Honorable Mention
2022 Skyscraper Competition

Karan Jain, Vishwal Ram Gowda
India

Meru, it means the abode of gods at the center of the universe, the project brings together the context with those inhabiting it. The goal is to create organic growth within a community by the usage of progressive improvements, sort of like how a frog doesn’t realize its being boiled in water.

Currently in Delhi, among many problems is the incredulous amount of waste that is produced by the city and in tandem with that, its relation and allocation with the slums of Delhi. Among the two the former isn’t being given enough treatment and the latter seems impossible without the displacement of a large population of people. After contemplation one thinks that such a feat is impossible without there being the availability of such a large vacant amount of space. But what one, can do in such a situation is to set up a situation of parallel organic growth, this allows for the infrastructure to creep into an area with such rich culture and history while also allowing the area to creep into the infrastructure allowing for both the former and the latter to develop off of each other, pushing the development of the context at an exponential rate.

To achieve this the context and the people within should be able to feed off of each other, and so the MCD dump yard in Bhalswa new Delhi seems like the perfect site as the dump yard has been accumulating waste for a long time and as such depreciating the value of anything around it, which in turn made it ideal for laborers and slum dwellings to develop. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2022 Skyscraper Competition

Chien-Ching Su
Taiwan

Insects, accounting for 80% of animal life on Earth, are the most diverse and largest group on Earth. However, both their diversities and numbers are declining around the globe due to habitat loss, pollution, and climate change. Without effective conservation measures, not only food shortage becomes serious because lots of pollinators disappear, but the whole ecological balance on the planet will break. The main goals of the project are to conserve insects’ diversity and restore their population. With artificial frameworks and the help of bees, the high-rise structure will be built as an insect habitat.

The inspiration for the design comes from a Slovakian Artist, Tomáš Libertíny, who cooperates with a swarm of bees to create many striking sculptures. The most famous beeswax sculpture in his works is the Nefertiti bust, finished by 60,000 bees cooperation. The question is – how does he produce these works “made by bees?” Firstly, he prints a 3D artificial framework of the sculpture, which encourages bees to build their hive above the framework. Then, he spreads some sugar to help worker bees work efficiently. After a while, bees will complete a striking sculpture made with beeswax. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2022 Skyscraper Competition

Han-Yu Lai, Wei-Qun Cai, Chun-Yi Yeh
Taiwan

In 2008 the FAO reported that 20% of all cultivated areas, 30% of forests, and 10% of grasslands are degrading. 52% of the land used for agriculture is moderately or severely affected by soil degradation and 12 million hectares of once productive land are lost to desertification per annum. Nearly 1.5 billion people depend directly on degrading land for their livelihoods, most of them in the so-called ‘developing world’. Land degradation leads to food insecurity which can, in turn, lead to conflict, migration, and inevitably, the loss of biodiversity. Less tangible, but no less significant is that the process of degradation not only erodes the land, it also corrodes the spirit of communities watching their homelands turn into a wasteland. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2022 Skyscraper Competition

Ahmed Helal
United States

Since the construction of the Equitable Life Assurance Building in 1820, the office tower has become synonymous with white-collar productivity in New York City. In the subsequent 200 years, some 450 million square feet of office space has been constructed in the five boroughs, constituting over 10% of all office space within the United States. It wasn’t until the proliferation of the internet, collaborative communication platforms, and co-working spaces, that the office began to decentralize. Then, in 2020, the Global Coronavirus Pandemic completely disrupted the corporate hierarchy, as White-Collar America transitioned to working from home, it became evident that the workforce could remain productive outside the office. It is now clear that there will never be a full return to pre-Covid workplace normalcy. This paradigm shift has rendered the commercial office tower obsolete. If this typology no longer holds value, then what should we do with the obsolete building stock? To simply demolish it would be wasteful, arrogant, and short-sighted, for two reasons. First, all constructions have inherent value simply in that they exist and were an expenditure of finite resources that can never be replaced. To dispose of them is to erase those resources forever. New York City alone produces over 3 million tons of construction waste annually, only 35% of which is returned to the production stream. Second, it is precisely this outdated building stock that gives New York its identity. The only path forward is adaptive reuse – to transform these antiquated buildings into vibrant and essential structures that serve to alleviate the two fundamental architectural crises in the city: housing and public space. – This proposal is an example of adaptive reuse design, changing landmarked office skyscrapers like the AT&T Building by Philip Johnson, currently known as 550 Madison, to residential spaces that prioritize tenants and the local community, offering an accessible well-rounded live, work, and play lifestyle through the design and programming of homes and public spaces. Read the rest of this entry »

First Place
2021 Skyscraper Competition

Andrii Lesiuk, Mykhaylo  Kohut, Sofiia Shkoliar, Kateryna Ivashchuk, Nazarii Duda, Mariia Shkolnyk, Oksana-Daryna Kytsiuk, Andrii Honcharenko
Ukraine

One of the main goals of the project is to grow a living skyscraper on the principle of sustainable architecture.

The building will function in the middle of a grey megalopolis and solve a number of important environmental and urban issues.  By analyzing the active process of urbanization and a decrease in the percentage of green spaces as a phenomenon that provokes a number of environmental problems.

We believe that by integrating genetically modified trees during the stage of their growth and development into architecture, we can restore the balance between the digitalized megacities and the Earth’s resources, which are gradually depleted.

A skyscraper tree is a separate living organism with its own root system, irrigation, care mechanisms, and features of development focused on its adaptation to use in architecture. It is a group of unique fast-growing and tall hardwood deciduous trees, which are planted in groups in specially prepared soil (to obtain resources) and in the process of their growth from a unique architectural volume.

The plant absorbs water and nutrients, which are distributed from root to tip. At the same time, the growth of the trunk circumference will gradually increase the strength of the wood structure and improve its self-supporting properties. Read the rest of this entry »

Second Place
2021 Skyscraper Competition

Amit Deutch, Roni Dominitz, Tamar Kerber
Israel

The Lluvioso groundwater refilling facility is a mixed-use high-rise structure designed as a response to Mexico City’s variable water-related issues such as flooding, water shortage, and their side effects. The solution we examined in our project utilizes the high-rise altitude to gather rainwater and refill the city’s groundwater supply.

This field of high-rise structures spread out over the city’s flood risk areas, at a height of 400m, would harvest rainwater using an external membrane layer detaching from the building’s facade. The external layer consists of 10 wings, anchored to the main structure at a height of 100m in order to allow the city’s future vertical growth. Thus, resulting in a 600m diameter rain-water collecting Canopée covering a typical city quarter. The collected water would then be directed down into the aquifer as well as upwards towards a pendulum water tank (for self-use). This proposal seeks to reduce flood damage, fill the aquifer and enhance the water supply for the city’s residents. Read the rest of this entry »

Third Place
2021 Skyscraper Competition

Xiangshu Kong, Xiaoyong Zhang, Mingsong Sun
China

Hmong in China is an ancient nationality, mainly living in Yunnan province. Hmong has its own language, architecture, and lifestyle. However, this group of special minority cultures is being gradually swallowed by modern culture. Many Hmong cultural customs have disappeared, and even many Hmong people’s houses have been demolished or will be.

In order to build a well-off society in an all-around way, the Chinese government has issued relocation policies to the villages to help the Hmong stay away from their dilapidated places of residence and move to the suburbs of cities to provide a modern and affluent life. Although the original intention of the government is good, more and more ethnic minorities are unable to adapt to the new places of residence. They miss their arable land, yards, streams, and so on. We try to design a skyscraper. We try our best to keep farmers’ memory and lifestyle of their original hometown, and at the same time let them enjoy the convenience of modern urbanization. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2021 Skyscraper Competition

Alina Kandyba, Emil Stefansson, Josefin Antus, Karl Östvall
Sweden

Up in the Squair is a re-imagination of the skyscraper as a vertical continuation of urban space; a proposal focused on the experience of the user exploring the dynamics of spaces, derived from elements found in historic city centers.

The context where the skyscraper first arose is recognized by its strict grid plan; wide avenues to fit traffic, not much room for adaptations, nor irregularities and asymmetries. The skyscraper could be seen as a reflection of this context following a grid plan logic but vertically with orthogonal circulation; a common idea of rationally moving from point A to point B unifies building with the site.

When the skyscraper was introduced to Europe it faced a more complex situation. A present history and an architectural dominance exclusive to culture, state, or religion. And as a result, instead of becoming the core of the city, like New York or Tokyo, the skyscrapers of Europe tend to be either erected in districts planned for the matter, like Le Défense in Paris, or in the historic center where old structures are demolished to give space for the skyscraper, like City of London’s financial district. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2021 Skyscraper Competition

Lee Jae Uk, Kim Ji Hoo
South Korea

Water shortage
The African government has invested heavily in education, agriculture, and medical facilities for the development of the country, but has not been able to produce clear results. Increasing demand due to rapid urban growth resulted in the overabundance of the water resources system, and poor management of resources, weak long-term investment and research on the environment, and a lack of infrastructure led to many natives’ dependence on relief.

Ironically, the average annual precipitation in Africa results in average annual rainfall of 1,000 to 2,000 mm. Nevertheless, the reason why water is always suffering from a lack of water supply facilities infrastructure to collect and store rainwater. The climate of Africa is divided into dry and rainy seasons. In the rainy season, there is a lot of rain to flood, but this rain is not used and flows into the groundwater.

The minimum amount of water a person needs to survive is 7 liters per day. Urban areas with water facilities can easily be supplied with water, but Africans in rural areas who do not receive a minimum supply of water spend 16 hours a day growing water, and they will never dream of agricultural water. Lack of drinking water and agricultural water worsened their health.

Lack of water and sewage treatment facilities
In Africa, where sewage treatment facilities are not available, people solve feces and urine on the streets and it seeps into the ground.  pathogens are preserved on the ground. One way for Africans to get water is to grow contaminated water from digging. This water also worsens their health.

Sponge
The Sponge is a water circulation collection housing for residents in rural areas who can use groundwater due to discharge and collect rainwater in rainy seasons. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2021 Skyscraper Competition

Adam Fernandez
France

For more than 4,500 years, the pyramids have fascinated me. Man-made for the elite of the early dynasties, they were built as a royal tomb. Resurrection machine where the pharaohs made their transition from death to eternal life, this pyramidal shape is also a magical symbol of regeneration linked to the daily rebirth of the sun.

According to recent research, the pyramids were built by free men. The excavations carried out near the pyramids by the group of archaeologists AERA in 2013 have made it possible to reconstruct the life of these Egyptians. It describes a working town located south of the Sphinx. They found evidence of animal husbandry, slaughterhouses, and graveyards there, enough to infer the proper diet and access to medical care for construction workers, Dr. Redding told LiveScience.

The PYRAMIDES project aims to offer an alternative to the architects of the past. That of building new cities based on the same divine laws. Through which the people and the pharaohs would cohabit together.

This city is organized around an oasis. It keeps an ecological reserve in its core where wild flora and fauna share a common shelter protected from the sun. Functioning as a green lung and natural air conditioner, the inhabitants of PYRAMIDES will be able to walk there and enjoy a temperate climate.

In the very heart of the city and the oasis, there is also a place of worship dedicated to prayer where all roads converge. As for the royal tomb, the basements protect the relics and sarcophagus of their pharaoh. Read the rest of this entry »