Honorable Mention
2019 Skyscraper Competition

Turan Akman
United States

Water is the foundation of life. Now, imagine a world without water. 33% of the land in the world are deserts, so life without water is a reality for those regions. In fact, around 1 billion people lack access to safe water, and this number is growing as the water crisis in the world is getting worse. On top of this, climate change is affecting our water sources. Rivers and lakes are either drying up, or becoming too polluted to use.  Moreover, hundreds of thousands of people die each year because of diseases caused by lack of water. New buildings are usually designed to save water, but this solution is simply not enough. At the current rate of water consumption, this problem will only get worse and we need a better solution. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2019 Skyscraper Competition

Romain Josue, Corentin Fraisse
France

ANALYSIS: OUR MOUNTAINS ARE CRUMBLING
Mountains are not only made of ice and rock but also of our dreams and our desires. Man has always believed that, as a witness to our birth, mountains would also be around for our departure. But for the past twenty years, the continuous thawing of the permafrost which binds the Alps together has triggered an increase in the number of landslides. 2018 was another record-breaking year with one of the hottest summers ever recorded, and as a result, the temperature of the earth has never been higher. With rising temperatures come new issues for the world’s population to tackle: unstable peaks kill tens of alpinists every year as rocky outer layers crumble away, causing landslides and the mass flooding of valleys. Thus the Alps become more and more dangerous each day. Mont Cervin is the perfect illustration of these new dangers: located at the Swiss/Italian border, this icy rock formation has been subjected to the changes in permafrost and its decay, and as a result, the countries’ border has moved over 150m in 60 years. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2019 Skyscraper Competition

Keyi Shen, Zichao Zhong, Dingyu Li, Jian Yan, Yuan Zhang
China

As we all know, there are many natural wonders caused by uncontrollable factors such as climate or plate movement. It is likely that after several Centuries, there are no Everest, East Africa Rift Valley, Colorado Grand Canyon, etc.

Just like us now, we are eager to understand what the world before is like, and we can only guess and restore through fossils and incomplete historical documents. No one provides us with an accurate statement. Meanwhile we don’t have a way to document the natural landscape.

So this Skyscraper will play the role of a historical scene recorder and narrator, simulate a real scene for future humans, and let landscape wonders continue. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Editors’s Choice
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Christopher Pin, Timothy Lai
Canada

“Though technological processes are intrinsic when discussing a strategy for urban water sustainability, it will play a minor factor in the overall design.  Lotus seeks to strengthen public awareness of the fragility of Urban Fresh Water.”

THE PROBLEM
Rising global population, mass fringe migration to urban cores, and rising tides are just a few reasons that heavily indicate a heightened concern surrounding Urban Water Security for the future megacities.  Water pollution and supply deficit are issues that will require a solution that is both sustainable and iterative.  As cities continue to trend towards Megacities, strategies to mitigate fresh water scarcity will be at the forefront of the urban dialogue.  While focus on current technology is important, developing new means of dealing with water depletion is crucial for urban health.

China: A Nation Prone to Fresh Water Crisis
Currently, due to increasing urbanization, the municipal water demand in cities of China are projected to grow 70% in 2030 (Wang et al., 2017).  Though China’s need for renewable freshwater continues to escalate, availability is barely one-third of the world’s average.  Shanghai falls amongst China’s 36 worst cities regarding water quality (Zhen et al., 2017), and between 2010-2012 it was reported by the cities water census that 3% of local surface water was clean for fish farms or household use.  Shanghai exemplifies the battle China is fighting from one mega city to the next, and can be utilized as a case study for the proposed socio-political strategy surrounding water sustainability.

THE SOLUTION
Lotus intends to provide a unique dialogue surrounding water sustainability, approaching urban fresh-water as a communal urban focus.  Lotus is an architectural monument that cultivates onus and stewardship regarding the cities freshwater, while emphasizing water experientially to increase quality of life in the urban core.  Though technological processes are intrinsic when discussing a strategy for urban water sustainability, it will play a minor factor in the overall design.  Lotus seeks to strengthen public awareness of the fragility of Urban Fresh Water. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Lee Change, Jung Minha, Rhyoo Jeheon
South Korea

Han River & Having home in Seoul
Han-River itself is a symbolic boundary which carries practical impacts in Seoul. The cognitive discrepancy between the north (Gang-Buk) and the south side (Gang-Nam) of it creates severe imbalance of both economy and education furthermore cultural discrimination. Crossing the river now seems physically easier while this emblematic feature is still working as a powerful frontier in Seoul due to a recent failure of housing policy in Gang-Nam. There is an interesting common consciousness; the nearer habitation of the river brings better life quality. The price of houses in Gang-Nam with river-premium is twice higher than rest of the city or the suburb, Gyeonggi-Do, which means there is an inherent thought that Han-River is a privilege that only minority of people can possess. This phenomenon deteriorates since the ‘Han-River Renaissance Project’ in 2006. In 5 years, the government invests nearly six hundred million dollars to construct waterborne traffic system and build facilities such as Waterside parks or cultural centers. The project, however, encourages commercialization of the river and eventually brings worst irregularity of habitation in Seoul.

The Renaissance movement after the Middle Age also declined sharply with the economic deterioration. It is why “RIVER SCALE“ proposes a mega-structure that combines programs abandoned from residential and urban areas. To lead everyone seizes good housings furthermore decide their ways of living sounds like a contradiction without providing any new economic activities. “RIVER SCALE” is proposing new urban with self – sufficiency which is an ideal but realistic place where helps residents from making to realizing their decisions of life. Read the rest of this entry »