GEOtube: Vertical Salt Deposit Growth System

GEOtube is a proposal for a new 170 meter tall tower for the city of Dubai. With an open structure and an exposed membrane skin, the vertical planes of the GEOtube tower are continually misted with local salt water via an internal vascular water system.

The result is a continual uniform growth of salt crystal deposits upon its vertically expansive surfaces, providing a highly identifiable architectural icon for the city, a specialized habitat for wildlife that thrives is this specialized environment, and an accessible skin for the harvesting of salt.

Thom Faulders is a San Francisco- based architect and professor at the California College of the Arts.