AlgaeComb Skyscraper

By:  | April - 20 - 2020

Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Ju Hwan Lee, Jin Ah Kim, Jong Min Choi
South Korea

Background
Among all environmental issues, air pollution is the most pressing and complex environmental problem nowadays. As WHO announced, most of the world’s population lives in an inappropriate air condition. But we concern air quality which is mainly related to inland regions despite water covers about 70% of the planet’s surface.

The ocean is not immune to these deep environmental issues. Lots of smoke from the land, ships going between continents, docking facilities, and HVAC systems in ships still use fossil fuels and emit smoke. Especially, the decrepit engine produces a large number of pollutants due to the use of low-quality fuel and its incomplete combustion. This contaminated air moves around the ocean and has already affected water quality, acidity and the marine ecosystem. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Beomsu Kim, Sanghun Kim
South Korea

Change of Terra – Terraforming in Permafrost
If the greenhouse gas increases more than 940 ppm (parts per million) by the year 2100, the coastal and inland area that inhibits 750 million people will be submerged from the year 2050, and about 29 percent of the Earth’s surface will be desertified. This means approximately a quarter of people from all over the world will be affected by climate change. Also, since 2018, the rate of climate refugees constitutes about two-thirds (18 million) of worldwide refugees (28 million). Therefore, if a settled environment has been collapsed, people should migrate to a new base. We focus on permafrost, which is frozen northern half, as the people’s new base. If the global temperature increases continuously, Russia’s Siberian and permafrost (22.8*10^6 km2), which is more than double the area of the States (9.8*10^6 km2), will be able to accommodate a lot of climate refugees, and it will also get ideal climate.

However, the thickness of ice is about 80 m and the ground of permafrost, which is consisted of polygonal patterned wetland and ice-wedge, is still inappropriate to develop the infrastructure and natural forest. Moreover, new puddles and waterways, which were produced by global warming, accelerate the stratum instability and may act as a channel that makes carbon dioxide and methane go through to the air, and this will cause more serious global warming and air pollution. Therefore, a strategy is required to be able to establish the settlement at the unsettled land and atmosphere. We suggest the terraforming of permafrost by a design structured with a systematic mechanism. Read the rest of this entry »

Blooming Tulou Skyscraper

By:  | April - 20 - 2020

Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Jiang Donglin, Yue Kaiyun, Tian Shaohong, Dai Mingqi, Ma Xinyue, Zhu Yilong
China

Tulou is a traditional residential building in Fujian Province. Its architectural form is closely related to local people’s farming activities and ancestor worship activities. But because it is built for defense purposes, all the space used is an inward closed space. The thick outer wall of the earth building becomes the space boundary, which confronts the external danger and provides shelter for the internal. The interior is open to the patio and ancestral hall, and life sacrifice activities are included under the protection of the wall. This building attempts to build a high-rise building on the top of the original earth building, and gradually reverse the internal and external relations and turn internal to the external.

The new building grows on the original earth building. The external wall of the new building extends upward from the original rammed earth wall, and the wall is gradually enlarged from the bottom to the upper window. At last, the wall is gradually transformed from the wall to the thin beam-column. The material is transited from the heavy rammed earth to the light modern steel column. The internal courtyard extends upward from the transparent to opacity and solid, and gradually becomes the cylinder structure of the new building. Through changes of the external rammed earth wall and the internal colonnade, the original inward space is gradually transformed into outward space from the bottom to the top. Under this change, the internal and external relations of the original space are replaced. Read the rest of this entry »

Tree Of Life Skyscraper

By:  | April - 20 - 2020

Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Finbar Charleson
United Kingdom

CONCEPT
The project proposes a timber high rise in downtown Vancouver combining public cultural programs with the technical and legislative processes of a successful land claim for the expansion of indigenous territory. The timber tower stands in direct dialogue with the steel and glass structures of downtown Vancouver, offering a contemporary interpretation of the traditional totems and Longhouses of the Northwest Native Cultural region, making a clear statement about the ambitions of the region’s tribes. Read the rest of this entry »

McFashion Skyscraper

By:  | April - 20 - 2020

Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Jingxuan Yang, Jingwen Na, Tianhao Wu, Hangyi Guo
China

‘McFashion’, which is represented by H&M, ZARA, and GAP, has become a trend and spread all over the world. ‘McFashion’ is a sales model which always provides the latest clothes at the lowest prices. A ‘McFashion’ brand can launch more than 10, 000 saleable garments a year, and the average cycle from design to shelf is only about two weeks. But the debate over the environmental ethics of fast fashion is heating up.

According to a report, human beings over 100 billion pieces of clothing are consumed every year. Overall, 92 million tons of waste dumped into landfills each year comes from the industry. A separate report found that about 35 percent of microplastic pollutants are emitted while washing synthetic textiles, mostly by fast-fashion brands. It is clear that the environmental concerns caused by ‘McFashion’ should raise our attention. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Taiming Chen, Zhendong Long
United States

 

Abstract
What are the social trends and changes that are affecting the development of skyscraper typologies? What is the future for those existing super-tall residential towers that have similar forms and structure systems? What is the next-decade expectation toward residential skyscrapers? How will the skyscrapers respond to the increasing needs in urban density?

Design Gesture
In this project, we are exploring a new typology of tower design by bringing up the idea of “customization in mass-production” for those supertall residential skyscrapers. Architecturally, the design is to utilize the existing structure as the basis and add the new hanging structures in sky lobbies to allow the additional spaces to hang outside of the towers. Programmatically, individual needs, which are varied in time, become the focus of post-built design development. Residents can individually customize their cubic spaces as they need, and the building owner will hang them in front of the residents’ doorway. The fundamental concept in the project is about the users’ engagement in the after-built development process of the tower – the further tower shall have the capability of housing their changing needs architecturally and programmatically. Read the rest of this entry »

Regenera Skyscraper

By:  | April - 20 - 2020

Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Alberto Roncelli
Italy

 

Wildfires started immediately after the appearance of terrestrial plants, 420 million years ago. Natural fires can have beneficial effects on native vegetation, on animals and on ecosystems that have evolved with wildfires. The problem has arisen in recent decades, where we are facing increasing intensity in large fires caused by humans (arsons and climate change). In the case of large and heavy forest fires, it is common to have a totally destroyed ecosystem and, in some cases, the inability to regrow. In recent months we have dealt with the devastating cases of the Amazon rainforest and the bushfires in Australia with over 12.35 million acres of scorched earth and 480 million dying animals. Which role can architecture and architects play in this scenario? Can we suggest new approaches for ecosystem recovery? Read the rest of this entry »

CarbonFloss

By:  | April - 20 - 2020

Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Adham Sinan Abdallah Hameedat
Palestinian Territories-Bethlehem

There’s no room for hope when there is no action. Actions are hope, amid impending danger of looming disaster. Alarms of demise are ignored. When hope is scarce due to inaction towards an immediate and radical response, comes carbon floss as a political statement to counter absurd/destructive reluctance policies, spurring and promoting hope for action as reassurance for humanity. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Yiran Fu, Zhen Meng
China

The project is located next to the campus in Stockholm, where, as a result of the study, water pollution has been a persistent problem. What we want to focus on is the climate crisis and the relationship between building and environmental impact. Our design is a machine driven by wind power to absorb the pollution in the seawater while purifying the seawater and providing fresh water for the residential building on top.

This tower is a self-sustainable public infrastructure. At the same time, it also has the function of enjoyment. Tourists and residents can visit the process of the energy conversion process. This project shows that sustainability is not a burden but should improve the quality of people’s lives and could also be aesthetic and articulate to make a dynamic experience. It’s built right in the middle of the sea and is now part of everyday activities. The tower is ecologically, economically and socially sustainable. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2020 Skyscraper Competition

Adam Fernandez
France

MARS, a mythic red planet and God’s incarnation of the Roman wars are indispensable in the conquest of space today.

This planet is situated in the sun’s zone of habitability, but it currently rests in an inhospitable state for humanity. Previously, this planet was known to have living conditions similar to those on Earth as it contained both oceans and an atmosphere. Today, Mars has lost its magnetic field and is struck by solar winds. As a result, Mars is deprived of atmospheric pressure and of water. This star has transformed itself into a cold and radioactive world with temperatures averaging -53° C.

Nevertheless, research is advancing and theories are claiming that it will be possible to colonize Mars by terraforming it. NASA developed a concept presenting the creation of an artificial magnetosphere located at the specific site, called Lagrange L1, which is between Mars and the sun. At this specific site, it is necessary to create an object that generates a magnetic field with an intensity between 1-2 teslas that is capable of protecting Mars from cosmic rays. Read the rest of this entry »