posted Wed, 6/9/10 12:05 PM

Spotted over at designboom, OFL Architecture’s Enoki Eco City is a fantastical, sustainable model for Rome. Possibly inspired by fungi sprouting up from the ground, the city is a series of criss-crossing towers with topped with pods coated in a shiny metallic surface to reflect the surrounding landscape. Envisioned to be a completely self-sufficient city with regards to energy and daily necessities, the city is an exploration of future urban possibilities.

Encouraged by achievements in material science, energy conservation, aerodynamic and environmental solutions, OFL Architecture was able to dream up the sprouting cities in the sky based on knowledge of what is possible. Enoki Eco City is composed of a series of structural towers that rise up 150 stories over the landscape to sprout pods that contain the necessities for urban life. Elevators, which you would expect to occupy the towers are eliminated, and residents and guests are transported between the city and the top of the Enoki via flying shuttles.

The small self-contained cities includes residences, commercial spaces, green areas, spaces for community activities, sport and cultural activities. The exterior is “made with steel diamond-shaped panels, appropriately follows the main cellular structure of the enoki made from steel and glass, having a molecular shape.” Rome-based OFL designed the Enoki originally for Rome, but envisions that the eco city concept would be applicable for any major city, providing housing for 6,000 residents.

VIA: INHABITAT