Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An extremely large building or structure.
  • noun A very large building, often containing modular units, designed to allow a community to be self-enclosed or self-sustaining.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A very large structure.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

mega- +‎ structure

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Examples

  • Now the Cumbernauld "megastructure", which was designed to encompass a utopian mixture of shops, homes and leisure facilities, is a hulking mausoleum of largely empty, echoing spaces.

    unknown title 2009

  • Now the Cumbernauld "megastructure", which was designed to encompass a utopian mixture of shops, homes and leisure facilities, is a hulking mausoleum of largely empty, echoing spaces.

    unknown title 2009

  • Hypothetical megastructure, based on the Dyson sphere, of immense computational capacity.

    Free Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror: Crystal Nights - Greg Egan Blue Tyson 2010

  • Hypothetical megastructure, based on the Dyson sphere, of immense computational capacity.

    Archive 2010-06-01 Blue Tyson 2010

  • Rudolph's early works in Sarasota, Fla., his interest in prefab modules, his later megastructure visions, and his Plexiglas-filled interiors have brought him roaring back to popularity in recent years.

    Indignation Superhighway Julie V. Iovine 2010

  • Whittlesey, William J. Conklin, and Cloethiel Woodward Smith and its picturesque lakeside plan, said to be influenced by the Italian seaside town of Portofino.13 However, for the main town center, Whittlesey and Conklin designed a conventional sixties megastructure, with all the functions in what was effectively a single building.

    Makeshift Metropolis Witold Rybczynski 2010

  • The new projects generally downplayed these constraints and concentrated on architectural form: Foster designed an unusual pair of connected skyscrapers; the team of Meier, Eisenman, Holl, and Gwathmey produced a striking composition of five identical towers; Libeskind placed his buildings around a huge memorial excavation; and the team that included Foreign Office Architects and UNStudio proposed a colossal megastructure of a type that had never been built before—and was, perhaps, unbuildable.

    Makeshift Metropolis Witold Rybczynski 2010

  • People seem to be only sprinkles on the megastructure cake. lu-n-am said ...

    New Kiribati 2008

  • Whittlesey, William J. Conklin, and Cloethiel Woodward Smith and its picturesque lakeside plan, said to be influenced by the Italian seaside town of Portofino.13 However, for the main town center, Whittlesey and Conklin designed a conventional sixties megastructure, with all the functions in what was effectively a single building.

    Makeshift Metropolis Witold Rybczynski 2010

  • The new projects generally downplayed these constraints and concentrated on architectural form: Foster designed an unusual pair of connected skyscrapers; the team of Meier, Eisenman, Holl, and Gwathmey produced a striking composition of five identical towers; Libeskind placed his buildings around a huge memorial excavation; and the team that included Foreign Office Architects and UNStudio proposed a colossal megastructure of a type that had never been built before—and was, perhaps, unbuildable.

    Makeshift Metropolis Witold Rybczynski 2010

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