{"id":142336,"date":"2016-01-02T08:00:40","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T13:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/?p=142336"},"modified":"2018-06-26T17:50:11","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T21:50:11","slug":"architect-proposes-oceanscraper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper","title":{"rendered":"Architect proposes half-a-mile-tall 3D-printed \u2018oceanscraper\u2019 made of garbage and algae"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h4>

\"aequorea\"<\/a>Rendering:\u00a0Vincent Callebaut Architectures<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Images of marine life entangled in plastic junk are no doubt a troubling reminder of the state of our oceans and the work that needs to be done to conserve them and the life within.<\/p>\n

But Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut is not only proposing a large-scale cleanup: he sees environmentally harmful flotsam as the building block for an architectural revolution, a new kind of structure. It\u2019s something he calls an \u201coceanscraper.\u201d<\/p>\n

These submerged 250-floor structures would stretch about 3,000 feet beneath sea level, house 20,000 residents \u2014 or aquanauts, as Callebaut calls them \u2014 and best of all, at least from a green perspective, they would be 3D-printed using algae and the discarded plastic that\u2019s currently stewing in the Earth\u2019s oceans.<\/p>\n

The mixed-use aquatic developments would also contain offices, food gardens, and laboratories, to name a few of the non-residential elements, so residents wouldn\u2019t need to set foot on dry land for anything.<\/p>\n

All of this would be contained in a winding structure with a modest diameter of 1,640 feet and that features walls made out of aragonite, a crystallized calcium carbonate, and that increase in thickness to withstand heightened pressure at the deepest points.<\/p>\n

Via a fictionalized manifesto written from the viewpoint of an aquanaut from the year 2065, Callebaut even goes into detail about some of the units\u2019 finishes. \u201cThe apartments\u2019 partitions are made of chitin that is also synthesized,\u201d he writes, explaining the material is a \u201cmolecule making up the shell of crustaceans such as lobsters.\u201d<\/p>\n

And for the flooring? \u201cWe took inspiration from the antibacterial denticles of the Galapagos shark\u2019s skin, thus eliminating the need for toxic detergents.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably safe to assume the units don\u2019t feature granite countertops \u2014 a small price to pay for saving the planet.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One man\u2019s trash is another man\u2019s massive aquatic superstructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":142337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11269],"tags":[],"coauthors":[8692],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nArchitect proposes half-a-mile-tall 3D-printed \u2018oceanscraper\u2019 made of garbage and algae | Livabl<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Vincent Callebaut sees harmful flotsam as the building block for a new kind of structure. It\u2019s something he calls an \u201coceanscraper.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Architect proposes half-a-mile-tall 3D-printed \u2018oceanscraper\u2019 made of garbage and algae | Livabl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vincent Callebaut sees harmful flotsam as the building block for a new kind of structure. It\u2019s something he calls an \u201coceanscraper.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Livabl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-02T13:00:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-26T21:50:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/aequorea.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"798\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"566\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Sherman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Sherman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper\",\"name\":\"Architect proposes half-a-mile-tall 3D-printed \u2018oceanscraper\u2019 made of garbage and algae | Livabl\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/aequorea.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-02T13:00:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-26T21:50:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/ea346b208c822908a989277b94dd1e24\"},\"description\":\"Vincent Callebaut sees harmful flotsam as the building block for a new kind of structure. It\u2019s something he calls an \u201coceanscraper.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/aequorea.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/aequorea.jpg\",\"width\":798,\"height\":566},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Archives\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Architect proposes half-a-mile-tall 3D-printed \u2018oceanscraper\u2019 made of garbage and algae\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/\",\"name\":\"Livabl\",\"description\":\"Building New Home Dreams\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/ea346b208c822908a989277b94dd1e24\",\"name\":\"Josh Sherman\",\"description\":\"Josh reports on the Western Canada housing market for Livabl from its Toronto HQ. Since graduating from Humber College\u2019s journalism program in 2014, his work has appeared in numerous publications, including Vice, Toronto Life, Metro Toronto (now StarMetro), Exclaim!, and NOW Magazine. Josh has also interned at Canadian urbanism magazine Spacing and published short fiction in the Great Lakes Review.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshuaxsherman\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/author\/josh-sherman\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Architect proposes half-a-mile-tall 3D-printed \u2018oceanscraper\u2019 made of garbage and algae | Livabl","description":"Vincent Callebaut sees harmful flotsam as the building block for a new kind of structure. It\u2019s something he calls an \u201coceanscraper.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Architect proposes half-a-mile-tall 3D-printed \u2018oceanscraper\u2019 made of garbage and algae | Livabl","og_description":"Vincent Callebaut sees harmful flotsam as the building block for a new kind of structure. It\u2019s something he calls an \u201coceanscraper.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper","og_site_name":"Livabl","article_published_time":"2016-01-02T13:00:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-06-26T21:50:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":798,"height":566,"url":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/aequorea.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Josh Sherman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Josh Sherman","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper","url":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper","name":"Architect proposes half-a-mile-tall 3D-printed \u2018oceanscraper\u2019 made of garbage and algae | Livabl","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/aequorea.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-02T13:00:40+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-26T21:50:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/ea346b208c822908a989277b94dd1e24"},"description":"Vincent Callebaut sees harmful flotsam as the building block for a new kind of structure. It\u2019s something he calls an \u201coceanscraper.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/aequorea.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/aequorea.jpg","width":798,"height":566},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives\/architect-proposes-oceanscraper#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Archives","item":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/archives"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Architect proposes half-a-mile-tall 3D-printed \u2018oceanscraper\u2019 made of garbage and algae"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/","name":"Livabl","description":"Building New Home Dreams","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/ea346b208c822908a989277b94dd1e24","name":"Josh Sherman","description":"Josh reports on the Western Canada housing market for Livabl from its Toronto HQ. Since graduating from Humber College\u2019s journalism program in 2014, his work has appeared in numerous publications, including Vice, Toronto Life, Metro Toronto (now StarMetro), Exclaim!, and NOW Magazine. Josh has also interned at Canadian urbanism magazine Spacing and published short fiction in the Great Lakes Review.","sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshuaxsherman"],"url":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/author\/josh-sherman"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142336"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142336"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.livabl.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=142336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}