Finalist
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Fan Shuning, Zhang Xin
China

China extracts an average of 2 billion tons of coal each year to satisfy its energy demands. Apart from the environmental concerns, coal mining is an extremely dangerous profession which leads to more than 6000 deaths every year.

The main concept behind this proposal is to make use of the immense coal mines as an underground city where miners will have access to a better quality of life through modern housing and recreational areas. This underground metropolis will coexist with regular cities and will integrate them through an exchange of goods and services. Read the rest of this entry »

Finalist
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Wendy Teo Boon Ting, Linda Hagberg
United Kingdom

Located in Taipei, Taiwan, engulfing a central part of River Danshui and the Taipei Mainstation, HydroThermal Organ is a recreational spa and a new transport hub that functions as a first landmark on approaching Taipei. Seeking to create a physical and mental link between the city and nature, the proposal uses the water from the river to extract heat from the transportation infrastructure.

It replaces the existing river buffer wall with a filtering system that heals the polluted river water and a landscape that allows different levels of water to enter the site. This technology is based on the potential temperature difference between river water and the transport infrastructure. The two products from this heat extraction process, hot water and steam, are used in the landscape and Spa Hotel for aesthetic quality and hot baths. The level of heat extracted depends on the level of transport and circulation through the main station at a particular moment and the amount of hot water and steam depends on the flow of water from the river. Read the rest of this entry »

Finalist
2011 Skyscraper Competition

André Serpa, Bernardo Daupiás Alves, Egle Bazaraite, Jutta Rentsch, Marco Braizinha
Portugal

The main idea of this proposal is to create a skyscraper that could be defined as a city by itself. It combines the density and vibrant life of the contemporary city with the tranquility of the suburbs. The central part of the structure is conceived as the city, where offices, commerce, entertainment, and transportation areas will be located. A spiraling system of vertical transportation will communicate all levels without the need of cars. At the edges of the structure the residential units will be located. These units are large and resemble life in suburbia; some of them will even have outdoor gardens overlooking the city.

The Skyscraper structure is made out of a concrete and steel core while the structural skin is primarily steel frames that follow a cell-like pattern that allows for large spans that accommodate the residential units. Larger openings will be used for recreational parks and other recreational areas. Read the rest of this entry »

Finalist
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Ku Yee Kee, Hor Sue-Wern
Malaysia

This design tackles current environmental issues, specifically at abandoned oil rig structures all around the world. The idea is to revitalize these structures and transform them into livable hubs. This activation process will use green energy and create a sustainable urban habitat. Solar energy will be harvested with a large photovoltaic membrane located on the roof while wind turbines will be located at strategic places along the four façades and tidal energy collectors at the bottom.

This design explores the possibility of living on the oil rig, above and below the ocean level. The general population can live above the water while specialized researchers such as marine biologists will work in underwater labs. The in-between zone will be used for housing and recreational areas. The existing structures could be strengthen with the use of peripheral steel beams that allow for high velocity wind to filter through the platform without obstructions. Read the rest of this entry »

Finalist
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Luca D’Amico, Luca Tesio
Italy

Globalization has transformed a considerable amount of city dwellers into modern nomads – people that settle for a few months or years in different cities around the world.

The Containers Skyscraper is an idea to provide nomad housing to this specific type of urban dweller. It consists of an exoskeleton where regular shipping containers transformed into apartment units plug-in. The main structure provides basic infrastructure as well as recreational areas while the habitable units can be transported by ship, truck, and train to almost every large city worldwide providing a sense of “home” to these modern urban nomads.

The structures will consist of a dense mesh of steel beams. Every 100 feet there will be platforms that, in addition of providing rigidity to the structure, they will create a micro-city inside the skyscraper -an indoor /outdoor space used for recreational and social activities. Read the rest of this entry »

Finalist
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Luis Longhi, Christian Bottger, Carla Tamariz
Peru

The city of Lima, capital of Peru, with a population of 10 million people, is an illustrative example of a rapidly-growing unplanned metropolis. Founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, on January 18, 1535, La Ciudad de los Reyes -“The City of Kings”- became the capital and most important city of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Strongly influenced by European, Andean, Arab, African, and Asian heritages, Lima is a melting pot of cultures due to colonization, immigration, and indigenous influences.

Lack of a proper transportation system and job opportunities had forced its inhabitants to develop a “smart and creative” way of living which had helped the city to stay away from the energy crisis that is affecting many cities worldwide. This project is an attempt to prevent the city to follow the negative models developed in post-modern metropolises around the world.

The site is the actual city of Lima with its urban fabric extended from the Pacific Ocean to the Andes where water treatment plants will be located to transform salt water into potable water. “Transitional places” (selected parts of the existing urban fabric to remain as part of the city), “agricultural areas” and “water reservoirs” are the main components of the 75 proposed skyscrapers. Read the rest of this entry »

Finalist
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Eric Gangaye, Frédéric Velaye Andy, Alvin Pakeeroo, Yann Terrer, Thomas Liaigre
France

Montpellier is one of the largest cities in France and the fastest growing one. Located in the southern part of the country and with access to the Mediterranean Sea it has been a strategic urban settlement since medieval times.

The Tree Skyscraper is a proposal to use a vertical structure to link several horizontal isolated neighborhoods of the city. Five main branches connect to Montepellier’s urban nodes and serve as circulation pathways between the city and the new development. The building is a mixed-use skyscraper focused on sustainability with solar panels, wind turbines, water collection systems, and hanging gardens at different levels. Read the rest of this entry »

Finalist
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Zsuzsanna Kiss-Gal, Gergely Kiss-Gal, Margo Petro, Peter Debreczeni
Hungary

By the end of 2011 more than 50% of the world’s population will live in cities and it is estimated that by 2050 more than 70% will do. One of the major problems that we are facing is that while cities are expanding, farmlands are shrinking because its workers are migrating to urban areas.

The RuralScraper is a possible solution to this problem by creating vertical farmlands within the cities. This new structures will also provide housing and entertainment to the farmers and will serve as market to the community while food transportation costs and pollution will be eliminated. The project proposes innovative farmland attached to the facades of the structure while the interior will serve as housing and marketplace. Read the rest of this entry »

Finalist
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Nick Ochoa, Sabrina Brenner, Michael Krause
United States

Flexible-Modular (FLEXmod) puts the power of form and program into the hands of the occupant. A lightweight mutable structure can be sculpted to desired shape, function, and size. With the ability to change from iteration to iteration with ease, architecture becomes the symbol of the owner. The FLEXmod system can be utilized universally as either individual units or combined with additional units to create spaces and structures that span infinity.

In the instance depicted by this project, the need for a residential community has arisen. FLEXmod units comprised together form the superstructure for residential tower like compositions. Additional FLEXmod units dedicated to housing and support spaces plug into the superstructure. A complex form of private spaces integrated into various public spaces feeds the notion of a unified community.

As a model for a movement representational of sustainability, units are only added as necessary. Rather than creating a building that is designed for a set of criteria, the building becomes designed by the needs of the inhabitants. If a decreased need for program occurs, units are simply removed and transported to other sites or stored efficiently. Read the rest of this entry »

Finalist
2011 Skyscraper Competition

Julia-Elise Hoins, Arnd-Benedikt Willert-Klasing, David Blezinger, Nikolaus Türk
Germany

As a growing metropolis Hamburg is Germany’s second largest city. Although there is a strong demand for housing, new developments cannot be higher than the medieval churches’ towers. Law protects the traditional skyline and a new neighborhood named HafenCity is the only place where skyscrapers are allowed.

This project consists of a mixed-use towers complex in HafenCity with a small footprint that allows the public to move freely and enjoy the ground plan amenities. Since the building is positioned between two major freeways entering the city, the geometry of the building isolates the program from the traffic noise – at the bottom the shorter façades are twisted to the outside while the larger ones open up to the center. The façade responds to the environment by changing its appearance through light and reflections -it dissolves in the sky while stating its presence with shiny gold gradients.

For this area of HafenCity, the master plan developed by the city of Hamburg, requires a mixed-use program of hotel, offices, and housing. It should alsoinclude cultural and public needs which in this project are located in the middle part, where the three towers merge and create a plaza with several levels in the sky. Read the rest of this entry »