ThyssenKrupp Showcases Its Sideways-Moving Elevator Concept
“MULTI” could drastically change 21st century architecture.
The German engineering firm ThyssenKrupp first announced the idea of a maglev elevator way back in 2014 to a mixture of excitement and disbelief. Now, three years on, it has finally performed its first public test of the technology. “MULTI” is a rope-less horizontal-vertical system that is coming to the real world at an 8070 ft high test tower in Rottweil, Germany.
ThyssenKrupp’s technology allows multiple elevator cabins to run in a loop. All it needs is a magnetic levitation to cycle not just one, but multiple cars through a building’s shaft system. The test tower boasts 12 test shafts, with cars that can travel as rapidly as 59 feet per second.
The new system is reportedly almost five times more expensive than conventional elevators, so adoption of the new design could take a while. But ThyssenKrupp already has its first customer — The Edge by OVG Real Estate. The “MULTI” system will be installed in its East Side Tower in Berlin, which could be finished by 2019.
