eVolo Magazine has announced 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 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
Skyshelter.zip: Foldable Skyscraper for Disaster Zones / Damian Granosik, Jakub Kulisa, Piotr Pańczyk
The project is a foldable skyscraper inspired by origami that could be easily transported and deployed in disaster zones.
Skyshelter.zip: Foldable Skyscraper for Disaster Zones. Image Courtesy of eVolo
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 a 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 a structure that while offering large floor surface is compact, easy to transport anywhere and can be deployed with a minimum amount of time and manpower requirements. It is meant to serve as a multi-purpose hub for any relief operation.
Second Place
Shinto Shrine / Urban Rice Farming Skyscraper / Tony Leung
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.
Shinto Shrine / Urban Rice Farming Skyscraper. Image Courtesy of eVolo
In the past, Jinja and rice farming were the center of the 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. On the other hand, recent development in hydroponic farming technology makes vertical rice farming possible. The pitched roof of a Jinja can be converted to a stepped paddy field, which conforms to the traditional idea of using organic roofing material in Jinja construction.
Third Place
Waria Lemuy: Fire Prevention Skyscraper / Claudio C. Araya Arias
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.
Waria Lemuy: Fire Prevention Skyscraper. Image Courtesy of eVolo
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 proposal looks for a new way of inhabiting the territory, through a system of buildings at height, avoiding the effects of the old settlement model. The objective is to face the reconstruction from a new perspective, recover the lost housing and infrastructure, added to a restoration of the flora and biodiversity, through a system that prevents and mitigates future catastrophes, through a renovating process that allows coexisting with the geography and the territory.
Honorable Mentions
Levitated Broadway – Los Angeles / Kaiyu Xi, Fan Wu
Levitated Broadway – Los Angeles. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Sand Dam Anti-desertification Skyscraper / Jiangchen Hu, Yining Bei, Xiayu Zhao, Mingwen Zhang
Sand Dam: Anti-desertification Skyscraper. Image Courtesy of eVolo
The Urban Lung: Timber Skyscraper / Ryan Gormley
The Urban Lung: Timber Skyscraper. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Saltscraper in India / Kartik Misra, Krishan Sharma, Dewesh Agrawal, Kritika Kharbanda
Saltscraper in India. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Civilization 0.000: Floating Power Station / Dimo Ivanov
Civilization 0.000: Floating Power Station. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Manhattan of the Desert / Estelle Filliat, Charlotte Ferreux, Duc Truong, Elias Vogel
Manhattan of the Desert. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Ever-changing Skyscraper for Post-capitalism World / Ngai Hang WU, Han-Hsun, Hsieh, Man Nguyen
Ever-changing Skyscraper for Post-capitalism World. Image Courtesy of eVolo
River Square: Water Purification Skyscraper in India / Kang Tae Hwan, Kim Min Jeong, Yun Seo Jun, Lee Se Won
River Square: Water Purification Skyscraper in India. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Revealing the Boundries / Jun Ho Han, Yungi Jung
Revealing the Boundries. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Vapolator: Seawater Extraction Skyscraper / Seunghwan Jung, Ryeojin Jeon
Vapolator: Seawater Extraction Skyscraper. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Synctopia: Air Purification Skyscraper for Tehran / Golnaz Mayel Afshar, Faranak Momeni Azandaryani
Synctopia: Air Purification Skyscraper for Tehran. Image Courtesy of eVolo
LAX 2.0: The Vertical Airport / Jonathan Ortega
LAX 2.0: The Vertical Airport. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Vertical Cemetery / GuoChao Deng, QingMing Xiao, Yuan Feng, Liwei Shen, Qin Xiong
Vertical Cemetery. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Icemill Skyscraper: Pure Water for Global Sustainability / Katarzyna Przybyła
Icemill Skyscraper: Pure Water for Global Sustainability. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Project 1111: Sustainable Vertical City / Philip Nikandrov, Stepan Kukharskiy, Aleksandr Muraviev, Ivan Mylnikov, Vadim Zamula, Vladimir Travush
Project 1111: Sustainable Vertical City. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Manhattan Ridge: Affordable Housing for Commuters / Zhenjia Wang, Xiayi Li
Manhattan Ridge: Affordable Housing for Commuters. Image Courtesy of eVolo
City Rehab – Detroit / Yassin Nour Al-tubor, Fawzi Bata, Boran Al-Amro, Yazeed Balqar
City Rehab – Detroit. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Volcanic Tower / Chunyang Li, Shuai Yang, Zhenhang Zhao, Ruize Xiao, Yuequn Wang
Volcanic Tower. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Hong Kong 2.0 / Huy Bui, Howard Mack
Hong Kong 2.0. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Amman Living Quary / Baraa Kawasmi, Amal Tatfi
Amman Living Quary. Image Courtesy of eVolo
E Mare Libertas: Skyscraper on Water / Alexander Nikolas Walzer
E Mare Libertas: Skyscraper on Water. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Earth Healer Skyscraper / Dong Jingzhe , Li Boyu , Zhang Zihan , Sun Zhe , Wu Yilun , Yu Yang , Zhang Haohao
Earth Healer Skyscraper. Image Courtesy of eVolo
The Reincarnation: Buddhist Skyscraper / QiLong Wu, WuHong Fang, HuiFang Duan, HuiChen Bao
The Reincarnation: Buddhist Skyscraper. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Northern Anticline: Arctic Skyscraper-City / BoSheng Liu, Jon Rankin, Bryan Daily
Northern Anticline: Arctic Skyscraper-City. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Community as a Cloud / Keon Hee Lee, Dong Hyun Kim, Elicia Jiwoo Eom
Community as a Cloud. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Additive Effect: 3D-printed Skyscrapers / Jinzi Wei, Yiliang Shao
Additive Effect: 3D-printed Skyscrapers. Image Courtesy of eVolo
Liulin Skyscraper: Communist Experience Center / Peitong Liu
Liulin Skyscraper: Communist Experience Center. Image Courtesy of eVolo
News and images courtesy of eVolo