A good pen is one of the most important tools that an architect or a designer need. There is one particular pen made by Pilot Pen Company in Japan that has a cult following around the world. We are talking about the legendary Hi-Tec-C gel ink pen, which is admired for its smooth writing experience, exceptional ink flow, and consistent line thickness. Back in 2015, California-based pen company ēnsso, designed a delightfully minimal pen for the Coleto refills, which are the smaller version of the Hi-Tec-C.

The new UNO XL pen is made in the USA from 100% stainless steel. It is designed for the large Hi-Tec-C refill and it features an innovative retractable twisting cap that doubles as holding section with a knurled diamond-pattern finish for added grip. The UNO XL is a paragon in minimalism with excellent proportions and weight. It measures 135 millimeters and weighs 37 grams. ēnsso is the recipient of the Red Dot Award, the Good Design Award, and the ICFF Award. Their designs are included in the permanent collection of the Chicago Museum of Architecture and Design and the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design.

-> Buy from ēnsso

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Yue Sun, Jie Zhou, Jingjing Fang, Xin Song
China

Aging society refers to the population structure model in which the elderly population reaches or exceeds a certain proportion in the total population. According to the standard of the United Nations, if the population of a country or region over 60 years old accounts for 10% or more of the total population of the country or region, or the population of a country or region over 65 years old accounts for 7% or more of the total population of the country or region, the country or region has entered the aging society.

Aging may become the fuse of the global economic crisis, which will bring a series of social problems. In addition, global population aging is irreversible. Although countries around the world have taken a series of measures to encourage fertility, it can only slow down the rate of population aging. With the progress of science and technology, especially modern medicine and life science are expected to make new breakthroughs, population aging will become a global new normal. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Zainah M. Bagaber
Saudi Arabia

The ‘reversed future’ proposal is designed in response to the global issue of destruction natural landscapes in cities due to the rapid growth in populations, leading to high demands for residential lands. This issue causes multiple problems, including climate change, increased pollutions and desertification.
The city of Abha is one the cities that is facing this issue as it is characterised by mountainous areas representing nearly 50% of the entire city. The enormous mountains are a distinctive feature of the city, making it a major touristic destination. Because of the rapid increase in population and the demand on residential and accommodation facilities, the riveting mountains of Abha are destroyed in order to expand the city.

The proposal of the project aims to reverse the spiteful approach of housing and city expansion by allowing architecture to be integrated with nature rather than considering nature as a trivial aspect in urban design. The objective is achieved through the design of a flexible and light architectural prototype, which could be reflected in various cities to occupy high-density spaces and reintegrate the users with their natural landscapes. The skyscraper includes a main core for its central vertical circulation system where all the horizontal structural elements are expanded from. To satisfy the concept of flexibility, units are plugged into the structure and could be detached based on the occupants’ needs, allowing them to manipulate their spaces as desired. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Jerry Woo, Chujin Xue
China

Just as mankind are confused about the direction of development, a future of nature that science failed to foresee come quietly. With more than 70% of the land on the planet covered with sand and sea level rising sharply, the only moderate land left cannot support a huge population. When the former homeland is no longer livable, the day will come when human beings are forced to return to the sand like their ancestors did and live in an intensive way. Fierce as it is for burying thousands of lives, meanwhile, the sand also provided materials needed for construction. Transitioned from the “carbon age” to the “silicon age”, the sand-made community came into being.

The environmental background of this design is based on the current situation of increasing global desertification and climate anomalies. The initial conception of the design comes from the ancient Chinese saying “gather sand into a tower”, and also benefits from some understanding of the desert ecology in the movie “Dune”. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Yuqi Tian, Chenxi Ge, Yining Xu, Jiani Wu
China

The design site is located in Bangladesh. Due to the abundant rainfall and massive rivers which can be easily influenced by monsoon, there are often storms and floods caused by excessive surface runoff which causes great damage to the ground buildings and cultivated land. Bangladesh has a large population, and agriculture is the main source of its economy. Frequent rain and floods aggravate poverty here. This design is based on solving the frequent rain and flood problems in Bangladesh, using wind energy resources to drive the entire building, while purifying and uplifting the rain and flood water on the surface for human use. The building can turn “harmful water” into “useful water”. The lifted water reaches the roof tank first, and the water level can indicate the degree of flooding as a flood warning. Because there are shelter spaces and vertical farms in the building, it can not only solve the problem of personnel safety during storms and floods, but also solve the problem of famine to a certain extent, turning climate disadvantages into advantages. The excess purified water can be stored in the modular water tank. When the water volume is too large, it will be collected into the underground pipe network, and then turned into groundwater for storage. The water in the high tank can also store gravitational potential energy for power generation. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Do Thi Hong Nhung, Do Xuan Vu, Nguyen Trung Hieu
Vietnam

THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM
Today, urbanization and industrialization in Vietnam has led to massive loss of natural and agricultural land (equal to the area of Singapore). This, in turn, has led people to losing jobs and real estate, breaking traditional architecture and changing their lifestyle. Those especially affected by these notions live in peripheral, transitional and urban areas. Additionally, the problem of climate change in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam is of utmost importance. The Delta is Vietnam’s largest rice exporter and is drowned by 1m saltwater from the ocean. Combined with seasonal flooding of Vietnam’s Midlands the question of climate change is still yet to be answered.

HOW TO GIVE BAKC TO THE LAND
From the abovementioned problems, restoring the agricultural and natural land is key. The solution is to create the vertical wet rice field. The idea is to restore agricultural land lost in the past and ensure food security in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Yunhan Wang, Charles Tzu Wei Chiang
Taiwan

With rapid population growth and global warming, many countries have suffered from water shortage in recent years. Nearly a third of the world’s population lives in “highly water-scarce” countries. This proposal is designed for Morocco city in Africa, where 80% of water had been used for agriculture and facing issue of water shortage due to the issue of climate change. Over the past sixty years, the maximum number of days without rain has increased by fifteen days, and will continue to deteriorate at a rate of 10-15% per year in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Oh Minji, Kim Donghyun
South Korea

Glaciers covering Antarctica are melting at a rapid pace due to global warming. As the temperature of the Antarctic sea surface increases, the ice shelf on the Antarctic coastline melts and flows into the Antarctic sea, increasing the overall area of Antarctica and increasing sea level. Antarctica is losing its habitat due to the collapse of glaciers, and due to the lack of phytoplankton due to the increased sea temperature, the population of krill shrimp is decreasing, and Antarctica is losing its food. Currently, the majority of Antarctic animals are registered as endangered species, and it can be seen that the Antarctic ecosystem is rapidly being destroyed. In order to preserve the Antarctic ecosystem, an environment in which Antarctic animals can live is needed.
We propose a tower that utilizes the rich resources of Antarctica to supply habitats and build a food chain. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Xu Yifan, Lan Junkai, Meng Xianyi, Jin Qiu, Lin Lili, Tang Xin
China

The Zhuang nationality is the most populous ethnic minority in China. Their survival is inseparable from the cultivation of rice, but most of them live in karst landform, which is in lack of surface water. The shortage of surface water shaped their beliefs that the stone mountain and the tree growing on the mountain were the source of the water. Therefore, ethnic sacrificial activities such as “Sacrificing the Water Head” were born. But in fact, the lamination formed by the extrusion of rocks and the pumping of groundwater is the scientific principle of the water source.

The karst landform area has serious problems of stony desertification and soil erosion. Over time, the land has become more barren, the terrain has become steeper, and the severely eroded mountains are unable to pump enough water. The Zhuang people are facing serious problems in their survival and development.

The skyscraper is located in the Piaka village, Yunnan, China, which belongs to the karst landform area. The stony desertification and soil erosion in this area are relatively serious. The skyscraper aims to use modern technology to restore the dual meaning of “mountain” in natural principles and national beliefs. At the same time, with the collection, purification, storage, and utilization of water as the core, while satisfying the survival and reproduction of Zhuang villages, it also protects the nature worship of the Zhuang people from generation to generation. The skyscraper broadens the development boundary for the Zhuang villagers whose living space is decreasing. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Habib Shahhoseini, Sahel Sadeghi Abadi, Saeed Asgar Davatgari
Iran

Today, the growth of urbanization has dramatically increased the need for fossil fuels. Consumption of fossil fuels with accumulating environmental pollution on the one hand, and the risk of depletion of these fuels, on the other hand, are considered as a fundamental issue. With the advancement of technology, excesses number of cars, and the growth of industrial environments in cities such as Tehran-Iran, the health of urban residents is in menace.

According to research conducted by the Air Quality Control Company and the Ministry of Health of Iran in 2021, the level of pollutants in Tehran is 2.8 times more than the world standard, which daily is approximately around 1200 tons. Examples of such pollutants include Carbon Monoxide (CO), Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), heavy metals (Arsenic, Chromium, Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and Zinc), Hydrocarbon, Nitrogen oxide, organic compounds (volatile organic compounds) and Sulfur dioxide. Based on statistics, there was only 4 clean days in Tehran last year. These pollutants have a significant impact on heart disease, respiratory disorders, infertility, abortion and cancer, which can lead to death. The World Health Organization revealed that, air pollution can affect people’s mental health and cause depression. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for the use of green renewable fuels and solving air pollution in order to have clean air to have healthy life. Read the rest of this entry »