Honorable Mention
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Luis Quinones
United States

In challenging the typology of a skyscraper this proposal considers an alternative set of criteria to reexamine habitation, construction, and organizational logic. In examining our global trajectory resulting in issues of overpopulation and depletion of natural resources, this project proposes a developmental shift away from the Earth. The chosen site for this project is on the Shackleton Crater Rim on the South Pole of the Moon.

The Moon was chosen as a testing ground for its ability to depart from the traditional constraints we find on Earth. There are limitations, such as low gravity, non-existent weather, and an abundance of unexploited natural resources such as large traces of frozen water and hydroxyl gases. These are particularly useful if combined, with the use of Regenerative Fuel Cells, where the process of electrolysis is proposed as means of sustaining energy and life by extracting the hydrogen and oxygen molecules from the water. In order to maximize solar gain due to the low oblique angle of the Sun, the skyscraper is the optimal building typology. However, this verticality is not solely expressed above the lunar surface. Instead a nested verticality of embedded towers deep below the surface provides protection from radiation, meteor impacts, and temperature differentials. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Andrew Chow Wai Tat, Tao Huang, Xue Liang Zhang
Malaysia and China

The modern Olympic Games have been a platform for the host country to present its culture and wealth to the world. The amount of energy, time, and resources invested for a two-and-a-half week of games is seen by many as a waste of infrastructure. One of the main problems is what has been defined as the ‘post-Olympic syndrome’, in which large urban areas comprised of Olympic villas and stadiums become isolated after the games. These lavish structures are rarely used afterwards and steady deterioration becomes a norm.

The main idea behind the Floating Olympic Complex is to create the first vertical Olympic architecture with large-scale inverted skyscrapers that will serve as host to the games and will later be transformed into a floating city with housing, offices, recreational areas, and infrastructure already in place.

The idea of the inverted tower draws inspiration from an umbrella shell structure, mushroom, and stalactite formations. The slim structural elements are able to support massive platforms and cantilevered volumes through an ingenious branching system and cluster of structural elements. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Borja Muguiro
United Kingdom

This proposal imagines a world where the natural wilderness of the arctic is bisected by the largest shipping canal ever built and becomes a trading post for the world’s freight industry and the new oil and gas exploration.

Slicing vertically through the Arctic ice-shelf, the structure is an architectural representation of the corporate struggle with nature. The whole structure reacts to nature by using the power of the wind, ice, and water. Its conceptual research is based on globalization and our dependency on shipping freights as the moving parts of consumerism. The North Pole Skyscraper is an open structure that holds containers in multiple levels or platforms that serve as transaction posts between countries. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Benjamin Feenstra, Jelmer Frank Wijnia
The Netherlands

Imagine a day where you are video conferencing, playing golf, working out, having a face to face meeting with your physician, watching a movie on a giant screen, and hanging out with some friends in a bar, without ever leaving your apartment on the 20th floor. Wouldn’t that be great? Well, it’s possible with the ‘On Demand Experience’.

The concept behind the ‘On Demand Experience’ is simple. Instead of going to different places, the facilities come to you. Simply request the desired space with your computer and the request will be processed by the warehouse connected to your building. Your space will arrive as an equipped ‘box’ that plugs into your apartment. Several boxes can dock in a single apartment at the same time and everything is available on demand. So whether your desire is to play golf, work out or have a lunch meeting, just let the warehouse know! This is the ultimate mixed-use building where apartments blend with different functions and services, the hub of your professional and social life. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Agata Sander, Tomek Kujawski
Poland

The Waste Collector Skyscraper is a new typology for highly polluted cities around the world. It is conceived as a recycling plant in the middle of the city. This specific project is designed for the Huangpu district in Shanghai, China. It ranks among the most populated areas in the world and, with more than 55,000 inhabitants per square kilometer, this agglomeration of persons produces the largest amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) in the world. The waste in turn is unfortunately collected by more than 30 diesel fueled trucks and transported more than 40 km away. These trucks consume more than 2,500 liters of gas and emit 6 tons of carbon dioxide daily. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Asaf Dali
United States

As a result of the recent deteriorating economy and rising unemployment, homelessness is among the most pressing issues faced by US cities. Following the housing market crash, “tent cities” (makeshift shelters set up by people who have lost their homes) have been popping up all over the country. It is a time where the poverty rate is at a record high, and in many cities unemployment is in double-digits.

This project proposes a transient solution to accommodate growing numbers of citizens who have lost their houses to foreclosure. The main idea is to create an environment that will provide a stable ground during the search for a steady income and a permanent home. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Yiqing Jiang, Ying Tao
China and United States

This project examines the idea of developing a vertical park and farm between skyscrapers in Shanghai, China. Over the last 20 year Shanghai has exponentially grown due to the massive migration from rural to urban China. This has lead to the development of hundreds of skyscrapers that today define the city’s skyline. Unfortunately, the number of public parks and recreational areas have not increased and the city is now a large block of concrete and glass.

This project uses the structure of three contiguous skyscrapers to attach a vertical park that will serve as prototype for the city. The new park would provide a recreational green space to the office towers and a new lung to the city. In addition, the park is equipped with wind turbines and photovoltaic cells for wind and solar energy harvesting. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Mekano
Osama Mohamed Elghannam, Karim Mohamed Elnabawy, Mohamed Ahmed Khamis, Nesma Mohamed Abobakr
Egypt

The city of Cairo, in Egypt, has become one of the most polluted cities worldwide. The idea behind this proposal is to recycle the city’s waste and use it as building material for large-scale development that could eventually become a city in itself.

The project is composed of an exoskeleton where different types of living and working units could be plugged-in. Each unit is designed with a specific program in mind – from small ones for single families to large ones for recreational areas such as parks and sports facilities. Hundreds of terraces are used for agriculture and rainwater collection, while specific sites are used to bury organic waste and produce biogas, electricity, and fertilizers. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Anna-Maria Simatou, Marianthe Dendrou
Greece

The Living Mountain is a city-like skyscraper for one of the Earth’s harshest environments: the desert. Fertile land is gradually being transformed into deserts due to global warming. This project is located in one of those regions, the desert of Taklamakan, in the northwestern region of China.

This high-rise conglomerate, in conjunction with man-made lakes, could gradually transform the desert into a habitable environment. The Living Mountain would extract water from the regions substrate and through its smart use, treatment, circulation, and controlled evaporation, could create a microclimate inside the structure.

The housing areas are envisioned as “living pods” of 2,000 square-feet with easy access to all the facilities. Rainwater is collected and circulated on top of the super-structure and freely cascades to the atrium while filtering the air and promoting the growth of indoor vegetation. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Svirid  Denis, Gudzenko Anastasiya
Ukraine

The Tree of Life is a skyscraper proposal for open mines around the world. It is an autonomous ecosystem based on the structure of a plant where the inhabitants live and work producing ecological products.

The bottom part, or root, is comprised of a power station that harvests geothermal energy and includes a subterranean water purification plant. The stem is an external frame designed as two interlacing structures that provides stability to the entire project. Vertical communication is achieved through pneumatic elevators on all levels. The top part, or crown, is the public area with housing sectors, offices, schools, and entertainment facilities. Attached to these structures there are a series of pods or terraces that are used as geoponic greenhouses, covered with solar panels and wind turbines. Read the rest of this entry »