Editors’ Choice
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Chi-Jen Wang
United Kingdom

The Reciprocal Utopia City project is a renewable energy city in the sky.  It forms a cloud-like structure rising into the sky to 1,100 meters high and parallel to New York City.

The focus of this project is consists of two parts. How architecture can serve as a mechanism to facilitate escapism, in the context of the domination of capitalism, taking it as a strategic site to study. Meanwhile, it explores the new way of imaging renewable energy system by using potential technology.

The Situationist International once described a dream society: New Babylon. The Nomadic city develops the idea of a “traveling metropolis”, a package that infiltrates temporarily into a community. The mobility of architecture.  “It is obvious that a person is free to use his time for the whole of his life, free to go where he wants, when he wants, cannot make the greatest use of his freedom in a world ruled by the clock and the imperative of a fixed abode.”

A society without work.
A place without a clock.
A dream that allows you to be truly free. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Bowen Li
China

In this era, population explosion, terrorism, energy crisis, environmental pollution and nuclear weapon like a huge cloud head over us. Faced with these threat, we are exerting our effort to ease conflicts while we still need expand our living space. Fortunately, the great progress of technology in various fields is bringing about new possibilities. People had left footprint on the moon fifty years ago. Now, landing on the Mars is appealing such as Elon Musk’s Space X plan, if so, this will be a big step for human.

Apart from space technology, before we land on the mars, we need figure out a series of ways to support human living on such extreme environment including getting water, producing oxygen, acquiring energy and so on. Some scientific evidence have revealed subsurface water ice exist in some impact crater on Mars. In this light, the project try to discuss a way to build a big space in a typical impact crater selected by scientists in which hold enough subsurface ice water even flow water to support the Mars Base. Besides, the crater rim uplifted structurally by impact could be reinforced as the boundary of community, which protect the site from being damage by frequent storm on Mars. Read the rest of this entry »

Editors’ Choice
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Alon Rubovitch
Israel

In the electric-shared-autonomous transportation era which coming upon us, it can be imagined that things like parking and private cars will be no longer relevant. The debate about this  change in the world has many aspects, such as safty, privacy, efficiency and more. tough the biggest change that is around the corner and sooner than people might think, is that passangers drone will be an integral part of our transportation system.

These man-carrying drones have many advantages. Ostensibly, they have no need in infrastructures – Drones need only a levelized surface to land and the air to fly through.

This 3D transportation is not limited to the street level entrance of the building, and potentially can get to any floor. On the other side, these abilities have some down sides too. The drones use a lot of energy to stay in the air, which causes a lot of noise, wind and dust which we do not want in our streets. Read the rest of this entry »

2020 SKYSCRAPER COMPETITION OPEN FOR REGISTRATION

ArchitectScripta is organizing an International intensive workshop of Advanced Architectural Design under the Thinking Tank of .:ErrorGRiD:. based on Maya and Grasshopper techniques. The ArchitectScripta Summer Workshop 2017 is led by ArchitectScripta Principal Nefeli Chatzimina (currently teaching at the National Technical University of Athens, previous teaching at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles ), an allumni Graduate of Columbia University in New York City and Nikos Papavasileiou (ArchitectScripta Principal). ArchitectScripta Athen Workshop is organized under the auspices of the Hellenic Institute of Architecture and the Athens School of Fine Arts. Selected Participants will attend the computation design workshop, academic lectures, nal reviews and exhibition at Benaki Museum of Athens from 10th until the 20th of July 2017. Daily meetings will take place from 10am to 5pm at the Benaki Museum of Pireos 138 in Athens. As part of an ongoing academic research, ArchitectScripta Workshops introduce participants into contemporary discussions of formal exploration in Architecture and Art. Through technical attainment of design and digital production the ArchitectScripta Workshops give the opportunity to students of Architecture and Art, Professional Architects, Designers and Artists to challenge new design territories. Our goal is to explore innovative, potential architectural expressions of the current discourse around Form through computational tools (Autodesk MAYA, Grasshopper Rhino). We will focus on technique elaboration, material intelligence, formal logic eciencies and precision assemblies as an ultimate condition of design. The workshop will develop and investigate the notion of procient geometric variations at a level of complexity, so that questions towards geometrical eectiveness, accuracy and performance can begin to be understood in a contemporary setting. The workshop is a discourse based in the use of multi-layered techniques and production processes that allow for control over intelligent geometries, calibration of parts, and behavioral taxonomies, normalizing an innovative held of predictability.

ArchitectScripta Summer Workshop 2018
RECEIVING APPLICATIONS NOW : workshops@architectscripta.com
For more information follow : www.architectscripta.com
Participation cost is 480 euros.

eVolo Magazine is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Skyscraper Competition. The Jury selected 3 winners and 27 honorable mentions from 526 projects received. The annual award established in 2006 recognizes visionary ideas- projects that through the novel 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 Skyshelter.zip designed by Damian Granosik, Jakub Kulisa, and Piotr Pańczyk from Poland. The project is a foldable skyscraper inspired by origami that could be easily transported and deployed in disaster zones.

Jinja: Shinto Shrine Skyscraper designed by Tony Leung  from Hong Kong received the SECOND PLACE. The project aims to restore the traditional interactions between a Shinto Shrine and the local people- an urban building for rice farming, spiritual meditation, and community development.

The recipient of the THIRD PLACE is Claudio C. Araya Arias from Chile for the project Waria Lemuy: Fire Prevention Skyscraper. This proposal envisions a new prototype for vertical housing in areas damaged by wild fires in Chile. The project makes use of passive systems to mitigate wind and disperse water to prevent new fires.

The honorable mentions include Sandscrapers that prevent desertification, floating skyscrapers that transform ocean water into fresh water, towers that collect fog in arid regions, 3-D printed buildings, and volcano skyscrapers among other visionary proposals.

First Place
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Damian Granosik, Jakub Kulisa, Piotr Pańczyk
Poland

USE CASES AND OVERVIEW
More and more natural disasters happen annually across the world. When dealing with forces so powerful, standard means of crisis-management often prove to be inefficient. Whether certain region is struck by earthquake, flood or hurricane – help needs to arrive quickly. This is often easier to be said than done, as damages to transportation infrastructure or remote localization can make it extremely difficult. The Skyshelter.zip tries to address these issues by proposing structure that while offering large floor surface is compact, easy to transport anywhere and can be deployed with minimum amount of time and manpower requirements. It is meant to serve as multi-purpose hub for any relief operation.

EASY TRANSPORTATION
The Skyshelter.zip is extremely easy to move due to its unique qualities. The entire structure is foldable in a manner that resembles origami or accordion. This means it can be neatly packaged into single relatively small box with minimum height and base dimensions reduced to building’s footprint. Then such a package can be moved anywhere with help of helicopters commonly used by rescue teams and military in the event of a natural disasters. Because elements do not have to be transported in batches by trucks, it is easier and faster to reach zones cut off from the transportation network.

SMALLER FOOTPRINT
Perhaps the biggest advantage of stacking vertically all functions required in zone affected by natural disaster is reducing the area that is being occupied by them. Skyshelter.zip’s footprint is on average over 30 times smaller than area required to host typically used tents or containers. This means that much less cleanup work is required prior to setting up the camp. This is especially important in densely populated areas but elsewhere means that it is going to be possible to set up those temporary shelters closer to victims original homes. Read the rest of this entry »

Second Place
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Tony Leung
Hong Kong

The objective of this proposal is to restore the traditional interactions between Jinja (Japanese Shinto Shrine) and local people by reterritorizing a busy urban corner in Ginza, Tokyo with a vertically organized Jinja cum rice-farming complex.

In the past, Jinja and rice farming were the center of Japanese economy.

The paddy field and Jinja complex also served as centers of everyday interaction. Many local Jinja not only housed the relevant Kami (deities) but also served as a warehouse for harvests.  Also, the biggest communal festival, Matsuri, happened during spring seeding and autumn harvesting.

As cities expand, both rice farming and Jinja remains in the shadow of urban livings. Jinja complex is overshadowed by modern skyscrapers. However, more than two centuries ago, according to some ancient manuscripts, Izumo Shrine was said to be reaching 96m high above ground i.e. a historical origin of skyscraping Jinja. Read the rest of this entry »

Third Place
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Claudio C. Araya Arias
Chile

Forest fires are one of the greatest agents of degradation of ecosystems in the world. Although fire is part of the natural dynamics of some habitats, large disturbances cause a deterioration of their functionalities. Fire modifies biogeochemical cycles, produces changes in vegetation, soil, fauna, hydrological and geomorphological processes, water quality and even changes in the composition of the atmosphere. Each of these elements puts at risk not only the existing geography, but also directly threatens population centers, putting at risk the lives of people, their goods, infrastructure, among other things.

The 2016-2017 season of forest fires left a record of destruction never before recorded in the south-central zone of Chile. The consequences of the above were 5,244 fires with an impact of 569,989 hectares, 2,500 homes. The most serious case was the one in the town of Santa Olga, where the destruction exceeds 1,000 homes, destroying the entire city. Reconstruction is an indisputable subject, but the existing model of growth by expansion left a clear vulnerability within the territory.

The degraded soils, and the decrease of the vegetation among other variables produced by this settlement model, were part of the factors that modified the natural conditions, leaving the sector vulnerable. Read the rest of this entry »

Honorable Mention
2018 Skyscraper Competition

Kaiyu Xi, Fan Wu
United States

Broadway in downtown Los Angeles was one of the most famous street in United States and had the highest concentration of cinemas in the world by 1930s. The ornamental baroque style theaters witnessed the prosperity of Broadway in the past. However, with the decline of downtown and the migration of entertainment industry to Hollywood, Broadway became an abandoned area in downtown and is perceived as a dangerous location at night. This proposal is aimed to revitalize the Broadway theater district and explore a universal strategy to preserve and renovate the historic downtown area.

The decay of downtown is an inevitable problem for most U.S big cities.  The crowded street, outdated infrastructure, poor building condition, lack of public space and messed environment all become the reason to push people away from these areas, where finally became the shelter for filth and crimes. To overthrow this vicious circle, besides preserving historic buildings, we must inject new programs and create more public space to make these areas dynamic again.

“Levitated Broadway” is a plan to create a new Broadway floating on the top of existing buildings and parking lots. Instead of demolishing the historic building, we can find more space in the between and on the top of existing buildings, which provides us enough space to insert new programs and create more public space in an already high-density community. The design uses lightweight steel truss grid to fill in the negative space of existing buildings and extend the concrete core of these buildings to support the whole structure system. The open structure allows light and wind to penetrate the whole building and creates a dynamic vertical street space. Along the sky street facing Broadway, we insert boutiques, café, restaurants, bars and a large amount of activity and green space. On the backside, we create a new performing arts complex including large theater, music hall, cinema, rehearsal rooms, live-house and outdoor music stage on a pervious parking lot. The performing arts complex will be the center of future Broadway and revive the cultural activities of this area. It’s said that Broadway is the hidden gem to Los Angeles. The design is aimed to find this jewellery back and polish it to make it even brighter than before. Read the rest of this entry »