Green Skyscrapers
In the next few days we will showcase 25 innovative proposals for green skyscrapers. These projects were submitted for the Annual Skyscraper Competition from 2006 to 2009.

Project 4 of 25

Chris Lee, Marcus Carter
United States

Park in a Tower

Le Corbusier’s Plan Voison, or City for Three Million, introduced a new order to embody what he thought were the spirit and needs of the Machine Age. His towers in a park sought to provide open space to the modern city, though in the end it destroyed the dense urban fabric necessary for vibrant urbanism. Our proposal inverts the building-park relationship by pulling the park into the building thus creating a new typology of the skyscraper: Parks in a Tower.

This new skyscraper rethinks the traditional notions of zoning by pulling the public space up from the street level. Often high-rise developers are required to provide public space in front of their buildings in exchange for additional height allowances. Instead here, the public space penetrates the interior providing an important amenity at all levels. Each level of the park would allow for different uses, vegetation, and possibilities for occupation. By pulling the park into the tower, the building can be urban-friendly, able to be inserted into a dense context. Read the rest of this entry »

Green Skyscrapers
In the next few days we will showcase 25 innovative proposals for green skyscrapers. These projects were submitted for the Annual Skyscraper Competition from 2006 to 2009.

Project 3 of 25

Remigiusz Brodzinski, Agnieszka Lepecka, Pawel Pawlowski, Michal Stys, Monika Tutaj-Wojnowska
Ireland / Poland

Vertical Park

Imagine a skyscraper which is not an apartment block or an office building. Instead it is a vertical park that rises into the sky having its head in the clouds.
It’s a place for dreaming, playing and breathing. A peaceful place where in the middle of the hectic city on the 22nd floor there is room for birds chirping, rustling of leaves, lying on the grass and hearing your heart beat. Read the rest of this entry »

Green Skyscrapers
In the next few days we will showcase 25 innovative proposals for green skyscrapers. These projects were submitted for the Annual Skyscraper Competition from 2006 to 2009.

Project 1 of 25

Jaume Canals Parellada, Jonathan Arnabat Vila
Spain

Ecological Skyscraper

We designed a building that provides infrastructure, urban facilities, green zone, office and living space. In our view, the real challenge of Mediterranean self-sufficient skyscraper lies not in their design but in integrating these within congested urban areas. What can be designed without damaging historical centres? Read the rest of this entry »

Special Mention
2006 Skyscraper Competition

Ratsimiebo Noely, Bommier Pacome, Bruter Jonathan
France

Special Mention

Let us think of a city that is constrained by a complex urban structure. An ordered grid, the compulsory maximal height and density of the imposed vellums, as well as the need for balanced perspectives and visual openings. Every new modification of the city must abide by a strict global composition. The city is also centralized, its urban layers are superimposed, add to each other, organize and stabilize disparities and dis-equilibria. The city can be seen as an ecosystem made of built components, equipments, infrastructures, sport fields, empty spaces, squares, parks, and gardens. The site and placement of each of them is conditioned by a global equilibrium which allows every single element to exist on its own, as well as within a global system. It is a balanced composition. Read the rest of this entry »

Special Mention
2006 Skyscraper Competition

Carrie Norman
United States

Special Mention

The main aim of this proposal is to question the role of structure within the field of architecture. Can it have multiple roles that integrate other elements, systems, creating mutually beneficial conditions? Can it be modeled like a leaf, in which the very members that hold it together are the same that deliver its nutrients? If so, structure can be a conduit—a physical network of rigid arteries and veins that not only bear load, but also house and perform additional services and operations. This scheme proposes that a research institute become a responsive, working system that utilizes structure and technology to yield agriculture, and effectively contribute to the efforts of reducing energy consumption that results in transporting fruits and vegetables from rural to urban areas. A canopy of hydroponic garden pods is designed to function as a seasonal market for the Philadelphia community.

Read the rest of this entry »