Japanese Company Designs Underwater Spiral City

Japanese construction company Shimizu Corporation has designed an underwater city that is self-sufficient and will sit on or under the surface of the sea.

The company’s design plans include a 75-storey colony that could house 5,000 people in spheres. Named the Blue Garden it could contain over 1,000 home units, a 400-room hotel and 50,000 square metres of office space.

Each watertight residential sphere would be attached to the ocean floor, and could submerge below the surface in adverse weather. Power could be created by micro-organism factories that produce methane, and drinking water would come from the desalination of seawater.

Shimizu expects to develop the required technology for the project by the year 2030, reports The Independent. Once the technology is ready, it will take another five years to complete the city, at a cost of ¥3 trillion, $25 billion or £16 billion. 

Shimizu anticipates that the Japanese government and private investors will help fund the project.