Honorable Mention
2023 Skyscraper Competition

Jiekai Wu, Zhihao Lu, Wenrui Yang, Jixiang Cai, Haozhe Zhang, Lijun Jin
China

On February 24, 2022, the Russian military attacked Ukraine, and the ongoing conflict between the two countries officially turned into a full-scale war, which quickly evolved into one of the largest wars in post-World War II Europe. By the end of 2022, the war had killed at least 146,748 people and created the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, with at least 12 million people fleeing their homes, including more than 5 million to neighboring countries and another 7.1 million displaced within Ukraine. The massive influx of refugees has also created economic and political problems for neighboring countries.

The losses from the war were also reflected in the agricultural sector. As the war rages on, Ukraine’s spring sowing area has been reduced by more than half, causing a serious global food crisis that has made the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people around the world extremely vulnerable. Homes were lost, food production was reduced, gas was disrupted, ports were shut down…… The war brought untold havoc to civilians on both sides, to the European region and to people around the world. It’s been a long winter, long and cold. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2023 Skyscraper Competition

Huiyue Xing, Weiqing Zhang, Wanjing Cheng, Huiqian Jia, Jiali Mao, Yang Yang
China

Hong Kong is one of the fastest growing and most densely populated cities in the world with the largest number of skyscrapers since the 1950s in response to a housing shortage, the cost of living and a soaring population. The skyscrapers of the past have been dilapidated and have even become dangerous buildings. Due to the hidden dangers of buildings, there have been many major accidents of old buildings collapsing and causing fires in Hong Kong. Therefore, renovation of old skyscrapers is one of the problems that Hong Kong, a city with high-density construction, needs to face.

In recent years, due to disrepair and improper maintenance, an increasing number of skyscrapers have collapsed, which seriously affects people’s normal work and life and even threatens people’s life safety. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2023 Skyscraper Competition

Liu Shijia, Liu Jieyao, Dou Han
China

Ocean acidification is the loss of pH value caused by the absorption of excessive carbon dioxide from the air. The change of atmospheric carbon is mainly caused by natural factors, which lead to natural fluctuations of global climate. Affected by the wind, the atmosphere first melted to the ocean surface hundreds of feet deep, and in the next few centuries, it gradually spread to all corners of the sea floor. Therefore, human activities are intensifying ocean acidification. Ocean acidification threatens biological and ecosystem services, which in turn threatens food security, tourism, coastal protection and people’s livelihoods.

When coral is under the pressure of environmental change, coral bleaching will occur. These corals expel symbiotic algae from their tissues, so that their tissues become transparent, exposing the white limestone skeleton below. Other effects of coral bleaching include thinning of coral tissue, reduction of mucus, and inhibition of sexual reproduction. The increase of ocean acidity and pollution are the main factors leading to bleaching phenomenon. Due to the effects of ocean acidification caused by climate change, global warming and the increase of carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere, coral bleaching in the Earth’s oceans is becoming more frequent and serious. By 2050, more than 30% to 50% of the global coral species may be extinct. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2023 Skyscraper Competition

Sun Tengxin, Ma Rongzhao, Wang Xiaoyu, Zhang Yulin, Zhang Yue
China

The village of Guttannen lies at the foot of the Alps in Switzerland. It is rich in forest and glacier resources. Here, our building follows the seasonal changes of local glaciers and forests, integrating nature to form the co-metabolism of glaciers, woods and human dwelling.
In winter, water of the upstream river is guided and solidified at the foot of the mountain to form artificial glaciers, which becomes a winter residence for people to live and do ice climbing. In summer, the natural melting of the glacier breeds the local rivers and ponds, irrigating the downstream woods. Meanwhile, trees which are cut down to balance the growth of different tree species will constitute the summer residence. These timber parts will soon be removed and burned to heat the building in winter. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2023 Skyscraper Competition

Jihyo Kim, Hyunhee Lee, Seungho Woo, Gyeonghyeon Choi, Yewon Jo
South Korea

Today, plastic pollution exists everywhere in the world, and pollution are increasing exponentially. Plastic began to be widely used only after World War II, but the total mass of plastic produced so far has already exceeded twice the total mass of all animals combined. Plastic production has skyrocketed over the past two decades, with plastic produced from 2003 to 2016 being as much as all the plastics produced earlier. Also, a significant portion of it has been introduced into the oceans, with about 150 million tons of plastic accumulated in the oceans. At this point, some systematic global changes for the marine plastics are desperately needed. Read the rest of this entry »

A good pen is one of the most important tools that an architect or a designer need. There is one particular pen made by Pilot Pen Company in Japan that has a cult following around the world. We are talking about the legendary Hi-Tec-C gel ink pen, which is admired for its smooth writing experience, exceptional ink flow, and consistent line thickness. Back in 2015, California-based pen company ēnsso, designed a delightfully minimal pen for the Coleto refills, which are the smaller version of the Hi-Tec-C.

The new UNO XL pen is made in the USA from 100% stainless steel. It is designed for the large Hi-Tec-C refill and it features an innovative retractable twisting cap that doubles as holding section with a knurled diamond-pattern finish for added grip. The UNO XL is a paragon in minimalism with excellent proportions and weight. It measures 135 millimeters and weighs 37 grams. ēnsso is the recipient of the Red Dot Award, the Good Design Award, and the ICFF Award. Their designs are included in the permanent collection of the Chicago Museum of Architecture and Design and the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design.

-> Buy from ēnsso

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 »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Jerry Woo, Chujin Xue
China

Just as mankind are confused about the direction of development, a future of nature that science failed to foresee come quietly. With more than 70% of the land on the planet covered with sand and sea level rising sharply, the only moderate land left cannot support a huge population. When the former homeland is no longer livable, the day will come when human beings are forced to return to the sand like their ancestors did and live in an intensive way. Fierce as it is for burying thousands of lives, meanwhile, the sand also provided materials needed for construction. Transitioned from the “carbon age” to the “silicon age”, the sand-made community came into being.

The environmental background of this design is based on the current situation of increasing global desertification and climate anomalies. The initial conception of the design comes from the ancient Chinese saying “gather sand into a tower”, and also benefits from some understanding of the desert ecology in the movie “Dune”. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Yuqi Tian, Chenxi Ge, Yining Xu, Jiani Wu
China

The design site is located in Bangladesh. Due to the abundant rainfall and massive rivers which can be easily influenced by monsoon, there are often storms and floods caused by excessive surface runoff which causes great damage to the ground buildings and cultivated land. Bangladesh has a large population, and agriculture is the main source of its economy. Frequent rain and floods aggravate poverty here. This design is based on solving the frequent rain and flood problems in Bangladesh, using wind energy resources to drive the entire building, while purifying and uplifting the rain and flood water on the surface for human use. The building can turn “harmful water” into “useful water”. The lifted water reaches the roof tank first, and the water level can indicate the degree of flooding as a flood warning. Because there are shelter spaces and vertical farms in the building, it can not only solve the problem of personnel safety during storms and floods, but also solve the problem of famine to a certain extent, turning climate disadvantages into advantages. The excess purified water can be stored in the modular water tank. When the water volume is too large, it will be collected into the underground pipe network, and then turned into groundwater for storage. The water in the high tank can also store gravitational potential energy for power generation. Read the rest of this entry »