Special Mention
2009 Skyscraper Competition
Francis Wilmore, Courtney Brinegar, Jennifer Cramer
United States
In the reality of a global consumerist society, William McDonough states that we need to, “honor commerce as the engine of change.” As noticed in many economically driven developments, it seems that Hong Kong’s consumerist priorities are often played out by real estate monopolies that devour opportunities for design innovation to take place. This can be observed in the city’s public housing market which consists of ubiquitous, shoebox-like forms that are only differentiated by their flashy marketing schemes. This project aspires to stand apart from Hong Kong’s existing built environment by fostering aliveness in the realms of environmental, cultural, and formal endeavors. The title of the project, Niu (new) Shu (shoe), is a play on the pronunciation of the denoted Mandarin words for “twisting” and “tree” that also carries a connoted English context of being a new shoe to fit Hong Kong’s current and future growth. The towers in the complex grow from the ground and translate the lost space of nature into an enhanced environment of consumerism. By using sustainability as a visible marketing tool to differentiate the design, the residential high-rise becomes a living organism that prospers from a blurring of what is residential enrichment and what is commercial capital. Read the rest of this entry »