The French architect Jacques Rougerie has drawn up plans for a floating research center that looks like a massive manta ray. Dubbed the City of Meriens, Rougerie’s creation would house an international oceanographic university that would float over the seven seas, accommodating thousands of researchers, teachers, and students for long periods of time. Measuring almost 3,000 feet long (10 football fields!) and over 1,600 feet wide, it would include lecture halls, classrooms, labs, and even sports facilities (football fields?). The gigantic mobile research center would also include an interior lagoon to hold smaller research vessels.

(via Architectural Digest)