Gaby
This year’s winners of the eVolo Skyscraper Competition have been announced. Among the fantastic projects that captivated the jury are affordable housing that rotates, a plastic skyscraper designed to clean the ocean, and tree-like towers that help monitor the Amazon rainforest.
Amazing Architecture Without Limits
The eVolo competition does not focus on practical architectural issues. When selecting winners, factors such as planning permission, construction costs, budget, or project safety are not considered. The main goal of the competition is to highlight intriguing ideas and stimulate the imagination. This year’s eVolo competition did not have an official overarching theme, but the specter of climate change seemed to loom over the presented projects.
According to eVolo magazine, the winners of the 2023 Skyscraper Competition have been determined: the jury selected three winners and awarded 15 honorable mentions from a total of 309 submitted projects.
Established in 2006, this annual award recognizes visionary ideas. Through innovative uses of technology, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organization, the projects challenge our understanding of vertical architecture and its relationship with both the natural and built environments.
Housing with a Twist
The winner of this year’s eVolo Skyscraper Competition is the Nomad Metropolises project by a team of five Chinese designers. According to its creators, this will be a vertical megacity that addresses the issue of affordable housing in large urban areas.
Modularity and flexibility will be key features. The rotating architectural design will allow the building to occupy less space than usual. In this structure, the living capsule is divided into a stationary and a rotating part.
The central capsule will include areas such as the kitchen and bathroom. Other living spaces will be arranged on the four sides of the rotating section, which users can customize as needed. The furniture will also be designed to rotate.
Ocean-Conscious Living
The Ocean Reclamation Skyscraper project by designers from New Zealand took second place. It will be constructed from recycled plastic sourced from ocean waste.
As the name suggests, the project aims to restore the oceans for nature. It will combat ecological disasters, such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The developers envision this incredible skyscraper floating in ocean waters, helping to clean up garbage patches and other pollution. It will recycle waste using an external ring as a suction port, along with a complex system of filters and recycling technology.
Skyscrapers Shaped Like Trees
The K8 Forest Lift Off project by a pair of designers from Germany secured third place. It features tree-shaped towers equipped with drones for monitoring and preventing forest fires.
As noted by NewAtlas, this design evokes the tropical forests of the Amazon. The inspiration came from the Kapok tree, depicted in Lynn Cherry’s children’s book “The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest.”
This project envisions the creation of several tree-shaped towers. Each will contain an underground water reservoir, a vast amount of soil, and greenery. The buildings will also have a sophisticated drone system for preventing forest fires and monitoring the surrounding forest, ecosystems, and local wildlife.
