In the world of fountain pens, there a very few examples with a retractable nib. These pens are convenient because they don’t have a cap, which means that you can immediately write without uncapping the pen- like a click ballpoint pen. Instead, they rely on different solutions to keep the nib wet. One of our favorite fountain pens is the BOLT designed by ēnsso in California. It is a minimalist pen with a bolt-action mechanism and an innovative silicone seal system. When the nib is extended, it goes through a silicone component that has an X-shaped cut. When the nib is retracted, the flaps on the seal naturally close, preventing in any air going through. This is an efficient way to always keep the nib wet while relying on very few components.

The pen has received great reviews by the fountain pen community because of its simplicity, modern aesthetic, and reliability. It is produced in limited editions- last year it was offered in titanium, brass, and copper. This year, it is offered in 6061 space-grade aluminum anodized in matte black for a stealth look. You can learn more about the BOLT pen here.

2024 Skyscraper Competition

Frank Hao Xinyang, An Ran
Hong Kong

In the 30 years following the discharge of radioactive water from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant into the ocean, it has become evident that the impact of radioactive contamination on nature far exceeded initial estimates. Ecosystems have suffered greatly, with several species facing the threat of extinction. Humanity’s impact on nature has been more severe than imagined. Radioactive contaminants in the oceans and soil have had a long-term and widespread impact on the biosphere, leading to a global reassessment of environmental policies and a surge in technological innovations. These circumstances have compelled the scientific community and environmental organizations to seek innovative solutions to repair the environment and prevent future disasters. With advancements in genetic engineering and radioactive experimentation technology, new hope has risen from the ruins of the disaster.

Post-Fukushima Ecological Awakening

It is on this land, once heavily damaged, that a remarkable fusion of building technology, genetic engineering, and nature has taken place.

Scientists, through breakthroughs in gene transference and radioactive experimentation techniques, have decoded the secrets of certain plants and insects that thrive in radioactive environments. They have successfully used the genes of these organisms to create new giant plant species. These plants are robust enough to grow in contaminated soil and have unique physiological mechanisms to absorb and transform radioactive elements, thus reducing environmental contamination.

Building Ecological Sanctuaries

These unprecedented plants have begun to play a crucial role in restoring ecological balance in contaminated areas.
These giant plants serve not only as natural purifiers but also as shelters for post-disaster life and recovery, with their internal spaces designed for human habitation. Within these ecological megastructures are spacious living areas, efficient laboratories, and verdant relaxation spaces. In these natural sanctuaries, people can conduct scientific research, explore further environmental restoration technologies, and rediscover ways of harmonious coexistence with nature. This has led these regions to gradually become exemplars of human-nature symbiosis.

Symbols of Sustainability and Legacy

These novel plants have formed a unique ecosystem around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, known as the “Radiation Biosphere.” Here, plants and wildlife depend on each other, creating a delicate yet stable ecological equilibrium. Scientists have established a range of research facilities and living quarters within this biosphere, where environmental exploration and monitoring occur in harmony with nature, composing a magnificent symphony of life.

After decades of growth and evolution, these giant plants eventually fulfill their life’s mission. At the end of their life cycle, they undergo a special process that solidifies their structure, transforming them into durable building materials.
Calcified plants are carefully crafted into various types of structures, including homes, research laboratories, art galleries, and monuments. Designers have used these special building materials to create unique architectural styles and forms, integrating the beauty of technology and nature into the architecture, embodying the concept of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

These “buildings” are not only places for human habitation but also symbols of the post-Fukushima era’s environmental and human symbiotic philosophy.
Every building transformed from these giant plants stands as a memorial to the past and a warning for the future.

Future Outlook and Sustainable Development

This project represents a proactive response and exploration of humanity’s environmental challenges. It showcases the harmonious coexistence between humans and nature and provides a new model and inspiration for future sustainable development. In this new ecosystem, humans and nature progress together, exploring and creating a more beautiful and sustainable living space for the future. This project will inspire continued investment in environmental protection and technological innovation, creating more possibilities for the future of humanity and the planet.

Editors’ Choice
2024 Skyscraper Competition

Cheng Qian, Zitong Song, Yingjiao Zheng, Le Bai, Jixi Hou
China

Based on the impact of ocean currents on Marine life, the site was chosen for the construction in the Sea of Japan on the western coast of the Pacific Ocean. Designed a three-dimensional farm and seawater purification building for a site near the Japanese island of Hokkaido, where the Warm Japanese Current and the Kuril Current meet. The Marine life in the region is rich and diverse, which is conducive to the cultivation symbiosis.

Japan began discharging treated Fukushima nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean on August 24, 2023. The total amount of nuclear waste water is more than 1 million tons, and the nuclear polluted water directly leaks into the ocean and rivers, which will cause serious Marine pollution. Because the soil naturally absorbs the chemical elements in the nuclear sewage, it also causes pollution to the cultivated soil. Therefore, based on the common impact of nuclear sewage on the ocean and cultivated soil, we design the complex building of cultivation and cultivation by using the aquaponics tower. In addition to the purification of the polluted water body, it supports the growth of the top plants, and uses the water circulation system to solve the dual problems caused by nuclear pollution on the sea and land.

In the concept generation, starting from the unique shape of coral, the fractal is spread from the center point, and the coral structure is generated from the three-dimensional Angle. With coral as the positive form, the space in the cube is the negative space, and then slice, pick the usable space, form a rich split-level and hole space, on the basis of further formation of different partitions according to functional requirements.

The water is a three-dimensional farm system, and the architectural form comes from Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2024 Skyscraper Competition

Taoning Wen, Jaoning Zhang, Yuchen Zhang
China

Earth is the cradle of humanity, but humans cannot live in the cradle forever. The Earth’s ecosystem is just a speck in the vast ocean of the universe, small and fragile. Global climate change, rising sea levels, widespread infectious diseases, and even nuclear war… These issues have become the Sword of Damocles hanging over humanity’s head. Some people are looking to the universe: enabling humans to fly out of Earth in large numbers, move to other planets, and become an interstellar civilization, thereby greatly strengthening their resistance to environmental changes.

With the development of aviation technology in recent years, reusable rockets have become a hot topic. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 completed its first recovery on December 21, 2015, marking the transition of reusable rockets from theory to reality. Its emergence and maturity have greatly reduced the cost of rocket launches, making it possible to launch rockets on a large scale. Large-scale reusable rockets, represented by Starship, are undoubtedly the best choice for humans to leave Earth in large numbers under current technology. It can be foreseen that in the near future, commercial spaceflight and even space migration will form a certain scale based on reusable rockets.

However, the increasingly frequent rocket launches also cause huge environmental damage. According to a new study published by NOAA in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, if the number of rocket launches using hydrocarbon fuels increases by 10 times, it will damage the ozone layer and even change atmospheric circulation patterns. Pollution emissions during rocket launches and entry into the stratosphere are even more severe. At a time when humans cannot completely separate from the Earth’s environment, it is still necessary to find a suitable balance between protecting the Earth’s environment and exploring space. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2024 Skyscraper Competition

Lisa Suen, Youda Li, Yunxiao Ju, Linxin Wu, Ziyi Wang
China, Sweden

The Horn of Africa is facing a severe food crisis, and in 2023, the Horn of Africa experienced six consecutive rainy seasons without rainfall, resulting in a massive reduction in crop yields and is experiencing the worst drought since 1981, resulting in more than 1,900,000 people have been displaced and 13 million are facing severe hunger, sounding the “hunger alarm”.

This project is located in Oromia, Ethiopia. Because this is the central location of the Horn of Africa, it is convenient for external food aid. Moreover, this place has a plateau mountain climate, with a rainy season of 6 months and a dry season of 6 months a year, which provides conditions for water extraction and agricultural cultivation.
In addition, Ethiopia has a special geological feature called the African Rift Valley. The Great Rift Valley is about 700m wide, 500m deep, and thousands of meters long. The project was sited in the Great Rift Valley because the ground is cracked during the dry season. Only the windy and foggy conditions in the Rift Valley offer the possibility of extracting moisture during the dry season.
The project aims to create a composite Agricultural Community in Great Rift Valley, that integrates living, food planting, water storage, and shared space to solve the local food crisis. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2025 Skyscraper Competition

Kim Min Sung, Kim Jun Ryeun, Park Do Hyun
South Korea

People rush to London. To accommodate everyone that has gushed into already saturated London, it modified its established density system. This naturally leads to an increase of floor space index and a redevelopment plan starting with old urban center that has lost its function.
Modern buildings are too easily demolished. Numerous buildings are forgotten in the name of development or redevelopment to fulfill the city’s density – whilst the cost, time and effort that are required to build a structure is neglected. The increase of urban density has been continuing for more than 300 years since the industrialization. Cities all over the world are trapped in this flow, continuously being smaller and higher. Major cities such as New York, London and Beijing has reached floor space ratio of 3300% today but sykscraper higher than existing buildings go up. Modern architecture has fallen into this viscious cycle of requidation and construction. At this point, we question ourselves. Is a building simply a vessel for accomodation? Should the memories and traces of people’s lives be rubbed off onto a flooding crowd? What will be the way to preserve various values as long as the building’s own lifespan while it exists in the same timeline as people? This will be a story about an architecture that ages with people’s memory – an architecture that freed itself from city’s hypertrophy and people’s desire system, an architecture that lasts for more than a century without being demolished with increasing population and rising buildings. Read the rest of this entry »

2024 Skyscraper Competition
Editors’ Choice

Hamed Ahaki Lake,  Seyedeh Fatemeh Mirmousavi, Seyed Hooman Heravi Talemi, Vahid Nazari Kangavari
Iran

Imagine a towering skyscraper, not just a monument of glass and steel, but a living, breathing organism. This is the vision of future cities built within colossal skyscrapers, inspired by the human nervous system and constructed using 3D printers fed by recycled iron and plastic, this approach not only reduces reliance on virgin resources but also tackles the ever-growing problem of environmental pollution.

These “neuron-cities” are managed by a swarm intelligence inspired by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (MHN) and William Glasser’s theory of choice (GTC), taking resident well-being to the forefront of urban planning. Imagine sprawling pathways resembling branching neurons, connecting various levels and sections of the skyscraper-city. These pathways will be designed to be multifunctional, all house, along with other facilities are located here, serving as residential, transportation arteries, communication channels, and even housing utilities like water and energy distribution.

There would be nodes as a central hub, functioning like a city plaza, bringing together diverse functions such as commercial, educational, entertainment, healthcare centers, and park spaces. Spaceframes, structures built from interconnected struts and nodes, provide a strong and flexible framework for these neuron-cities. This design allows for adaptability and modularity, enabling the city to evolve and expand based on the needs of its residents. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2023 Skyscraper Competition

Yang Zhao, Shi Qiu
United States

Traditional Asian Community has evolved for thousands of years with its own strong characteristics and deep meaning of social relationships that work for Asian people the best. As we all know, Asians like to live gregariously. One of the underlying reasons is that the early Asian food production were mainly through agriculture. And, agriculture needs to rely on collaboration, thus lead to group living. However, In the past two centuries, with the second and third industrial revolutions, industrialization has greatly affected the living patterns of Asians — small families live in segregated apartments, and family members also live in separate rooms. Over time, people would rather face their digital screens than talk to each other. As a result, traditional Asian residential communities stopped evolving and became history. We have to admit industrialization and technology are excellent strategies that solve the growing need for residences in modern cities, but it does not mean we need to abandon the meaningful heritage of social relationships and natural systems.

It’s time for us to rethink the wisdom of Asian dwellings, and integrate it with technology to serve the new generations. So, imagine in the future, we combine the best aspects of Asian traditional architectural principles, the industrial manufacturing and assembling process, together with digital technology and the informational advantages the future society would offer, what kind of future residential High-rises would look like and how can we solve the still growing need for living in the continuous urbanization? Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2023 Skyscraper Competition

Zhaoxu Huang
China

Desertification is a phenomenon that the dry land ecosystems is constantly degraded due to the influence of climate and human activities. With the continuous progress of global industrialization, surface vegetation has been continuously destroyed, and persistent desertification threatens the poorest population in the world and the prospect of poverty reduction. Therefore, combating desertification has become a century-long problem that puzzles mankind. With the increasing concern of the international community about desertification, more and more countries and regions are carrying out afforestation activities. However, due to the single species and sparse number of vegetation, it is impossible to form a stable ecosystem and the effect is insufficient.

Although the undeveloped desert area are full of dangers, it is difficult to serve as a basis for human beings to transform nature. However, the desert contains a lot of valuable energy, and rational use of the desert can greatly reduce global warming caused by carbon emissions. The desert is both a crisis and an opportunity! We obtained all kinds of environmental and meteorological data about desert areas around the world through literature retrieval. By comparing and analyzing the environmental indicators of different areas, and according to the climatic conditions needed for plant growth, the design site of the skyscraper in Gurbantunggut Desert was finally selected. The desert is located in the middle of Junggar basin in northern Xinjiang, with an annual precipitation of about 70 ~ 150 mm and a wide variety of vegetation, which is suitable as a test site for initial desert transformation. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2023 Skyscraper Competition

Runze Wu, Jingkun Sun, Jingyi Liang, Liying Yang, Yizhuo Dai, Pengyu Chen
China

Itaewon is a famous local business district and a bar street in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea, which is usually very popular on weekends. on the night of October 29, 2022，More than 150 people died in a mass stampede at Itaewon，Local media said it was the largest number of people killed in an accident in South Korea since the sinking of the passenger ship “Shiyue” in 2014.The night of the accident, Itaewon held a Halloween party, the number of people gathered nearby was approximately 100,000 people, the accident occurred in a long narrow ramp, and the injured were mostly young people. Among the people who died, except for a few in the front row who were trampled to death, more were crushed in the chest could not breathe, and eventually died of traumatic asphyxiation.

At the time of the accident, the whole alley was crowded with people, the part where the stampede occurred was a section approximately 5.7 meters long, and more than 300 people were packed in a space of approximately 18 square meters.The lack of response before the incident and the lack of effective limitations on the number of people, as well as the lack of guidance at the time of the incident, which led to the crowd getting together and not being able to find the direction of evacuation, are some of the important reasons for the stampede in Korea. Even though the subsequent Korean police and rescue forces arrived at the scene in large numbers after the stampede, the rescue forces were crowded at the periphery, because the huge crowd was difficult to evacuate quickly and could not implement effective rescue for the first time.For us, the most important thing is to learn from the mistakes and eliminate the hidden dangers. After all, urban governance is not just about how many high-rise buildings are built, but also about how to make people feel safer. Read the rest of this entry »