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 »