Timelinks, a Dubai engineering firm has created a sustainable design for the largest man-made residential structure on the planet.

With a foundation covering almost a square mile and towering almost a mile high, it dwarfs the tallest tower in the world -- the Burj Dubai.

But this is much more than just the biggest building in the world: This is a design for an entire small city, able to support a million people sustainably. The Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians of ancient Mesopotamia would be astounded by this luxurious ziggurat a mere 3,000 years into their future. The sheer bravado of this gorgeous concept is just breathtaking.

Using solar and wind power, the mega structure will actually create its own moist internal weather. Steam generated with the help of photovoltaic cell panels on the pyramid’s exterior would be piped from the ground level to the uppermost heights of the pyramid’s interior and then released, instantly turning it into a soft drizzle that would fall on the lush garden communities inside the pyramid. Such an ecosystem, full of vegetation, mild temperatures and regular rainfall, would make it a very desirable city for people living in dry desert conditions.

Transport throughout the complex would be connected by an integrated 360-degree network horizontally and vertically. Private cars would be not needed at all for travel within the city.

Ridas Matonis, director of Timelinks, has created a futuristic vision of sustainable cities grounded in an ancient past. It would require 90 percent less land than a traditional city. Timelinks has patented the design and technology incorporated into the project and has applied to the European Union for a grant for technical projects.

A number of eminent professors will be on hand to explain the technicalities of how the Ziggurat project works and how these communities can be integrated in master projects when Timelinks unveils the concept in October at the Cityscape Dubai.

Via ecoworldly