EVolo magazine has announced the winners of its 2020 Skyscraper Competition, naming three winners and 22 honorable mentions from a pool of 473 submissions. Established in 2006, the award recognizes “visionary ideas 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,” according to a press release from the organization.
The jury for this year’s competition comprised Berrin Chatzi Chousein, editor-in-chief of nonprofit platform World Architecture Community; Alper Derinboğaz, founder of Salon Architects in Berlin; Jürgen H. Mayer, founder of J. Mayer H. and Partner Architekten in Berlin; Manuel Navarro Zornoza, principal at Latitude Architectural Group in Madrid; Michael Neumann, principal at Synn Architects in Vienna, Austria; Ryuichi Sasaki, Intl. Assoc. AIA, founder of Sasaki Architecture in Tokyo; and Lu Yun, founder of MUDA Architects in Beijing.
The winners of the 2020 Skyscraper Competition are:
First Place: Epidemic Babel, by D Lee, Gavin Shen, Weiyuan Xu, and Xinhao Yuan from China
From the designers: The Epidemic Babel is a rapid-deployment health care skyscraper designed as a response to the current Coronavirus pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China. The project takes into consideration that an epidemic outbreak is usually fast, leaving no time for governments and policymakers to react. Under these harsh circumstances, a weak healthcare infrastructure will soon be torn apart turning the epidemic into a deadly catastrophe.
Second Place: Egalitarian Nature, by Yutian Tang and Yuntao Xu from the United States
From the designers: The Egalitarian Nature skyscraper imagines a new building typology driven by the human urge for nature instead of capital. It is a new kind of infrastructure conceived to serve the whole society. The traditional skyscraper is reimagined as a mountain range that provides a new way to experience nature within an urban environment. A zigzag-climbing path is developed along with abstract spaces that encourage an unexpected engagement between people and nature. Accessing the tower is not decided by capital but individual physical strength.
Third Place: Coast Breakwater Community, by Charles Tzu Wei Chiang and Alejandro Moreno Guerrero from Taiwan
From the designers: St. Louis, Senegal, located in the northwest part of the country, near the mouth of The Senegal River, has been home to fishermen for generations. It is a hostile territory where there are constant confrontations with the neighboring countries regarding the established fishing boundaries and territories. In addition to the political and social problems, the region is affected by the rising sea level. Such natural phenomenon has forced the community to move inland, away from the shore.
This proposal is based on traditional pillar structures, which are used to prevent erosion. These structures will serve as a foundation for the new vertical housing units. The project is also inspired by Senegal’s traditional wooden architecture that uses a complex arch system with tensile structures. The system allows a high degree of adaptability and extendibility to create a new community by the sea challenging the rising sea level.
To read more about the winning projects and honorable mentions, visit EVolo Magazine's website.
