2024 Skyscraper Competition
First Place
Penghao Zhao, Hanyu Sun, Sinuo Jia, Jingxuan Li, Songping Jing, Yibo Gao, YuJie Zeng, An Jiang
China
In today’s urbanization process, the distance between cities, agriculture, and natural ecology is gradually widening, leading to numerous issues. As the political, economic, and cultural hub of Xinjiang, Urumqi, located in northwest China, faces the contradiction between urban development and agricultural ecological resources. To address this, the architectural design concept of “Urban Intercropping” is proposed.
Inspired by the intercropping planting system in agriculture, this design integrates this planting pattern with urban spatial planning. By inserting architectural slicing devices into the “gaps” of the city, a new urban system is formed, enabling any point within the city to become a new system, thus realizing a de-centralized urban development model.
Simultaneously, the design concentrates on agricultural industries in high-rise buildings, leveraging the vertical intercropping planting model to maximize the utilization of space, light energy, and resources. Composed of mechanical devices, non-mechanical facilities, and movable living units, this architecture addresses issues such as urban housing shortages, traffic congestion, and a lack of green spaces, enhancing urban efficiency and revitalizing intermediate urban areas.
The design emphasizes the transformation of urban morphology. Depending on the varying functions and forms of urban buildings, skyscrapers are inserted into the urban space, creating a new urban system that further connects to the underground transportation system, relieving the city’s traffic burden.
Moreover, the design considers the construction of ecological corridors. To preserve air quality and prevent dust storms, specific plants are chosen for planting in ecological corridors, greenhouse membranes, and platforms, fostering green vegetation that stabilizes sand and purifies the air. This provides space for animal migration and healthy green spaces for pedestrians and transportation. Structures like multifunctional membranes, living units, and greenhouse boxes are also employed to create a favourable living environment and ecological structure.
Integrated with the ecological corridors are the generation and compositional arrangement of social unit spaces. Drawing inspiration from the Eight Queens Problem, functional units are rationally arranged to ensure the smooth transfer of movable community units without disrupting others. This design aims to achieve flexibility and efficiency in urban spaces. Regarding the optimization of detailed structural components, multifunctional membranes, and vertical and horizontal transportation equipment are combined with modular units and greenhouse boxes to form an organically connected system, fully leveraging their roles and effects in the overall design.
In conclusion, the architectural design concept of “Urban Intercropping” not only addresses the issues arising from the widening gap between cities, agriculture, and nature but also provides new ideas and solutions for sustainable urban development and ecological environmental protection through innovative design concepts and technological means.
