Editors’ Choice
2020 Skyscraper Competition

HeeYong Jung, Hye Rim Kim, Hyuneun Cho, Sihun Han
South Korea

Introduction
The Earth is like a living organism in that it is a self-healing system that can recover from the damages that were done to it from external forces. Much like how injured skin is able to heal itself and develop new flesh, the Earth is able to restore itself to perform its existing functions, even after it has been damaged by natural disasters and destructive human activities.

As we enter the 21st century, the speed of human development is exceeding the speed of the Earth’s self-recovery function due to population growth. As the scale of human activity expands, its negative impact on the Earth is increasing exponentially. Human activities that did not take into account the global environment has sharply intensified pollution, and there exists a vicious cycle in which humans are damaged by the polluted environment in return. If this continues, nature’s self-healing system will eventually collapse and become irreparable.

Proposal
In order for the Earth to return to its old form, it needs to be given time to recover. The area near the surface of the Earth can be divided into four interconnected layers: atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere. The human domain within these four layers should be minimized to accelerate the recovery of the Earth. Hence we propose a new layer of a human domain called ‘Hex Map’. Using electromagnetic coils, we will harness the electromagnetic force to allow the “Hex map” to float between the atmosphere and the biosphere. Additionally, a structure that enables ‘Hex maps’ to be built on top of existing skyscrapers, will be installed. The skyscraper becomes the mega-structure of the new architecture. The ‘Hex Map’, together with skyscrapers – a symbol of mankind’s technological development – will provide a new range of human activities to help accelerate the Earth’s recuperation.