The Skyscraper Designs of the Future

13 July 2022

 

The winners of the 2022 Skyscraper Competition, one of the world’s most prestigious awards for high-rise architecture, have been announced.

Entrants are asked to consider the following:

• Advances in technology
• The exploration of sustainable systems
• The establishment of new urban and architectural methods to solve economic, social, and cultural problems of the contemporary city
• Solving the scarcity of natural resources and infrastructure
• The exponential increase of inhabitants, pollution, economic division, and unplanned urban sprawl.

 

Architects, students, engineers, and designers collectively submitted 427 projects. The Jury selected 3 winners and 20 honourable mentions from this list.

 

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Climate Control Skyscraper

 

Climate Control Skyscraper, a series of structures that can modify weather conditions that would improve the global climate crisis, was named the overall winner of the 2022 Skyscraper Competition.

The concept aims to stop desertification, rising temperatures, and natural disasters with a gigantic above-sea skyscraper. Anchored through subsea trusses, cloud seeds, chemical catalysts, and human resources are imported through ports accessible in all directions. They also export sodium chloride and ionic substances obtained by electrolyzing seawater.

Power is supplied by a solar panel roof and a wind pressure generator on the lower level of the building, and electricity is generated through water vapour moving upwards and passing through a wind pressure generator.

 

Picture: an image showing the structures that make up the Climate Control Skyscraper concept. Image Credit: eVolo magazine

 

A laboratory inside the tower transmits meteorological observation information to the control ring through communication with the CCT Weather satellite, which is floating in space.

The creators, Kim Gyeong Jeung, Min Yeong Gi, and Yu Sang Gu from South Korea would like to set up Climate Control Towers in countries around the world, eliminating the threat of disasters caused by heavy rainfalls by getting rid of clouds.

 

Tsunami Park

 

Wang Jue, Zhang Qian, Zhang Changsheng, Li Muchun, and Xu Jing from China were awarded second place for Tsunami Park, a skyscraper built along Tonga’s long and narrow coastline to reduce the biological and ecological damage caused by a tsunami.

The designers wanted to reframe “the catastrophic nature of the tsunami into a gift from nature to mankind” using buildings. They even envisage that the higher platforms of the building will become a safe place to watch a tsunami.

Using the “edge wave effect” of tsunamis, the Tsunami Park structure is designed to dissipate these natural disasters when it has not yet inundated a city.

 

Picture: an image showing the interior of Tsunami Park, showing people travelling on small boats. Image Credit: eVolo magazine

 

Inspired by the mangroves whose root systems naturally mitigate the effect of tsunamis, this skyscraper consists of a single unit aggregated to form a vast complex along the coastline. Each cell consists of a bottom pillar and a top multi-level platform. The bottom pillar is made up of thick concrete columns that form a porous structure to dissipate the force of the tsunami.

This skyscraper also has a “disaster state” where the upper part of the building functions to absorb the waves of a tsunami. Each level of the building has a water cistern, and the absorbed water is transferred through columns to an underground desalination area for treatment.

 

New Spring

 

In third place is “New Spring”, a structure that aims to stimulate biodiversity.

Designed by Michał Spólnik from Austria and Marcin Kitala from Poland, the structure is inspired by the global lack of crop diversity’s threat to global food and nutrition security.

This striking building is a set of garden modules, each belonging to a particular biome, containing distinct flora, soil, microorganisms, small animals, and microclimate.

With the modules are experimental proto-gardens, which bring together plants that do not co-exist in the natural environment. It is hoped that through this, new crop solutions and adaptations can be found.

Picture: an image showing the New Spring structure, in the middle of a crop field. Image Credit: eVolo magazine

 

Urban Condenser

 

One of the entries that received an honourable mention was Urban Condenser, a structure inspired by the migrant worker community of China.

 

Picture: an image showing the Urban Condenser community. Image Credit: eVolo magazine

 

Described as “a super community to stimulate social development” the space allows urban residents and migrant workers to intermingle, aiming to de-marginalise migrant workers who often feel displaced or unaccepted.

Main Picture: an image showing the exterior of Tsunami Park. Image Credit: eVolo magazine

All images are credited to eVolo magazine

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 13 July 2022

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