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 »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Do Thi Hong Nhung, Do Xuan Vu, Nguyen Trung Hieu
Vietnam

THE SITUATION IN VIETNAM
Today, urbanization and industrialization in Vietnam has led to massive loss of natural and agricultural land (equal to the area of Singapore). This, in turn, has led people to losing jobs and real estate, breaking traditional architecture and changing their lifestyle. Those especially affected by these notions live in peripheral, transitional and urban areas. Additionally, the problem of climate change in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam is of utmost importance. The Delta is Vietnam’s largest rice exporter and is drowned by 1m saltwater from the ocean. Combined with seasonal flooding of Vietnam’s Midlands the question of climate change is still yet to be answered.

HOW TO GIVE BAKC TO THE LAND
From the abovementioned problems, restoring the agricultural and natural land is key. The solution is to create the vertical wet rice field. The idea is to restore agricultural land lost in the past and ensure food security in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Yunhan Wang, Charles Tzu Wei Chiang
Taiwan

With rapid population growth and global warming, many countries have suffered from water shortage in recent years. Nearly a third of the world’s population lives in “highly water-scarce” countries. This proposal is designed for Morocco city in Africa, where 80% of water had been used for agriculture and facing issue of water shortage due to the issue of climate change. Over the past sixty years, the maximum number of days without rain has increased by fifteen days, and will continue to deteriorate at a rate of 10-15% per year in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Oh Minji, Kim Donghyun
South Korea

Glaciers covering Antarctica are melting at a rapid pace due to global warming. As the temperature of the Antarctic sea surface increases, the ice shelf on the Antarctic coastline melts and flows into the Antarctic sea, increasing the overall area of Antarctica and increasing sea level. Antarctica is losing its habitat due to the collapse of glaciers, and due to the lack of phytoplankton due to the increased sea temperature, the population of krill shrimp is decreasing, and Antarctica is losing its food. Currently, the majority of Antarctic animals are registered as endangered species, and it can be seen that the Antarctic ecosystem is rapidly being destroyed. In order to preserve the Antarctic ecosystem, an environment in which Antarctic animals can live is needed.
We propose a tower that utilizes the rich resources of Antarctica to supply habitats and build a food chain. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Xu Yifan, Lan Junkai, Meng Xianyi, Jin Qiu, Lin Lili, Tang Xin
China

The Zhuang nationality is the most populous ethnic minority in China. Their survival is inseparable from the cultivation of rice, but most of them live in karst landform, which is in lack of surface water. The shortage of surface water shaped their beliefs that the stone mountain and the tree growing on the mountain were the source of the water. Therefore, ethnic sacrificial activities such as “Sacrificing the Water Head” were born. But in fact, the lamination formed by the extrusion of rocks and the pumping of groundwater is the scientific principle of the water source.

The karst landform area has serious problems of stony desertification and soil erosion. Over time, the land has become more barren, the terrain has become steeper, and the severely eroded mountains are unable to pump enough water. The Zhuang people are facing serious problems in their survival and development.

The skyscraper is located in the Piaka village, Yunnan, China, which belongs to the karst landform area. The stony desertification and soil erosion in this area are relatively serious. The skyscraper aims to use modern technology to restore the dual meaning of “mountain” in natural principles and national beliefs. At the same time, with the collection, purification, storage, and utilization of water as the core, while satisfying the survival and reproduction of Zhuang villages, it also protects the nature worship of the Zhuang people from generation to generation. The skyscraper broadens the development boundary for the Zhuang villagers whose living space is decreasing. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Habib Shahhoseini, Sahel Sadeghi Abadi, Saeed Asgar Davatgari
Iran

Today, the growth of urbanization has dramatically increased the need for fossil fuels. Consumption of fossil fuels with accumulating environmental pollution on the one hand, and the risk of depletion of these fuels, on the other hand, are considered as a fundamental issue. With the advancement of technology, excesses number of cars, and the growth of industrial environments in cities such as Tehran-Iran, the health of urban residents is in menace.

According to research conducted by the Air Quality Control Company and the Ministry of Health of Iran in 2021, the level of pollutants in Tehran is 2.8 times more than the world standard, which daily is approximately around 1200 tons. Examples of such pollutants include Carbon Monoxide (CO), Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), heavy metals (Arsenic, Chromium, Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and Zinc), Hydrocarbon, Nitrogen oxide, organic compounds (volatile organic compounds) and Sulfur dioxide. Based on statistics, there was only 4 clean days in Tehran last year. These pollutants have a significant impact on heart disease, respiratory disorders, infertility, abortion and cancer, which can lead to death. The World Health Organization revealed that, air pollution can affect people’s mental health and cause depression. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for the use of green renewable fuels and solving air pollution in order to have clean air to have healthy life. Read the rest of this entry »

2022 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Tiaglin Denis Valentinovich, Balash Ruslan Sergeevich, Sudarkina Victoria Alekseevna, Ermakova Ekaterina Alekseevna 
Russia

Wind-powered Skyscraper is a new high-tech complex of buildings based on the principle of using an environmentally friendly renewable energy source – wind, which is everywhere. The concept was developed on the territory of modern Dubai, however, the complex can be located anywhere in the world, with strong and weak winds, since already at 4 m/s it is able to generate electricity and provide itself with it up to 200% of its own needs.
The complex consists of four to five modules-buildings twisted around a fixed axis with rotors. The modules are interconnected by a common platform and technical floors. This form, built on the basis of the DNA model, ensures the spatial stability of buildings.
The technological process consists in converting the energy of the ambient air flow into hydraulic energy, followed by its use to drive generators that generate electricity. The streamlined shape of the buildings is chosen in such a way that it concentrates the air flow and gives it the vector of optimal impact on the air rotory unit. The air flow concentrated by buildings and directed by aerodynamic shields to the blade systems of individual modules creates rotation of their rotory blocks around a static axis. The modules are separated by fixed platforms having a rigid connection with the frames of peripheral structures in combination with a supporting column.

• In comparison with a propeller wind turbine, the use of a wind turbine with a vertical axis of rotation allows:
• Place it directly in the urban environment, which eliminates the use of extended power lines;
• Place generating modules at different heights up to 1000 meters;
• Use a gravitational energy storage device;
• Ensure low speed and absence of infrasound.

Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2022 Skyscraper Competition

Maryam Vaseghi
Germany

Germany is a country of old forests, beautiful rivers, and historic artwork and buildings. Acid rain is dangerous gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide combined with water in clouds to create acid rain. When it comes to the problem of acid rain, Germany is its own worst enemy. The main sources of acid rain are smoke from factories and cars. Factories burn fossil fuels like natural gas, coal, and oil. This adds to acid rain through auto emissions. The toxic smoke from manufacturing plants is carried by air currents to other places before it falls to earth as acid rain. Germany shares its borders with many other countries. With other countries involved, it is also a more difficult problem to solve. For example, air currents bring the chemical-filled smoke from coal-burning factories in the United Kingdom to Germany. The chemicals fall to earth in Germany as acid rain. Over the past forty years, acid rain has taken its toll on these landmarks. Acid rain has ruined nearly half of the Black Forest in southwestern Germany. It has damaged the soil and the trees growing in it. Many acres of diseased trees are at risk of dying. It is the main concern in the future. Read the rest of this entry »

eVolo Magazine is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 Skyscraper Competition. The Jury selected 3 winners and 20 honorable mentions from 427 projects received. The annual award established in 2006 recognizes visionary ideas that through the novel use of technology, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations, challenge the way we understand vertical architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments.

The FIRST PLACE was awarded to CLIMATE CONTROL SKYSCRAPER designed by Kim Gyeong Jeung, Min Yeong Gi, and Yu Sang Gu from South Korea. The project investigates the use of a series of skyscrapers to modify weather conditions that would improve the global climate crisis and stop desertification, rising temperatures, and natural disasters.

The recipients of the SECOND PLACE are Wang Jue, Zhang Qian, Zhang Changsheng, Li Muchun, and Xu Jing from China for the project TSUNAMI PARK. The project is designed as a man-made inhabited mangrove for the Tonga region to prevent tsunamis that would affect the Pacific Rim.

NEW SPRING: AGRO-ECOLOGICAL SKYSCRAPER designed by Michał Spólnik from Austria and Marcin Kitala from Poland received the THIRD PLACE. The proposal is envisioned as an aggregation of garden modules containing distinct flora and microorganisms that could be deployed to specific regions that would flourish with new life.

The Jury was formed by Volkan Alkanoglu [Principal, VA | DESIGN], Gianni Botsford [Principal, Gianni Botsford Architects], Steven Chilton [Principal, SCA | Steven Chilton Architects], Tsvetelina Georgieva [Principal, DesignMorphine], Nuru Karim [Principal, Nudes], Arthur Mamou-Mani [Principal, Mamou-Mani Architects], and Moon Hoon [Principal, Moon Hoon Architects]