Creating sustainable skyscrapers for future cities.

Background

The promise of jobs and prosperity, among other factors, pulls people to cities. Half of the global population already lives in urban areas, and by 2050 it is expected to swell to two-thirds. The side effect of this is the most pressing problems facing the world today also come together: Disparity and Environmental Degradation.

As cities continue to grow, the way we construct and manage buildings has become crucial to global economic and social development. Overpopulation in cities is the most pressing issue, silently aggravating the forces behind global warming, environmental pollution, degradation of the quality of life.

The vital task in a city is to pack a lot of people in one place without depleting the quality of life.

 

Urbanisation and the white-collar revolution have led to rampant sprawl in urban areas but, we can’t run away from the harsh reality of limited land available for construction. Besides making the city affordable and architecturally interesting, high rise buildings are greener than sprawl and can foster social capital and creativity.

So, if the density is unavoidable then how can we as a community turn density into a solution?

Issue

 

A skyscraper acts as a distinctive landmark, stamping an imprint on urban landscapes where no common man can afford to live. It's not the cars but the buildings that's the number one cause of greenhouse gases. According to Time magazine, buildings account for 40% (IPCC)of energy consumption in the US Skyscraper shapes the skyline of the city but neglect the lack of interaction with the city streets and its people.

Presently, skyscrapers are designed like an island: anchored at one spot, whereas they should be designed as stems to a city that are made to grow the economy, environmental conditions, social and cultural well being. Skyscrapers stand high and mighty symbolising the power and strength of a city and it's high time that they start contributing towards the future development of the city around.

Challenge

The city scraper is a symposium that explores the relationship between a high rise building and the city around it. The challenge here was to design a dynamic and adaptive vertical community that serves the needs of the inhabitant at the same time being a flag bearer of global responsibility towards the city below and the planet around.

In this challenge, the design of the skyscraper sprung from the rising issues of the city like deforestation, pollution, water scarcity, waste management, etc and many growing urban issues that continuously persist which were solved with capital, engineering, and mainly offered to skyscraper design.

The aim was to engage the design without any constraints in the most creative way possible. What does a skyscraper look like to you in the future? What are the social, cultural, environmental, historical and urban responsibilities of these mega-structures?

The jury for the competition consisted of esteemed designers, professionals and academicians from around the world. The Lead Jurors for the competitions were as follows: 

Stefan AI, PhD, Dutch architect, Senior Associate Principal, Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)

Barbara Kuit, Director, Information Based Architecture, Netherlands

Mark Hemel, Director, Information based Architecture, Netherlands

Some of the Best of competition projects are:

 

Winning Project: Collective Tower Hong Kong

By: Misak Terzibasiyan

Description: Our proposal is a future strategy for Hong Kong. We want to make the quality of life better for the people. We cooperate on several floors in different kinds of green spaces and urban farming. It is a hybrid lively system of collective living where there is also a freedom of living. The dwellings can easily be extended or decreased in this open building system.

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Runner - Up: Memory: City Monument

By: 舒 周

Description: This is a conceptual residential design based on Lilong (existing traditional buildings in Shanghai). Lilong, as a traditional architectural form, gradually disappeared due to demolition in recent years. Based on the site itself and the inhabitants’ needs for "memory", we proposed a monument that can preserve the original architectural form and the memory

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People’s Choice: Breathing Tower

By: Jannatun Nayeem Nowshin, Naorin Tabassum Chowdhury, 

Asif Elahirocky & Zens Masum

Description: This skyscraper was designed as a prototype to emerge in the most polluted areas in the world with the potential to tackle the air pollution problem. Apart from serving the contextual and typical needs this 21st century skyscraper serves the global responsibility towards the environmental pollution around the city and the planet.

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Editor’s Choice: CityScraper

By: Alexander Malyshev

Description: The priority of the present architectural conception is aimed at options analysis of urban infrastructure development within the city center not only in horizontal but also in vertical directions. For this purpose, we tried to take a look at being a designed structure not like a building only, but as well as a municipal viaduct.

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Editor’s Choice: CITYSCRAPER-FUTURE MARKET

By: EnLai Tong

Description: Urban Farming: The Reconstruction of Xinfu market based on digital lifestyle.

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Editor’s Choice: Mega Medical Skyscrape

By: 小涵董, 威 王, 意戴 & Zhuolin Song

Description: Skyscrapers can also become an important means to fight disease.

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Editor’s Choice: The memory of world

By: Guiyu Lin

Description: The design is a vertical history exhibition hall, which creates different spaces and experiences in the vertical space. The author holds that the relationship between man and the natural environment runs through the whole process of the development of human civilization.

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Editor’s Choice: Urban Filter

By: Joe Huang

Description: Hongkong is a bustling city in Asia, symbolized by its skyscrapers and large population. With the rapid development of the economy, the city is also faced with a serious problem: the city is short of water despite heavy rainfall. To collect more rainfall and take advantage of the collected rainfall, the 'urban filter' is made.

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Editor’s Choice: Madison Square Gardens

By: Nicholas Das Jeffway

Description: The Madison Square Gardens Tower posits a new type of skyscraper for the Manhattan skyline. The structure departs from the historic skyscraper typology as a means for capital gains through private venture and instead proposes a new public/private venture as means to grow healthy vegetables and greens in the heart of New York City.

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Discover the design brief here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/cityscraper/info/about 

Discover the full results here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/cityscraper/entries

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