The project Eco-city 2020 foresees the construction of an artificial underground city inside the Mir diamond mine, the second largest excavated hole on the planet. The mine is about 1200 meter wide at the top and over 520 meter deep. Open mining of diamonds in this quarry is not more profitable, and will be continued by the undeground method, while a huge open pit will be left empty. If the project gets going, the mine would be completely covered with a glass dome, designed to protect the city from the Siberian weather.
The idea of this project belongs to the master-mind of the architectural bureau AB "ELIS" Nikolai Lyutomsky, an experienced architect, and to a student of the Moscow Architectural Institute, Elena Tsyrenova.
Eco-city would be constructed of multiple levels, with a large central core. The main upper floor would have residential areas terracing up around the walls of the mine. In the middle of building a wide light shaft would be located, transmitting the daylight down to the underground floors, so that farms and gardens could be placed in them. The residential area would be separated from the shaft by parks and recreation spaces.
On the the second floor, a forest would be plated, to clean the air in the city. The lowest floor can be adapted for production purposes and farming. The power for the settlement can be provided by a photovoltaic array outside of the building, as well as by a geothermal power plant inside. The total area of the Eco-city will reach 3 million m2, allowing for up to 10,000 residents. Some part of them would be tourists, whom, as the project designers are hoping, the underground city will be able to attract to the Eastern Siberia.
The project would solve a number of ecological problems, removing the threat of destruction of the town Mirny located on the edge of the quarry. It would also serve a testbed, where various artificial settlement technologies can be tried and perfected.