A bunch of architects want to build a $26 billion underwater city in Tokyo — take a look

Shimizu Corporation

Earth as we know it might not last forever.

If sea level rise triggers flooding in our cities, if climate change makes it impossible to grow food for billions of people, or if there's some other as-yet unthinkable apocalyptic disaster, humans will need a new home.

The architects at Shimizu Corporation, a Tokyo-based firm, want to build underwater cities that they call Ocean Spirals.

There are no concrete plans to construct an Ocean Spiral, which project leader Masaki Takeuch estimates would cost $26 billion. But the renderings are certainly fantastical.

Check them out below.

If construction plans ever move forward, the first Ocean Spiral would sit 16,400 feet below sea level off the coast of Tokyo, Takeuch tells Business Insider.

Massive turbines would be stationed on the ocean floor, drawing power from the waves, tides, and currents. The nine-mile-long Spiral would then convert it into energy for the sphere at the top to use.

An estimated 5,000 people could live in the sphere.

In all the renderings, sharks are eerily circling a Spiral, but Takeuch assures us that the development would be completely secure from predators.