Editors’ Choice
2023 Skyscraper Competition
Fan Yiming, Wang Yue, He Kai
China
The threat of desertification is a global problem, which is directly manifested by the loss of productive land, the movement of sand dunes and dust storms. According to the data of IPCC, desertification now covers 46.2% of the global geographical area. It can be seen from the geographical distribution map of dry land and the population diagram of dry areas that many regions and countries in the world are affected by drought. Desertification is no longer a simple ecological environment problem, but has evolved into an economic and social problem, which brings poverty and social instability to human beings.
The building is located on the Mesopotamian plain in present-day Iraq, an alluvial plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Western Asia. Thousands of years ago, the fertile soil created by the annual flooding of two rivers gave birth to one of humanity’s earliest civilizations, the Mesopotamian Civilization. However, with the historical changes, soil salinization and desertification, the once glorious Mesopotamian civilization was gradually buried by sand and dust. Over the past two decades, Iraq and many other regions in the Middle East have been threatened by desertification. According to the Iraq Desertification Commission, up to 90% of Iraq’s land area is threatened by desertification, and 45% of its agricultural land is at risk of drought and desertification. Loss of vegetation, overgrazing, wartime deforestation, improper irrigation practices and water scarcity are some of the main causes of desertification in Iraq. According to the above problems, we decided to construct a new skyscraper that can control desertification of the land, and solve the desertification problem more effectively by means of technology to make the sand soil.
The design originally comes from the improvement technology of desert soil. The transformation of desert soil into “soil” is firstly realized by adopting mechanical means, so that sand can obtain the mechanical properties of soil, and then obtain the eco-mechanical properties of sand, and give sand strong ability to store water, nutrients and air. Sand soil, not only can grow plants, fruits and vegetables. The construction of desert soil is to make it have certain mechanical properties and can be used as a building material to build houses. By adopting this technology, we can not only solve the problem of desertification that afflicts mankind, but also solve the housing problem for countries that are seriously affected by desertification. The building is mainly composed of three parts. The first part is mainly silo, double chain transportation system, silo mainly for soil culture and population living. The double – chain transport system carries the desert soil and improved raw materials to the corresponding silos. The second part is the desert soil collection and treatment system, which can be raised and lowered to collect and release the soil. The inner layer is the isolation and protection interface, and also the main entrance of the building. The core part is the research studio. The third part is the water storage system and fixed device. The water storage system will collect, filter and store groundwater resources through the capillary network, and the fixed device will form a stable building base so that the super high-rise building cannot easily be displaced in the flowing desert soil. The building growth process mainly includes four stages, namely, desert soil absorption, cylinder formation, cylinder growth and fine soil release. Finally, a good silo system suitable for production and living is formed in the upper part of the building, and the desert soil around the building is improved to form a good natural environment.
