The GEOtube Tower Proposal is a scale model for a Vertical Salt Deposit Growth System for Dubai designed by Faulders Studio. The model’s modular components were fabricated by Emerging Objects for Faulders Studio using our unique Salt material, which is extremely translucent and conceptually consistent with the designer’s proposal.
The architect’s conceptual proposal is born from unique environmental conditions. The GEOtube is a new kind of urban sculptural tower. Gravity-sprayed with adjacent Persion Gulf waters, its building skin is entirely grown rather than constructed; is in continual formation rather than fully completed; and is created locally rather than imported. The world’s highest salinity for oceanic water is found in the Persian Gulf (and the Red Sea) – local salt water is supplied to GEOtube via a new 4.62 km buried pipeline and misted onto the tower’s exposed mesh. As the water evaporates and salt deposits aggregate over time, the tower’s appearance transforms from a transparent skin to a highly visible white solid plane. The result is a specialized habitat for wildlife that thrives is this environment, and an accessible surface for the harvesting of crystal salt.
The model will be featured in the ARCHILAB 2013 exhibit: Naturalizing Architecture at the FRAC Centre in Orleans, France.
Project: GEOtube 3d print model
Salt Fabrication: Emerging Objects
Materials: 3d printed salt
Dimensions: 24” H x 19.75” W x 8” D (60.9 cm x 50.1 cm x 20.3 cm)
Project Team: Emerging Objects (Ronald Rael, Virginia San Fratello, Bryan Allen, Kent Wilson); Faulders Studio (Thom Faulders, John Fulton)
Photography: Kent Wilson