Megabuildings

"Yeah, look. I know this place's pretty bad, but its got a warm bed, and the view from the rooftop's pretty nice when the smog clears. Could be worse, i guess."

— A resident of Megabuilding 09, in Yukon City

Megabuildings, also known as Towertowns or Resiplex, are large, high density, and self contained residential complexes which include thousands of appartements units, numerous commercial spaces and, in many cases, their own amneties, such as gyms, libraries, and even daycares and elementary schools. The largest of them even have their own medical and security forces, making them in essence, a self contained, and somewhat self reliant city within a city.

But / Fonction

The first megabuildings were built as a way to quickly and efficiently house and accommodate some of the hundredss of millions of refugies produced by the numerous wars of the 2040s and 2050s. These events caused the widespread destruction of numerous countries and the near total collapse of the earth's biosphere.
These millions of refugies, inculding thousands of suburbanites migrated to the world's remaining large cities, rendering them incredibly overpopulated and causing a large spike of homelessness, skyrocketing rent prices, and put immense strain on public services. The megabuildings were specificaly designed to be a cheap, quick and efficient way to solve all of these problems, and it worked. At least for a time.
In fact, they were so successful during the 2060s and 2070s that many even called them miracle towers at the time. Conditions inside were mediocre at best, but from an outside perspective, it had worked. Nowadays, Megabuildings are still being built, arguably in even greater numbers as the world outside of the largest cities continues to become less and less hospitable for human life.

Architecture

Overview

Megabuildings are exactly what their name suggests: Massive, monolithic buildings, designed to be a city within a city. Each of them contain most of the amenities a person may need or desire. Their most defining feature is the sheer amount of people that are able to live within. Most are designed to house up to 40 000 people, dispersed into some 12 000 appartements. However, since many of them are overcrowded, the real number of inhabitants can easily be double that amount, or even more.

The Blocks

The buildings themselves are often divided into sections, called blocks, which are stacked on top of each other. The divisions between each blocks is nearly always left visible from the outside, creating that stacked block tower look. The inner most sections of these blocks are always left hollow, creating a large skylight hole at the top. However, because of their height, the light rarely reaches the bottom, leaving the lower blocks in shadows. Each of these blocks contain thousands of modular appartements units of various sizes, as well as a lobby area occupying the lowest section, including up to three levels up. These lobbies contain all the ameneties the block's residents need. Every blocks are connected with stairs and elevator shafts, giving access to the ones above and bellow, or even to the outside.

The Appartements

Most appartements, especialy in lower blocks, are small and cramped. They usualy consist of two rooms. A relatively large multipurpose room that combines a kitchenette, sitting space and enough room for a bed, as well as a small bathroom to the side. Some appartements are larger, featuring a seperate bedroom with bunk beds and a bathroom with a bath in it. A common feature in all appartements is a lack of balconies or openable windows. This is due to a few reasons, such as reducing cost and keep the toxic air outside and the clean filtrated air inside.

The Lobbies

Occupying the lowest levels of each blocks is a large common area, usualy called a lobby. These lobbies constitutes of a large open space spanning many levels and which are lined with various shops of all kinds, as well as service outlets. Here, residents can find grocery stores and electronics shop, fast food restaurants, laudromats, gyms, daycares and schools, as well as medical and security offices.

Security Systems

Multiple layers of security exist to prohibit access by non-residents. All of the megabuildings entrances are chip activated by Microchips, meaning that an id chip is necessary to access and reside in a megabuilding for identification purposes. That same chip id also allows access to the lobby's ameneties, shops, and services. These buildings are also an extensive system of cameras, which run 24/7, filming nearly every inch of the building's interior, including the lobby, the hallways, balconies, stairwells, elevators, and even inside some of the units, although residents often block these illegaly.

Histoire

In the 2050s, following the widespread destruction brought by the Third World War, the West Asian Crisis, and the collapse of both the USA and PRC, many countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas had to deal with an unprecedented refugie crisis, as millions of people migrated out of their devastated countries, towards those that remained standing and functional, or those that were simply less destroyed by those events.
The crisis was compounded in North-America by its reliance on automobiles and suburbia after the collapse of the world's oil markets after the West Asian Crisis. This, and the decaying climate conditions in the continent's interior made large swathes of Canada, the former USA, and Mexico unsuitable for human life, especialy suburban and rural living. This caused millions of suburbanites to migrate to the cities. 
A similar migration was also witnessed on other continents as conditions deteriorated there as well. Hundreds of millions of humans migrated within their countries or to others, leaving behind millions of abandoned homes and strip malls. This is why in NA in particular, cities aren't just surrounded by protective walls, but also by miles of decaying infrastructure, inhabited by gangs, nomads, and Deviants.
In the cities themselves, all of these migrants created an accute rise in homelessness, poverty, and crime. By the late 2050s, a solution to this cripling crisis was developed in North-America, using the concept of Acrology. The idea was that, by briging all of those people under one roof, construction and maintenance costs would be slashed, and services would be able to reach the residents quickly and efficiently, further reducing cost and eliminating travel time.
The first Megabuildings plans were drafted in 2057, and by 2060, the first ones had been completed in Yukon City, San-Francisco, Calgary, Monterrey, Tampico and Halifax. By the mid-2070s, this style of urban developement had gone international, with dozens of megabuildings rising in cities all around the world, like Sydney, Lagos, Madrid, New York, Paris, Bogotá, Dar es salam, Rio de janeiro, and Cairo. It was also around that time that corporations became the primary financiers of new megabuilding construction, who used them primarily as residences for their employees.

Megabuilding H09 by Ephraim Boateng (Me)

Date de fondation

The first ones began construction during the 2060s

Noms Alternatifs

Also known as Towertowns and Resi-plex(Short for Residential Complex),

Type

Arcology / Residential Complex

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Crime and Overpopulation

Because many Megabuildings are becoming older, and are managed by corrupt corpos, their camera and ID systems are prone to damage and even hacking by residents. Most camera systems have known blind spots in their coverage, and some residents use them for illegal activities, like drug trafficking, prostitution, and even assault and murder. These issues are compounded by overpopulation, where more people live per unit than what is allowed, putting a strain on the local services and infrastructure.

Rent Payment

Some Megabuildings contain condo units instead of rentals, which people can buy and live in without having to pay rent. However, these are getting increasingly rarer, as new megabuildings usualy only contain rental units and older Megabuildings have had most of their condo units converted to rentals. 90% of megabuilding units in NA are rentals, with monthly rents

However, some programs allow for weekly and even daily rent payments. These special programs are usualy advertised as a way to give the residents cheaper options, but often results in them paying more than they would have otherwise. Failure to pay rent on time means that residents of a unit will be locked out of their home, as the scanner door lock will no longer recongnise their id key as valid.

Corporate Housing

Warren&Co. is a large, multi-national corporation that was established in 2061, during the first megabuilding construction boom. The corporation, which originates from winnipeg, owns about 70% of all megabuildings in North-America. The remaining 30% are owned by a mix of private owners, other corporations, or very rarely a local government. They are often contracted by either other corporation or local governments to build new megabuildings. Their corporate logo can be seen on every single one of them; A bright blue neon sign, in the shape of a massive "W"

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General Interior Design

Each room model is designed to be as simple as possible in order to minimise cost and maximise efficiency, at the expense of individuality and confort. The colours used are plain and uniform, as it the style and colour of the floor tilling.

Entries

Each unit has one entry/exit door, and 1-3 windows, depending on its size, which itself in determined by its vertical position within the megabuilding. Vents, usualy located on the side walls(not on the ones with the doors or windows) or on the ceilling and floor connect each unit to a central HVAC system, of which their are usualy one per block.

Furnishing

Like everything else, the furnishing added to each unit is very minimal, Renters can expect a few items in the kitchen area, such as a electric kettle, a microwave oven, and a mini-fridge. There is not space available for a full size fridge or conventional oven. In the rest of the room, and sofa-bed is included as well as a table, both of which are usualy bolted onto the floor. Finaly, a TV and/or a computer are often included, although at a steep fee. Each item has a pre-determined amount of uses per day, and the resident will be locked out of using them if they go over that limit. The limit can be increased by paying extra fees included in the lease.