After watching the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, on all major TV networks world wide, and seeing those unfortunate souls jumping from the upper-most floors of the WTC, I've come to the conclusion that there must be a better way for architects to design skyscrapers which would allow everyone to escape more quickly and safely. Sure, it was a deliberate attack by mad men, but what if it was just one jet-liner that hit the WTC North tower, completely by accident? A good example being the B-25 Mitchell Bomber that hit the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945. The result would have been much the same as on September 11, 2001 if it had been just an accident, only involving one airliner. Poor souls on the upper floors would have still had to jump, or burn to death. Such a pity in these days of high-technology. There must be a better way to get people out of these buildings. Here is my idea, for you architects who design these death-traps that stick almost a mile into the sky. With a design that I'm about to propose, the owners of yet to be built skycrapers might even make a buck.
Elevators, and stair-cases are a must in all skyscrapers, they cannot be done without. They are vital in getting people to the upper floors, and down. A third system for getting people down in a hurry is needed, how about a slide?
Picture a large tube, three to four feet in diameter, all stainless steel, very smooth on the inside. This tube coils its way down from the uppermost floor, around the main elevator shaft, down to the basement. Each floor has a computer controlled door one can enter so that when there is an emergency, the doors to this tube will open and people can jump into it and slide down to the basement. The doors leading to the inside of the tube would have to open by computer control; we don't want a person to enter the tube only to be bashed by another person sliding down from above. A huge fan, much like those in a wind tunnel slows your descent, and you pop out in the basement onto a moving conveyor belt which moves you out of the way. You don't want to get hit by the next person sliding down behind you. The wind from the fan would help cool the inside of the tube, (a raging fire could heat up sections of this tube.) The large fan used to slow you down would provide much needed oxygen for people inside the tube and would help cool the tube down the same time. The exhaust from the fan would exit out the very top of the sky scraper. A large grate would prevent anyone on the roof top from entering the slide illegally.
All entrance doors to this tube would be closed and cannot be opened except in the event of an true emergency. In an emergency, these tube doors will not open if there is a person above your floor sliding down. Once that person, or those people slide by, a computer will open the door. Of course, the computer will open the doors of the floor that is having the most problems during the emergency, giving priority to those floors so people on those floors can get out first. On floors not so affected, people will directed to take the elevators, or stairs.
The escape tube could double as the ultimate amusement ride. Just below the roof top of such a building, there could be an observatory deck, restaurant, etc. There will be concessions stand where you buy tickets to ride The Escape Tube, all the way to the basement, if you dare. Picture a slide ride from 100 floors up, if you can. Once you enter, there would be no stopping. The slide ride would be closed, immediately, should any emergency occur, but can be opened by computer control to allow even those people to escape quickly. What a ride it would be!
I'm not an
engineer, nor am I an architect. There are plenty of fabulous ones out there, one only has to look at the wonderful structures they've built so far, things that fill us with
wonder. As for myself, I would not even enter the tallest buildings of the world at ground floor, let alone go to the top of one. Work in one? Forget it! How do you escape one if there is a fire, or an
earthquake, if the elevators are full? I cannot
walk down flights of stairs, let alone
run down them. There are many people out there sharing my boat. If they had a big slide inside, I would go to the very top of the tallest skyscraper without
fear. I would even pay 50-100 Dollars to ride their slide,
just one time.