Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Xiangyu Zhang, Jingwei Tang, Qiuyuan Yang, Linxiao Li, Pengfei Li
China

The Mekong River is the river of life in Laos which is the only inland country in Southeast Asia. Khone Falls is the largest waterfall in the world, which provides an important financial resource for local fishermen. In the rainy season, the waterfall brings an abundant variety of fishes which only clusters around the rapids of the Khone Falls. It is not only hard but also dangerous for fishermen to catch fishes there. In the dry season, the water flow is almost dry, which shuts off the supply of fishing on which its economy depends. Fishermen can only build bamboo dams and ropes that are used for fishing in the rainy season.

Our project, located in the Khone Falls, resolves the living requirement issues, creates a safe and easy fishing environment, and provides new sources of economic income for the fishermen in Laos. During the rainy season, the special roof structure retains fishes and soils with high nutrient contents from the rapids of the Khone Falls. Fishermen catch fishes on the roof of the building by bamboo dams. After fishing, they can process, package, transport and sell the fishes inside the building, which submits a more efficient, systematic way of fishing industries. In the dry season, fishermen could grow rice on the roof by the retained nutritive soil which left by the waterfalls in the rainy season. The Vertical Tidal Settlement would provide more possibilities and economic sources for the fishermen in Laos, which improves their quality of life.