Next 'Great Pyramid' made in Germany?

A group in Dessau, Germany, has received funds and famed architect Rem Koolhaas as an adviser in its quest to build the world's largest structure.

Dubbed a "monument for all of us" the new "Great Pyramid," which is estimated would take about 30 years to complete, would be about 1,900 feet tall and 10 times larger than the Great Pyramid of Egypt, according to the Great Pyramid's Web site.

Instead of being a monument to only a few individuals, Germany's Great Pyramid would be a communal tomb open to anyone regardless of nationality or denomination. It would offer burial space in the form of a "tomb container with ashes of the deceased" and engraved "memorial stones" with time capsules to store personal memorabilia.

A burial spot will cost about $960 (700 euros), Jens Thiel, an economist and one of the Friends of the Great Pyramid leaders, told U.K. construction magazine Building .

On Sunday, the group presented a stone prototype of the Great Pyramid at a Great Pyramid Festival in Streetz, a small village north of Dessau.

Pritzker-winning Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas is set to lead the jury for choosing a final design for the project, according to several reports. Students under Heiko Holzberger at Weimar Bauhaus University in Germany conducted a technology feasibility study that concluded the project is viable, according to the Great Pyramid Web site.

The project has been given starter funding by the "Future of Labor" program of the government-backed German Federal Cultural Foundation.

As part of the group's business plan, the structure would be built up and out incrementally so that stones are added only as people buy placement in the pyramid.

Source

Wow, this would be quite the undertaking!

I can't believe no one is commenting on this. Anyone? Anyone at all?

good news, thanks. I wonder what people will be saying about it in 10 000 years.

What an interesting concept. Another point of interest would be what sort of materials will it be made of? Will it outlast the Real Great Pyramids?

Heh, the Real Great Pyramids..

And the price isn't bad either. They are only going to charge $960 to be buried in it. Hell, most funerals and burials these days cost in excess of $6,000!! And in the case of cremation, maybe half that price. So the "pyramid plot" is about 1/3 the price. Should I make my reservations now, or after it's built? The rate at which our world is headed, I don't know if we'll be around in 30 years when they are finished building it.

And if they do build it, terrorists (err, I mean the U.S. government) might just fly a jet into it.

[edit on 9/9/2007 by pjslug]

Great find.

I'm speechless. Just flabbergasted. I have to move to Germany now.

Originally posted by pjslug
And the price isn't bad either. They are only going to charge $960 to be buried in it. Hell, most funerals and burials these days cost in excess of $6,000!! And in the case of cremation, maybe half that price.

If I read the article correctly, the $960 is for cremation.

It would offer burial space in the form of a "tomb container with ashes of the deceased" and engraved "memorial stones" with time capsules to store personal memorabilia.

Too bad. I wouldn't mind it being my final resting place.

Originally posted by Beachcoma
If I read the article correctly, the $960 is for cremation.

Right, that's what I meant. I said it was 1/3 of what we charge for cremation. Sorry, by "burial" that's what I was referring to.

It will be built incrementally as plots or stones, I guess, are purchased.

This doesn't really sound like a good idea from that standpoint.

What if people aren't that hot on the idea and what's left is a half-built monstrosity?

Germany has a terrible history of turning people to ashes. I'd rather not be "buried" there.

Originally posted by Godruigez
Germany has a terrible history of turning people to ashes. I'd rather not be "buried" there.

That is a good point. Very symbolic. Although they are one of the most anti-nazi countries in the EU now. So I doubt that is their motivation for the project. But interesting that you thought of that, nonetheless.