Looking for new ways to deal with the lack of space in Tokyo in the late 1990s, Shimizu Corp. sought ideas from architects Dante Bini and David Dimitric. The result was the Shimizu Pyramid, a structure to be built in Tokyo Bay out of yet-to-be-invented carbon-nanotube materials. It would have an 86,1 OO-sq-ft foundation on 36 concrete piers, rise to a height of 6,575 ft and be home to 250,000 residents. Loosely based on fast-erection methods invented by Bini, each of the 55 smaller pyramidal segments could be raised in a matter of hours using air bladders and self-locking frames.
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