Arconic, a materials science company, has envisioned a three-mile-high skyscraper¹ built from materials that are either in-development or have already been brought to market, including smog-eating surfaces and retractable² balconies.

 

材料科学公司Arconic设想出一幢三英里（约4828米）高的摩天大楼。大楼使用的材料全都是正在开发或已经问世的，包括能够净化雾霾的外立面和可伸缩的阳台。
 

 

The tower was concocted³ as part of the company's larger campaign known as "The Jetsons," an homage⁴ to the 1962 cartoon set in 2062. Arconic's engineers worked alongside futurists to imagine the technologies that will be most useful several decades from now.

 

Sherri McCleary, one of Arconic's chief materials scientists, says one of the most exciting and immediate⁵ projects is EcoClean, a special coating that helps buildings self-clean and purify the surrounding air. It was first released in 2011 and offers a number of benefits over traditional pane⁶ glass windows, McCleary says.

 

"The functional⁷ coating provides aesthetics⁸, it provides maintenance benefits, and it also provides a benefit to the surrounding environment by reducing the content of pollutants⁹ around it," she tells Business Insider.

 

EcoClean works with help from light and water vapor¹⁰, which mix with the chemicals in the coating to produce atoms known as free radicals¹¹. These free radicals pull in pollutants from the air and break them down to get sloughed¹² off the side of the building along with dirt and grime — almost like dead skin.

 

The end result is a cleaner building surrounded by cleaner air.

 

Another innovation is in the windows themselves, which Arconic also hopes could be a part of the three-mile-high tower. The new design is called Bloomframe. Essentially¹³, it's a motorized window that converts into an all-glass balcony in under a minute.

 

Arconic has been showcasing the technology at trade shows around the world and will hit the market in the "near future," a company spokesperson says.

 

Rather than spend twice the money on materials to build separate windows and ledges¹⁴, Arconic wants to invest in flexible components¹⁵ that can make buildings more than just static giants.

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