
Re-thinking Monumentality
The skyscraper formula has been passed around the world for decades now. Everyone, from just about every geography, is building essentially the same thing. Design a floor plate around an elevator shaft, extrude it dozens or even hundreds of times. Boom, there you have it. A "modern" city.
Monumental buildings are well overdue for something new. Elevators like MULTI provide a new spine for buildings to adapt to and learn from. There's an inherent flexibility embedded in the concept of looping elevator routes. What might these new buildings look like? Buildings today are so square. "Less is a bore."
Here's hoping that new infrastructure will usher in creative form-making and city-thinking. Let's see where Horizontal might take us...
It would be expensive for building owners.
Definitely not cheap! But it is saving space... the value of that saved space might outweigh the cost of this infrastructure fairly quickly...
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Very cool! As a Fellow New Yorker, we've all waited in those lines for a lift and thought there has to be a better way!
Amen to that. This should speed things up!!
I see Philadelphia City Hall in the last graphic. (The 7th from the left.) It occupies a massive (10 acre) city square. It was one of the largest masonry buildings when finished in 1901. Very interesting to think about how this technology could have made mobility more efficient in this and more modern sprawling structures that are not particularly tall.
It certainly lends itself to broad buildings as well as tall buildings. Could there be such a thing as horizontal skyscrapers? (Groundscrapers?) Interesting that you use the word sprawling... Sprawl might be a misunderstood creature. If it could be efficient... sprawl might actually become a solution, not a problem.
/Very cool post, I had not heard of this. Makes me miss NYC a little.
It stands to reason that as building technology continues to improve, we would be able to create larger and larger structure. This will continue amplify the vertical-only problem, and it makes sense we'd have a solution like this.
Although, I'd still vote for the tubes from Futurama.
Haha agreed I'd second that vote on the tubes. Manhattan would end up looking like a giant hamster cage.
This is so cool...even if it makes me a little weak in the knees. I'm in...
The one thing that gives me pause is if the elevator gets "stuck"... that could be pretty terrifying.
Interesting! I'm curious to see how much time this effectively saves, relaive to size of the building and energy/price costs.
Likewise! I'd love to see a year of data from this benchmarked against a traditional building of a similar density...
For the majority of cases, why would you want a horizontal elevator? Walking would be quicker. I think it's a cool technology, but I don't understand the need. Unless the one multi elevator would be more cost effective than two elevators separated by a walkway.
The trick of it isn't horizontal movement, it's the idea of looping the whole elevator network. Instead of just up-down-up-down it becomes a cycle! Far more efficient for a large-scale building.
Crazy ... but interesting!
Crazy interesting for sure!
This is so sick - thanks so much for posting this on here! A fantastic post indeed
@krytonika, thanks for reading!
No problem - Thanks for posting :)
Woow voronoi we can save a lot of space with this kind of elevator it looks great
Space, time and money! Seems like a no-brainer. Cheers @dim753
Thanks man. Great article
Power of technology! :d
Pretty neat stuff! Curious to see how it will play out :)
very interesting
Thanks Ralph! Glad you enjoyed it.
Nice post @voronoi, thanks for sharing this post to all of us.
Thanks for reading @herzaseptian :)
nice to know you in steemit. ;)U're welcome @voronoi,
that will be fun i think haha
It might feel a lot like PAC-MAN... I imagine this would be pretty fun for a ride along.
Reminds me of Willy Wonka, thanks for sharing
It's a lot like the glass elevator!
some infrastructures and skyscrapers are so mesmerizing that we can't just image how they're made and what talent and hard work someone has given in this
Thank you @voronoi
I'll keep and eye on your future post now
Started following you
Thanks so much for your support @heelzkinu!
Super interesting..
Thanks!
Syper idea!!
Thanks :)
now that is the future tech.!!
What a concept! When I started the article, I thought "what! why can't people just walk?" But by the end, I was sold on the idea. A true innovation and kudos to ThyssenKruppe for having the vision!
This is really ingenious ! Revolutionary potential ! Thanks vote your article
This is very interesting. Is the pilot project operational? as in, are they using it in a building somewhere?