Discovery Science’s “If We Built It Today” series asked SOM’s Bill Baker and Scott Duncan to create an Eiffel Tower of the 21st century.

The engineering and science show’s provocative thought experiments led to a group of experts weighing in on the materials, time, labor, and total cost it would require to build some of the world’s most impressive structures in a modern context. For the Eiffel Tower, Baker and Duncan came up with a design that utilizes cutting-edge structural engineering and prefabrication technology to conceptualize a tower ten times taller than the original.

Proposed for a site in Chicago’s Grant Park on the Lake Michigan waterfront, the tower would reach three kilometers in height, rising from a base not much larger than Gustave Eiffel’s original design.. It would require around 10 years to build. Using super-light concrete, designed and assembled with the assistance of A.I., its lattice-style openings and a narrowing form would minimize wind loads and create an attractive, contemporary form in a city known for innovative skyscraper designs. More than just an eye-catching icon, the tower would contribute to the operation of city services. The team anticipates that vertical farming throughout the tower could meet the annual needs of Chicago’s public school lunch program, while exterior solar panels could power the city’s fleet of buses. Inspired by the expansion of Burj Khalifa’s observation spaces, this new kind of Eiffel Tower would implement a system of observation pods that travel up and down the tower, providing unparalleled views of the Chicago region and a steady revenue stream that would help pay off the cost of the tower in 25 years.