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A question about Renraku arcology and arcologies in general.

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Senko

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« on: <10-01-17/2212:04> »
I may have asked this before, if so I've forgotten the answer and I apologise. Is there a reason the floors are cyclical in terms of inhabitant social strata rather than layered? That is does anyone know why it goes blue collar, corporate offices, middle class, blue collar, corporate offices, middle class housing, mages, executive, schooling, executive housing, luxury housing. Rather than say blue collar, corporate offices,  schooling, middle class, mages, luxury housing, executive housing? It just seems a little odd to me that you can have a blue collar worker living hundreds of floors up from the  middle class housing with better views and quicker access to schools.

As for Arcologies in general how stable are they that is if you transplanted one to an earthquake prone country would it be safe or would the sheer size make them more vulnerable to quakes?

ShadowcatX

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« Reply #1 on: <10-01-17/2303:05> »
Just sheer convenience I believe. If all the middle class and blue collar have to travel a dozen or more floors to get to work every day, and to get home afterward, problems start to arise.

Mirikon

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« Reply #2 on: <10-02-17/0719:22> »
I'd have to agree with ShadowcatX on that, in part. Convenience (being closer to your department) would be part of it, certainly. But when you consider that an Arcology is basically a small city in its own right, with a population of about 100K people, you can separate the different floors as 'neighborhoods' to do all those morale boosting (and cheap) activities that inspire competition between floors, or whatever. Also, if there are problems, you can relocate people within the building, and not lose valuable talent despite any domestic trouble.
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Rosa

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« Reply #3 on: <10-02-17/1048:02> »
Regarding the earthquake thing. Nothing can be entirely earthquake proof, but there are several different things you can do when constructing a building to make it more earthquake resistant and I'm pretty sure that such a prestige project as a corporate arcology would have at least some earthquake proofing  if it was built in an earthquake prone area. That being said, if the big one hits, a corporate arcology could easily turn into a nasty deathtrap.

ShadowcatX

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« Reply #4 on: <10-02-17/1107:45> »
Don't neglect corporate politics in Archology living conditions, either.

"You have done a wonderful job with us, but you have given birth to two orks, your bloodline just isn't suitable for upper, more pure, floors."

Or

"Your project's failure has earned you a demotion. However, your drive and dedication to it has caught the eye of some important people."

Beyond that different levels will also likely develop some of their own culture, and you don't want that culture cross pollenating (for lack of a better term).

Also, loyalty and lack of exposure to new people / ideas. If the janitor who empties the CEO's trashcan has to go up 100 floors he's going to be exposed to all kinds of people on a daily basis.

Mirikon

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« Reply #5 on: <10-02-17/1249:42> »
Well, cross-pollinating cultures can be a good thing, as long as it is managed right. Hence interfloor competitions or games. That is a cheap way for a corporation to improve morale and productivity.

Also, splitting the floors makes it easier to catch any troublemakers who may decide to go rabble rousing. Best nip any angry mobs in the bud, no?
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ShadowcatX

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« Reply #6 on: <10-02-17/1354:00> »
Interfloor competitions are going to be an exception, not the rule. You certainly don't want your executive's administrative Assistant associating with low brow blue collar folk and picking up their ways of speaking.

Splitting floors also keeps job duties divided. I mean Imagine if all the secretaries lived together, got to know and befriend each other, then tried to unionize.

Sphinx

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« Reply #7 on: <10-02-17/1533:30> »
Seems to me that, although higher floors would be more desirable than lower floors, spaces on the outer edge (i.e. offices and apartments with windows) would be even more highly prized, whatever the floor.

Mini-atriums (open spaces that span multiple floors, with interior balconies) would be one way to simulate the prestige of an outward-facing office, and encourage microcultures within the arcology that aren't based strictly on elevation. Staircases, escalators, and short-distance elevators (spanning just a few floors) would help unify these interior open spaces.

As a general rule, you want people living close to their assigned workplace, able to get from their apartment to their workstation within a few minutes of walking and maybe a few flights of stairs, rather than have hundreds if not thousands of people crowding the elevators to go up or down multiple floors at shift change. So you'll have layered residential and commercial zones inside an arcology, sometimes arranged vertically (by floor), sometimes horizontally (around interior atriums or manufacturing/hydroponic spaces).

Mirikon

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« Reply #8 on: <10-02-17/1653:06> »
Interfloor competitions are going to be an exception, not the rule. You certainly don't want your executive's administrative Assistant associating with low brow blue collar folk and picking up their ways of speaking.

Splitting floors also keeps job duties divided. I mean Imagine if all the secretaries lived together, got to know and befriend each other, then tried to unionize.
Well, I was talking about interfloor competitions within the same 'class', as it were. Factory workers who live on one floor competing against factory workers on another floor is classic bread and circuses.
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Spooky

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« Reply #9 on: <10-02-17/1802:02> »
As far as earthquake safety goes, the building techniques we currently have for earthquake resistant buildings can keep buildings upright in up to 8.0 on the Richter scale, and there is research going on how to make that better. Given that Renraku's arcology is a ziggurat style, it is reasonably earthquake resistant just by shape. Building materials also play a key part, and I suspect that it would have an active dampening system or four as well, so the Seattle arcology should be quite resistant.
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ShadowcatX

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« Reply #10 on: <10-02-17/1924:59> »
Interfloor competitions are going to be an exception, not the rule. You certainly don't want your executive's administrative Assistant associating with low brow blue collar folk and picking up their ways of speaking.

Splitting floors also keeps job duties divided. I mean Imagine if all the secretaries lived together, got to know and befriend each other, then tried to unionize.
Well, I was talking about interfloor competitions within the same 'class', as it were. Factory workers who live on one floor competing against factory workers on another floor is classic bread and circuses.

I thought you meant like extra curricular activities. I can see them actually doing sporting events and the like.

Senko

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« Reply #11 on: <10-02-17/2036:47> »
OK I jump around a little on my points here so sorry for that.

1) Hmmm some good points there I hadn't thought about especially window apartments being more prized than interior ones even if you went with something like this http://inhabitat.com/ziggurat-dubai-carbon-neutral-pyramid-will-house-1-million/ which is in sections or this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2352891/Worlds-biggest-building-opens-China-huge-fit-20-Sydney-Opera-Houses-inside.html which apparently has its own artificial sun (?) there'd be ones that are all interior walls and require pictures/image viewers. The commute also hadn't occured to me as I travel 1.5 hours every day on a train so crowded you have to squeeze thorugh people to get off and we aren't even the worst off. So there are valid reasons to split the place up by class in a cyclical motion rather than just 1, 2, 3. Ok I have something I can understand and work with now thankks.

2) Could lead to some interesting social dynamics developing especially on these 300 story ones

"Sure I'm just a Janitor but I live on the 132nd floor you earn twice my yearly pay but you're stuck on the 43rd floor and you don't even get a better view because while I don't have windows all you see are buildings."

Especially if you treat them as sort of mini-towns so you have the 202 Dodgers playing baseball against the 103 Eagle's as teams of their 10 story blocks.

3) I also am amused by the fact the mages and luxury apartments only appear once near the very top of the buildings along with the university.

4) Really up to 8.0 buildings that's a lot better earthquare protection that I thought we had as that's pretty bad. I agree the zigguraut style (if you go pure building rather than cutting it into sections) would provide a fair amount of stability though that could be offset by shifting foundations a little. Still not really important I was just trying to figure out if they could be built in a heavy earthquake area or if they'd need to be placed in stable places so good they can go anywhere they'll fit.

Thanks for the responses this helps.