When we think of skyscrapers, what usually comes to mind is a tall, multistory glass and steel structure soaring into the sky. But when talented, creative architects are challenged to imagine something new, the results can be incredible.
For 12 years via its annual Skyscraper Competition, eVolo Magazine has recognized “visionary ideas for building high-rise projects that through the 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.” This year, 444 projects were submitted: Judges selected three winners and 22 honorable mentions.
From a modular educational center and marketplace for sub-Saharan Africa, to a vertical stack of factory and recreational space, to villages embedded in mountains and even a skyscraper built within a giant sequoia, the winners of the 2017 Skyscraper Competition are an impressive display of creativity. Take a look:
FIRST PLACE
Mashambas Skyscraper
By Pawel Lipiński and Mateusz Frankowski, Poland
This design proposes a modular, mobile, scalable skyscraper that serves as an educational center and marketplace for new agricultural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. The design seeks to increase farming opportunities and reduce hunger in these regions.
SECOND PLACE
Vertical Factories in Megacities
By Tianshu Liu and Linshen Xie, United States
This design investigates the benefits of moving factories back to megacities. The proposal calls for a series of alternating architectural layers—factories and recreational areas stacked together to create a vertical structure. Each recreational layer would feed from the waste and resources of these factories.
THIRD PLACE
Espiral 3500
By Javier López-Menchero Ortiz de Salazar, Spain
This project introduces the streets and complexity of the city’s horizontal plane into a spiraling vertical structure.
To read more and see illustrations of this year’s winning projects and honorable mentions, visit the eVolo website. The 22 honorable mentions—which include skyscrapers inside giant sequoias, villages embedded and hanging from mountains, automated plug-in cities, iceberg skyscrapers that reverse global warming, and wind harvesting structures—are definitely worth a look!
