Special Mention
2009 Skyscraper Competition

Farzin Lotfi-Jam, Jerome Frumar
Australia

Special Mention

Traditionally, high-rise buildings are predicated by maximum economic return and are thus associated with commercial endeavors and opulence. This project recasts the initial ambition for vertical expansion. It envisages a rapidly deployable building that will provide centrally located resources in disaster situations. Instant High-rise builds upon the visionary concepts of Buckminster Fuller by continuing his research into lightweight ‘synergetic’ structures and geometries. The tensegrity principle is explored for its potential to provide a feasible structural system that enables the deployment of an instant skyscraper in areas struck by disaster. Read the rest of this entry »

Special Mention
2009 Skyscraper Competition

Julien Rousseau, Luca Battaglia, Ulisse Gnesda
France

Special Mention

The main focus of this investigation is to rethink the ‘skin’ of the skyscraper to generate renewable energies through the use of new materials and technologies.

Our idea is to design a new generation of towers with carbon shafts attached to the glazing that capture the wind and generate sufficient energy for the entire building. These shafts are flexible and oscillate with the wind and protect the interior from direct sunlight, reducing the greenhouse effect. Read the rest of this entry »

Special Mention
2009 Skyscraper Competition

Han Jaekyu, Park Sang Mi, Kim Ji Hyun, Park Woo Young, Lee Kyoung Ho
South Korea

Special Mention

Urban Nebulizer is a type of skyscraper designed for the most polluted cities worldwide. The geometry of the tower is a continuous spiral with program ‘trays’. It has a central hollowed core where smog is cleaned by a series of filtering membranes that use water and vegetation. It is a vertical garden that could be located in the center of any city.

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Special Mention
2009 Skyscraper Competition

Joanna Borek-Clement
United States

Special Mention

Creating a New Green Layer of Urban Life for Tokyo
Research has shown that strenuous physical activity in polluted cities increases our chance of breathing harmful particles. Sky-Terra is a new level of plazas for Tokyo. They are elevated 1,600 feet above ground and are formed by the roofs of individual skyscrapers joined together to structurally support each other- allowing for smaller footprints. Each building is a module able to be reconfigured in a variety of spatial patterns that could be implemented in any metropolis worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »

1st Place
2008 Skyscraper Competition

Elie Gamburg
United States

First Place

This is a proposal for a 720m tall skyscraper to be located above the existing Belarussky Train Station in Moscow, Russia. The program consists of a hotel, assembly, retail, cultural spaces, and apartments. These respond to the needs of the site, which serves as a major gateway to Moscow by road and rail. The main road to St. Petersburg runs through the site and is intersected by the main train line to Europe. Built in 1870, Belarussky Train Station is one of Moscow’s most important historical structures. It was celebrated throughout its history and earned the moniker ‘victory station’ for its role in shuttling Soviet troops to the German front during WWII, and for receiving the first trainloads of soldiers returning victorious after the war. Read the rest of this entry »

2nd Place
2008 Skyscraper Competition

Rugel Chiriboga, Ted Givens
United States

Second Place

Our project is based in Jurong East, Singapore. The site benefits from its adjacency to a mass transit line station and beautiful natural lake amenity. It is located between a Chinese garden and a heavy industrial district with large residential developments. Unfortunately, these residential developments do not take full advantage of sustainable building opportunities that are inherent in this region. Cultural richness and diversity in use, sustainability, and innovation particular to climatic influences in the region were primary drivers for our concept development. Our intent is to blend site specific sustainable strategies with a new interpretation of high rise design, derived from the juxtaposition of the vibrant complexity found in the traditional Malay village and the streamlined efficiency of modern Singapore. We sought clues from nature that could be utilized to develop a sustainable approach that would provide a stark contrast to the existing architectural landscape. The heavy use of gardens, both in the landscape and in the towers, provides a point of cultural departure in a sea of relentless housing blocks adjacent to our site. Read the rest of this entry »

3rd Place
2008 Skyscraper Competition

Alberto Fernández, Susana Ortega
Chile

Third Place

Huasco City is a port in the north of Chile. The city is a place of important agricultural development thanks to the Huasco River, but in the last decade the water flux decreased, which will probably lead to agriculture disappearance in the near future. A new strategy is required to obtain water from the Atacama Desert. In this place there is a climatic phenomenon called Camanchaca, dense coastal fog that has dynamic characteristic: condensation at great heights that is carried towards coastal zones by strong wind currents. Its origin is in the anticyclone of the Pacific Ocean that produces a layer of stratocumulus, covering the coastal strip from Peru to northern Chile. The base of the cloud is at 400 meters (with a variation of 200 meters) above sea level. The second layer contains minerals from the sea, in lower concentration than sea water. Read the rest of this entry »

Special Mention
2008 Skyscraper Competition

Christopher Talbott, George Tolosa
United States

Special Mention

The Freeway Interchange Tower seeks to reclaim the “throw-away” land often left in the wake of massive highway junctions, typically an abandoned, unattractive space at the center of maze-like crossings. These infrastructure nexus not only serve as transportation nodes, but also act as buffers between differing land conditions, uses, and city environments. In this particular site, the freeway interchange is bordered by low density residential neighborhoods on the south and east sides, a nearby institutional center to the north, and a major drainage canal to the northwest. With such proximity to varying uses and zoning regions, the interchange often becomes the separating barrier. Read the rest of this entry »

Special Mention
2008 Skyscraper Competition

Daekwon Park
United States

Special Mention

Skyscrapers started to emerge in cities like Chicago and New York towards the end of 19th Century. Over a century has passed, and the skyscrapers become the norm for the big city centers throughout the world. Although the skyscraper itself is truly an achievement of modern technology and vision, the urban space that is created by the collection of these seems to be fragmented, limited, and very unkind to nature. The project takes place in this urban context, investigating the way to reunite the isolated city blocks and insert a multi-layered network of public space, green space, and nodes for the city. Read the rest of this entry »

Special Mention
2008 Skyscraper Competition

Tingxing Tao
United States

Special Mention

Interaction is the influence of two systems on one another, which can be understood as interchange and interrelation between the two. Transition means the connection from one status to another, or a gradual or sudden transformation between the two parts. Living-Tower is designed as a vertical strategy that situates itself within the most complex urban context- Shanghai, which is considered as the fastest-developing city in the fastest-developing country. Emphasis of this project is given to examining the idea of the interactive transition within and outside a building. Read the rest of this entry »