Telosa city: BIG’s built-from-scratch desert vision with a timber Equitism Tower

Telosa city is a speculative urban proposal led by BIG for an organization founded by entrepreneur Marc Lore. It presents an American desert settlement planned from the ground up around a mobility network, community governance, and large scale public space. The plan imagines low and undulating blocks arranged around a central spine that culminates in the Equitism Tower, a geometric timber landmark described by BIG as a beacon for the city. New renderings highlight a circular, open air mobility hub built in wood, an outstretched silver sports village, the Lore Institute formed by interconnected volumes, and planted streets with buildings draped in greenery. According to the client, Telosa intends to welcome first residents by 2030 and reach five million people by 2050. While the exact site is undecided, a map on BIG’s website suggests Nevada as a candidate in the American Southwest.

The project frames a research driven approach to urban making that places people and governance at the core. The team states that the current focus is community building and open forums with prospective residents. The proposal also outlines renewable resources, drought resistant water systems, autonomous vehicles that shift between ground and air modes, and a city meeting culture that is open to the public. For architects, the scheme is a test bed that blends visionary architecture with policy and land value capture under the label Equitism. This article unpacks the spatial ideas, materials, systems, and the urban logic communicated so far, while considering what the proposition contributes to contemporary city making.

Urban diagram and landscape structure

The urban figure in images shows a low rise fabric that rises selectively into programmatic peaks. A water sensitive, drought aware stance is mentioned, which is critical in a desert setting. Roads form a central spine aligned to the Equitism Tower. Around it, planted corridors, shaded streets, and public plazas are depicted. The plan implies a walkable grain where cycling and micromobility link districts such as the sports village, the Lore Institute, and residential blocks. Renderings suggest a mix of hardscape and green space rather than a single continuous park, with balconies and green facades softening block edges. The intention is to support public life at grade while concentrating landmark intensity at the core.

Mobility hub as civic stage

A circular mobility hub anchors the transit idea. It is shown as an open air, four tiered wooden amphitheater encircled by twin metallic rails for vehicles. Ground to Air units, or G2A, appear in three modes at once. They hover on incoming and outgoing floating rail lines, and they roll on wheels in the hub’s center. This stack of modes clarifies a transit hierarchy without hiding the machines. The hub doubles as a grandstand for daily life, which suggests the building is conceived not only as infrastructure but as a social balcony facing the city.

Lore Institute and the shared street

The Lore Institute gathers elevated volumes connected by bridges and terraces. At ground level a shared street runs as a stone pathway bordered by planted facades. The images propose slow movement, shaded edges, and a continuous public realm that privileges walking, seated rest, and small scale commerce. While massing is future facing, its grain at street level aims for humane proportions and visual permeability.

Equitism Tower in timber

The Equitism Tower is presented as a geometric timber structure with a lattice like facade. BIG describes it as a beacon and notes potential program such as water storage space, aeroponic farms, and a photovoltaic roof. The use of timber indicates a push toward low embodied carbon structure and expressive tectonics. The lattice suggests deep facade members that could shade interiors in a desert climate while creating a recognizable skyline element for wayfinding.

Program spectrum and community amenities

The city frame includes an outstretched, silver roofed sports village, educational and research buildings under the Lore Institute, residential districts, shared streets, and generous civic greens. A stated commitment to all city meetings being open to the public sets a tone for governance participation. The partners list includes ICMA, a non profit governance organization, and Polco for data analytics, pointing to structured engagement and feedback loops.

Key elements at a glance

Timeline, scale, and partnerships

Public statements set an ambition to be ready for move in by 2030 and to reach five million residents by 2050. The location is still unspecified at city scale, with a Nevada map on BIG’s website indicating a likely desert context. The organization reports a shift from design centric narrative to community building, including forums with potential pioneer residents. Partnerships with ICMA and Polco align the effort with municipal best practice and data informed engagement.

Environmental systems and urban utilities

The proposal cites renewable resources, a drought resistant water system, and productive building surfaces. The potential photovoltaic roof at the Equitism Tower hints at district energy generation linked to shading. Aeroponic farms could reduce water demand compared to traditional agriculture and shorten supply chains. Open meetings and data platforms indicate governance transparency, which is a social sustainability layer that complements technical systems. These claims align with contemporary sustainable design agendas and the search for resilient urban metabolisms.

Materials and construction thinking

Timber is foregrounded at two scales. The mobility hub is portrayed as a large wooden structure, and the Equitism Tower is described as a timber building with a lattice facade. Timber suggests lower embodied carbon compared with conventional steel and concrete, in line with current debates on building materials. At the urban surface, stone paving is shown along shared streets, with planted facades that moderate microclimate. The imagery does not detail construction sequencing, yet the clear tectonic expression implies a legible assembly that could be phased as districts mature.

Public realm, equity, and Equitism

Equitism is described as a community owned land model that retains capitalism but adds a funding mechanism through land value to expand public services without additional taxpayer burdens. If implemented, this approach would tie land appreciation to collective benefit, potentially funding parks, mobility, education, and health services. The city’s open meetings policy reinforces this civic story. The urban images support the narrative with generous sidewalks, seating, and green corridors that prioritize inclusive access.

Architectural Analysis

The design logic frames a legible hierarchy. A central spine organizes the city, culminating at the Equitism Tower. Around it, districts plug into a ring of civic pieces, notably the wood framed mobility hub and the sports village. Material choices signal intent. Timber for the tower and hub points to reduced embodied carbon and warm tactility. Stone and planted edges at ground level set a durable and shaded pedestrian realm. The context is an arid landscape, so the plan pairs compact urban form with productive roofs and water strategies. Critically, feasibility turns on siting, phasing, and procurement. The G2A concept, with hovering and rolling vehicles, is visually clear yet technologically ambitious. The governance model seeks to link land value and services, but land assembly, regulation, and long horizon financing will test the premise. The architectural proposition is strongest where civic form and public life intersect, namely in the mobility hub and shared streets that embed infrastructure within daily experience.

Project Importance

For architects and urban designers, Telosa city demonstrates how form making, public policy, and mobility systems can be authored together. It teaches that narrative coherence matters. The beacon tower, the ring hub, and the shared streets tell one story about production, exchange, and gathering. It contributes to typology by fusing transport buildings with plazas and by positioning a timber high rise as infrastructural farm and water store. It matters now because cities are confronting climate risk, housing demand, and trust in governance. The proposal combines renewable intent, open civic process, and a land model aimed at shared benefit. Even if aspects evolve, the integrated posture is valuable. It invites the profession to prototype governance and finance alongside massing and material choice, using architectural research as a civic instrument.

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

The renderings present a clear civic ensemble. Warm timber in the hub and tower, silver sports volumes, and green draped streets compose a readable skyline and an accessible ground plane. A constructive reservation concerns technological stretch and land governance. Can G2A logistics and Equitism mechanisms scale from concept to code, procurement, and maintenance without eroding inclusivity. Still, the scheme advances a useful agenda by aligning public realm quality, timber tectonics, and community forums, offering a framework that other new towns can interrogate and adapt.

Conclusion

Telosa city is a provocative case study in whole city authorship. It links spatial hierarchy, recognizable landmarks, and a mobility first landscape with a governance model that aspires to convert land value into common benefit. The Equitism Tower concentrates symbolic and productive roles. The mobility hub demonstrates how infrastructure can double as a civic balcony. The shared street imagery pushes for walkability and climate moderation in a desert context. The partnerships with ICMA and Polco suggest procedural seriousness, while the commitment to open meetings frames a culture of participation. The plan’s success will depend on site selection, environmental stewardship, phased delivery, and the durability of its social contract.

For the discipline, the proposal underscores that city building today is a synthesis of policy, engineering, and spatial craft. Architects are asked to design not just objects, but systems of value distribution and care. Whether or not the full vision materializes, the project contributes a vocabulary of timber civic icons, mobility as place, and a commons oriented land thesis. As a living document, it encourages continued debate across cities, buildings, projects, and construction cultures seeking resilient futures.

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