Chicago-based architectural and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings, and Mills (SOM) and Swiss-based energy storage company Energy Vault Holdings have entered a partnership that could accelerate energy conservation by turning
skyscrapers into batteries.

Archinet reports that this 10-year partnership “will produce a series of prototype designs for deployable structures and vertical energy storage units up to 1,000 meters (3,280 feet)” and that “the initiative will be the first such technology to
integrate gravity-based energy storage technology within the superstructure of tall buildings, enabling a carbon payback within accelerated 3–4-year timeframes.”