Incredible technology that’ll ensure ‘The Line’ has a perfectly balanced climate every day
You may or may not have heard about The Line, being billed as Saudi Arabia's biggest ever project, a huge city built in the shape of a 170km streak through the landscape.
It's like an impossibly big skyscraper laid down on its side, with mirrored surfaces that make it almost disappear and hide in its surroundings.
Those surroundings, though, are frequently going to be subjected to quite extreme weather, making climate control one of the biggest challenges facing the project.
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Apparently, though, The Line's designers and architects have been considering this problem right from the start, as the project's website confirmed.
In a section concerning the liveable climate of The Line, it said: "To ensure the establishment of microclimatic spaces, the environment has been carefully designed to allow for an optimal balance of sunlight, shade and natural ventilation. "Furthermore, the green open spaces throughout the city will further enhance the comfort for those living, working and visiting here."
This references the fact that the city will apparently have plenty of parks and squares within its confines, breaking up the buildings and ensuring there is pleasant space to walk around.
There's a stated aim that anyone, anywhere in The Line, should be within a two-minute walk of some nature, whether that's one of these green spaces, or a proper view of the mountains or sea.
So, it sounds like some of the climate control will involve traditional methods like air conditioning, but that a surprising amount of it will be around sunlight and shade - which basically means ensuring that the angles of buildings are all correct to block out the desert sun at certain times of the day.
The city is, in theory, ecologically-minded, too, with no cars to speak of and a 100% reliance on renewable energy according to its publicity material - although it's less clear whether the actual construction of the project is similarly carbon neutral.
There will also be a public transit system that will seemingly be able to move extremely quickly, going from one end to the other in less than 30 minutes, so the idea is that no matter where on The Line you live or work, you shouldn't have to spend too long commuting between the two.
It's one of those projects that's a little hard to actually imagine being real, even as you read about it or see photos of its construction, which is now in its early stages.
However, with completion on the project aimed for 2030, it's going to get more and more credible as The Line starts to actually exist in its landscape.