Living In the Clouds: The Future of High Rises: 3 Miles High Built with Smog Eating Materials? It's not High Rise Sci-Fi.

                           

                             

 Living in the Clouds

What does the future hold for building and building maintenance? A company named Arconic sees three mile high skyscrapers coated with smog eating materials to clean the exteriors. The company also see retractable balconies in the future.

Click on the link for the full story:
http://www.chron.com/technology/businessinsider/article/This-three-mile-high-skyscraper-design-is-coated-10847923.php#photo-12167791

A three mile high balcony sounds amazing, but speculation of "how high can you build" has intrigued engineers since the early "high rises" of 10 to 20 stories were first built in the 1880's.  Many years ago before I was in real estate, I was awed by a PBS documentary about high rise construction saying that the high rises can extend for miles -- as high as materials can support the building. I think the terrain would also have to be considered. The documentary pointed out that the "super high rises" would need "little cities" at different levels with groceries stores, other retail outlets and services like small fire departments to provide services and safety to the people who live there. I wonder what the condominium fees would be?

For more on high rise history, click on the link:
https://www.britannica.com/technology/skyscraper