Editor’s Choice 
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Maryam Fazel, Sukaina Adnan Almousa, Maryam Safari
Iran, United Kingdom, United States

Following the tragic earthquake of 2017 in west part of the Iranian terrain, people of the affected area have witnessed a devastating feeling; fleeing their homes or trapped under buildings. This tragedy and similar ones in the world are all due to many reasons that together weaken the supporting system offered to people in earthquake regions. One of the main causes of such disaster is the lack of alarming systems that can detect the approach of earthquakes. A post-disaster situation of kiosk and devastation is caused also by lack of efficient evacuation structure that can help people run for a shelter in a short time.

Addressing these problems, this project is a proposal of a skyscraper that responds to earthquake before it happens. In this premise, the structure works on two levels; one is the monitoring system, which constitutes of a biotechnological facade containing microfluidics channels continuously culturing genetically engineered harmless bacteria that is engineered to acts a biosensor system. The other level is the core of the building and the evacuation system. The skyscraper is built on a shock absorbent structure that will increase safety factor once in an earthquake emergency. It is -on the other hand- supported by pods that are set on platform scattered along multiple levels. These pods work as assembly points that can then fly people to the nearest safe zone. Users of the building can access the platforms easily. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Haotong Sun, Zonghao Wu, Fengwei Jia
China

The melting of arctic ice
A reduction in Arctic summer ice cover has become more intense in recent years, culminating in a record low of 3.4 million square kilometres in 2012 – 18 per cent below the previous recorded minimum in 2007 and 50 per cent below the average in the 1980s and 1990s. Land ice is also retreating and permafrost is melting.

The retreating ice brings easier access to natural resources such as gas and oil, thus prompting increased human activity that may threaten the already fragile ecosystems and wildlife, the UN Environment Programme’s report says.

The reason of melting
1.The reasons for the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the globe are manifold. More heat is brought into the Arctic through the atmosphere and ocean currents, while the melting itself prompts further melting by reduced reflection of incoming sunlight.

2.White ice and snow acts as a mirror, reflecting 85 per cent of solar radiation; however, ice-free areas of the ocean reflect only 10 per cent and the bare tundra only 20 per cent.

3.Black carbon (soot), a short-lived climate pollutant, is also believed to contribute to warming by darkening snow and ice and reducing reflective area. UNEP and partners last year launched the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to address black carbon and other such short-lived climate pollutants.

4.The thawing of permafrost will also contribute to further warming as the organic matter stored therein – up to 1,700 gigatonnes of carbon across the northern hemisphere – also thaws and decomposes, releasing the trapped carbon as CO2 and methane. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Luis Daniel Pozo Torres
Bolivia

Project statement
… a year ago my family , mama , pa , my  oldest brother , my youngest sister and me  left our home and  our country, back then there were so many problems, pa says because politics, I still don’t understand  I only remember that we had to grab the most important things and get out of the city very fast.

We spent many days in many countries looking for a place to stay, then one day pa told us we where invited to go to the Helix, that sounded very strange and also exiting,  so we went there, when i first saw it I thought it was a big escalator to the sky, is was like an invitation to climb and leave the ground.

When we arrived we where welcomed with a meal and hot Chocolate, we spend many hours talking with many Doctors, then pa got a key and we went up with the elevator, that ride was fun because it was like been inside and sometimes outside with green gardens everywhere.  I still enjoy this ride. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2018 Skyscraper Competition

He Jianqiao
China

Socialist Zygmunt Bauman introduced the idea of liquid modernity; he described its characteristics as “increasing feelings of uncertainty and the privatization of ambivalence”. It is a kind of chaotic continuation of modernity, where a person can shift from one social position to another in a fluid manner. Nomadism becomes a general trait of the ‘liquid modern’ man as he flows through his own life like a tourist, changing places, jobs, spouses, values and sometimes more—such as political or sexual orientation—excluding himself from traditional networks of support, while also freeing himself from the restrictions or requirements those networks impose. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Lucas Stein, Théophile Péju, Pierre-Loup Pivoin, Raphael Saillard, Bernard, Touzet
France, United Kingdom

CONTEXT.  A logistic management of spirituality
Mina Valley is a spiritual site of the Muslim religion, located in Mecca surrounded by dry and hostile lands of Saudi Arabia. The site is a key point during the journey between Mount Arafat and Stoning of the Devil. Pilgrims reproduce the original Abraham’s gesture by temporary living during few days in tents on mattresses lay on the ground. Currently, Mina could be described as a tide of about 100 000 tents spread on 9 km², made of fabric steel and concrete. An enslavement of the natural landscape only benefiting to the logistic management of one of the largest human gathering ever organized. A pilgrimage attendance which undoubtedly will increase in following years, thanks to the aerial transport development. Saudi Arabia has officially announced 3 millions of pilgrims in 2012. However, this type of temporary housing can’t be considered as sustainable, tents are occupied only 3 days a year. Which make the Mina Valley a ghost site for the resting 362 days. Moreover, from penurious African regions, more than 1 million sheeps are shipped in order to be slain for the Aïd ceremony. A short-term solution meaningful of the Saudi Arabian management of the event.  Read the rest of this entry »