Editing Megastructure (section)

{{short description|Very large artificial object}}
{{Distinguish||Superstructure|Skyscraper}}
{{Other uses|Megastructure (disambiguation)}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Excessive examples|date=November 2024}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2024}}
{{Original research|date=November 2024}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
[[File:GreatWallNearBeijingWinter.jpg|thumb|300px|The [[Great Wall of China]], at {{cvt|6352|km|disp=or||}} long, is a megastructure. This picture was taken near Beijing in February 2005.]]

A '''megastructure''' (or '''macrostructure'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=SFE: Macrostructures |url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/macrostructures |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=sf-encyclopedia.com}}</ref>) is a very large artificial object, although the limits of precisely how large vary considerably. Some apply the term to any especially large or tall building.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.megastructure.org/main/full_about |title="about the Megastructure" |access-date=16 September 2008 |archive-date=7 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007120027/http://www.megastructure.org/main/full_about |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>
[https://archive.org/details/modernurbanlands0000relp/page/243 <!-- quote=megastructure define. --> "The Modern Urban Landscape"] by E. C. Relph</ref> Some sources define a megastructure as an enormous self-supporting artificial construct. The products of [[megascale engineering]] or [[astroengineering]] are megastructures.

Most megastructure designs could not be constructed with today's level of industrial technology. This makes their design examples of [[exploratory engineering|speculative (or exploratory) engineering]]. Those that could be constructed tend to qualify as [[megaproject]]s. Examples of megaprojects are the [[Zuiderzee Works]] in the [[Netherlands]] and [[Burj Khalifa]] in [[Dubai]], the [[UAE]].

[[Megastructure (planning concept)|Megastructures]] are also an [[architectural]] concept popularized in the 1960s where a city could be encased in a single building, or a relatively small number of buildings interconnected. Such [[arcology]] concepts are popular in [[science fiction]]. Megastructures often play a part in the plot or setting of science fiction movies and books, such as ''[[Rendezvous with Rama]]'' by [[Arthur C. Clarke]].

In 1968, Ralph Wilcoxen defined a megastructure as any structural framework into which rooms, houses, or other small buildings can later be installed, uninstalled, and replaced; and which is capable of "unlimited" extension. This type of framework allows the structure to adapt to the individual wishes of its residents, even as those wishes change with time.<ref>{{cite web | first=Anthony | last=Paine | url=https://indexarticles.com/business/architectural-review-the/mega-structure/ | title=Mega structure | work=Architectural Review, The | via=indexarticles | date=2021}}</ref>

Other sources define a megastructure as "any development in which residential densities are able to support services and facilities essential for the development to become a self-contained community".<ref>
[https://books.google.com/books?id=0Kkpv-ZqFskC&dq=megastructure+define&pg=PA150 "Future Forms and Design for Sustainable Cities"] by Michael Jenks, Nicola Dempsey 2005</ref>

Many architects have designed such megastructures. Some of the more notable such architects and architectural groups include the [[Metabolist Movement]], [[Archigram]], [[Cedric Price]], [[Frei Otto]], [[Constant Nieuwenhuys]], [[Yona Friedman]], and [[Buckminster Fuller]].<ref>[http://www.megastructure-reloaded.org/en/megastructure/ "Megastructure reloaded: megastructure"]</ref>