enough to generate internal weather patterns, some say
April 2, 2018 7:09 AM   Subscribe

"It has been said that Tesla’s Gigafactory 1, currently under construction in Nevada, will be the biggest building in the world, if completed as planned, in 2020. Though superlatives like this are usually more a comparison of ways of measuring than empirical fact, it does provoke a consideration of the outer limits of enclosed space. If the Gigafactory, and the overall economy of scale, suggests that big boxes are getting bigger and bigger (Tesla even has other gigafactories in the works too), then perhaps it is interesting to consider the current state of the art of megaspace." The Center for Land Use Interpretation takes a look a megastructures in Building Big: The Outer Limits of Enclosure
posted by everybody had matching towels (15 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
If you ever find yourself in the neighborhood, touring the Boeing factory is very much worth a detour. It's mind-blowing on so many levels (including, yes, a discussion of indoor weather).
posted by potrzebie at 7:35 AM on April 2, 2018 [5 favorites]


We will need these, unfortunately. Crop lifecycles are already being disrupted due to global warming, and it's only going to get worse. I fully expect that, in the not too distant future, we'll be growing our food in vast, climate-controlled mega-buildings.
posted by Weftage at 8:05 AM on April 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


Capitalism, like alcohol, seems to be both the cause and solution to all life's problems.
posted by signal at 8:43 AM on April 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


We will need these, unfortunately. Crop lifecycles are already being disrupted due to global warming, and it's only going to get worse. I fully expect that, in the not too distant future, we'll be growing our food in vast, climate-controlled mega-buildings.

Alternatively, there's quite a lot of value in growing crops locally in multiple mini indoor farms or similar decentralized setups; this has the advantage of providing resilience (people don't starve if your megabuilding burns down or is infected by some kind of pest or disease), and much lower costs in terms of transportation and shipping.

I think we should do this sooner rather than later, because even before humans caused climate change, growing crops outdoors has always been risky. If we could grow most or all of what we need in a solar-powered, water-recycling, soil-preserving, pesticide-avoiding indoor setup, it would have enormous benefits not only for food security but for the environment.

Anyway, megabuildings seem to have a specific kind of usefulness per the article; mostly good for building or housing Very Large Things.
posted by emjaybee at 9:20 AM on April 2, 2018


This is great, and I love CLUI. But, I do wish they'd talked about *why* anyone would construct single buildings this large. Is it just to generate press buzz? Is there a point to it?

If you're assembling LC-130s, I can believe you need plenty of large, continuous spaces. But batteries and car parts? Aside from making the HVAC a lot more challenging and making your employees walk further from the nearest bus stop, what's the point? The VW plant in Puebla is the largest thing I've ever seen. Its footprint is 6X that of the new Tesla plant. It takes the greater part of an hour to circle in a car at highway speeds. But it's many tens of buildings instead of one. Why would anyone choose to try to put a roof over the whole thing?

It's neat to realize I've explored both the Merchandise Mart and GM’s Renaissance Center in the last year. Neither seems to be particularly happy places these days.
posted by eotvos at 10:28 AM on April 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


*why* anyone would construct single buildings this large. Is it just to generate press buzz? Is there a point to it?

The cost of exterior walls scales as the square root of roof area. The fewer buildings you have for any given area of cover, the less you spend on walls.
posted by flabdablet at 11:19 AM on April 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


Perhaps all that roof will help keep a lid on spiralling losses: Tesla recalls almost half the cars it ever built, as shares tank and Musk's billions shrink
posted by fairmettle at 12:01 PM on April 2, 2018 [3 favorites]


The cost of exterior walls scales as the square root of roof area.

And particularly so in this case. The artist's depiction shows the building's roof covered in solar panels, which is most efficiently done when the panels are laid out in vast expanses. If there were many individual buildings the layout would be less efficient and you'd probably need more inverters or batteries and some way to balance and distribute the load. Also, I suspect that the building will effectively be a sandbox and model for what Musk sees as Tesla's real business: products that receive, transform, and distribute solar energy.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:53 PM on April 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


Doesn't a small space generate internal weather patterns too? I have a couple of fairly self-watering terrariums, for example.
posted by agregoli at 5:13 PM on April 2, 2018


I'm sure I'm missing something I only meant that anything enclosed must have its own unique atmosphere of sorts.
posted by agregoli at 5:31 PM on April 2, 2018


Perhaps all that roof will help keep a lid on spiralling losses: Tesla recalls almost half the cars it ever built, as shares tank and Musk's billions shrink

Mildly off topic here, but I have noticed an uptick in anti Tesla and anti Musk articles recently, but I don't think they are related to the general health of his enterprises. In fact I think it might be the opposite, where the better he is doing, the more worried the "establishment" becomes.

On topic, there is no reason that a giant building would have only one entrance and one bus stop, so it is exceedingly unlikely that any employees will have to walk five kilometers every morning to get to their work station.

As for indoor farming, we already have greenhouses, and I expect that when the need arises we will have high-rise farms (or maybe multilevel underground farms), and it won't be that big of a deal. (Global warming will still be a huge problem, but I don't think that population issues will ever directly cause mass starvation events due to an actual lack of food)
posted by Literaryhero at 5:42 PM on April 2, 2018


"when the need arises we will have high-rise farms" does that "we" mean "humanity" or "the first world"?
posted by russm at 6:08 PM on April 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


It means "the prosperous 10% of the first world".
posted by flabdablet at 8:23 PM on April 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


fairmettle: "Perhaps all that roof will help keep a lid on spiralling losses: Tesla recalls almost half the cars it ever built, as shares tank and Musk's billions shrink"

No one has started a successful, independent, mass market (IE: companies cranking out essentially artisanal cars don't count), car company selling to the US since world war II. It's an extremely hard nut to crack with huge capitalization costs. All the new players were backed by either governments in their home countries or spin off/partnership with other car companies. I'll be really surprised if Musk succeeds and he's only got a chance because of the paradigm shift in the market currently occurring.

agregoli: "Doesn't a small space generate internal weather patterns too? I have a couple of fairly self-watering terrariums, for example."

I think people mean clouds when they say weather patterns. Otherwise every poorly vented shower room would "have it's own weather".
posted by Mitheral at 9:21 PM on April 2, 2018


The cost of exterior walls scales as the square root of roof area. The fewer buildings you have for any given area of cover, the less you spend on walls.
Thanks. That certainly makes sense. I'm surprised exterior walls are a significant fraction of the cost of building a manufacturing plant - but, I can believe it could be true.
posted by eotvos at 10:26 AM on April 3, 2018


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