Crazy skyscrapers of the future. Sport Tower

This is the ninth competition of this kind. 525 projects from 43 countries took part in it. Three winners and 20 laureates were selected by a strict jury, which included leading world experts in the field of architecture and design

The projects that you will see here will not be implemented tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow. However, they provide a glimpse into how cities may change in the future.

The first prize was awarded to a project that combined the features of national Korean architecture with the features of a modern multi-purpose high-rise building.

Second place went to a skyscraper-city with residential premises, recreation areas and commercial offices - all of this fit into a giant cube.

The environmentally friendly skyscraper received third place. It is supposed to neutralize greenhouse gases and thus reduce their content in the atmosphere.

“Sandy Babylon” is a group of environmentally friendly structures, which, according to the author of the project, should serve as scientific bases and attract tourists. The main building material for the construction of these towers will be sand, processed using 3- D printer using solar energy.

A new look at the idea of a greenhouse. This skyscraper will serve as a research center for weather forecasting and other scientific research.

This skyscraper rushed upward to rid aircraft of hydrocarbon dependence during takeoff using electromagnetism.

Vertical junction station for super-high-speed trains.

A giant water tower collects water during the rainy seasons and waters the land during dry periods.

The “New Tower of Babel” is a metal structure that the author proposes to build in the desert as an “open city.”

The Bamboo Forest project is intended primarily for Asia. The author suggests enclosing the building with permanent bamboo scaffolding as an additional reinforcement of the structure in case of an earthquake. Another advantage of this project is the possibility of growing vertical gardens.

The “Superfilter” skyscraper, which will “inhale” carbon dioxide and other harmful gases and “exhale” concentrated oxygen.

A structure in the shape of a giant umbrella that generates “green” energy.

In the event of a strong earthquake, this building, instead of collapsing, will sink into unstable soil.

Project for large cities. Designed to accommodate as many residents as possible right on the site of important transport hubs.

“Sky Village” is a project for Los Angeles. Connects several districts of the city.

The annual Best Skyscraper competition is one of the world's most prestigious awards for high-rise architecture. The purpose of the competition is to recognize outstanding ideas that consider skyscraper design through the introduction of new technologies and methods of solving the cultural, social and economic problems of the modern city, taking into account population growth, infrastructure and natural resource shortages, pollution and unplanned urbanization. The competition is designed to explore the relationships between the natural world and the skyscraper, the community and the skyscraper, and the city and the skyscraper.

First place - LO2P skyscraper

The LO2P skyscraper, resembling a giant turbine, will be located in New Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world due to the exponential growth of population and cars. The idea behind this skyscraper is to recycle old cars and use them as building material for a new structure. The building is designed as a giant lung that will purify New Delhi's air through a series of large-scale greenhouses that act as filters to absorb airborne particles. The processed heat and carbon dioxide will be used to grow plants that produce biofuel.

Second place - Flat Tower

Flat Tower is a new high-density typology that deviates from the usual skyscraper. The building is based on a medium-height dome structure that covers a large area while maintaining its previous function and beauty. The dome is perforated in cages with skylights providing direct sunlight to the interior space. The large surface area of the dome is designed to allow the collection of rainwater and solar energy. Residential and office premises are planned on the upper floors, and retail and entertainment infrastructure on the lower floors. All parts of the building will be connected by an automated transport system. The project can be used in any large or medium-sized city, although it was designed for the old industrial area of Rennes in France.

Third place - Re-imagining the hoover dam

The modern amenities of the very famous Hoover Dam in the USA consist of a gallery, a bridge and an observation deck scattered on both sides of the dam. This project aims to rebuild this structure by merging them into a single vertical super structure with the addition of a gallery and a vertical aquarium.

Now look at some of the projects that received honorable mentions

NeoTax is a three-dimensional network infrastructure formed in a vertical and horizontal plane. The network is based on a system of modules, which can be perceived as individual districts and blocks, and provides the ability to add new modules.

PoroCity is a project designed to rehabilitate and redevelop Dharavi, Mumbai, India, one of the world's largest slums. The basis of the design is the rectangular Sierpinski pyramid. The structure is made of blocks that are divided into 3x9 meters, forming housing compartments with terraces, where various offices, enterprises, medical centers, educational and commercial institutions will also be located. You can move around using elevators, funiculars and escalators, which move in different planes.

Given the shortage of land and overcrowding, this project involves the construction of an underground vertical cemetery for Mexico City, where family members can go down to honor the memory of the deceased.

The Fish Tower is a prototype of a vertical fish farm that could be thirty times more efficient than traditional farms. It is planned that a fish market will be located on the lower level. At the middle levels there are fish farms developed on the basis of research and analysis of the habitat of certain species of fish. And on the upper levels there are research laboratories where new technologies will be tested to achieve the productivity of six hundred traditional fish farms on twenty levels.

This project proposes a vertical complex that integrates different sports facilities in one place.

The concept of the skyscraper on the coast is based on reducing the acidity level of the oceans by adding fossilized coccolithophores (white chalk) to the water. The best location for the project is South East England, with a large geological belt of white chalk that stretches from the outskirts of London to the White Cliffs of Dover.

The iceberg's autonomy is a "sea scraper", a drifting enclave that contains oil reservoirs and separators and engages in offshore mining.

Tourism City is a group of megastructures in Cancun, Mexico that will eliminate unplanned urbanization and provide an opportunity to restore the natural landscape.

The Rhizome Tower—thousands of underground plateaus—suggests the creation of an underground city. This is a response to sudden climate change and other environmental disasters. The main idea is to develop an "earth scraper" that uses above- and below-ground resources, creating a new typology of life. The project is divided into 4 different levels, which are organized around a central core. The first layer is above the surface, where food production, agricultural farms and entertainment and recreation areas will be located. The entire facade is covered with a solar cell to collect solar energy, and individual sections are also equipped with wind turbines. The second layer, at about 60 levels, is the living area with a range of different living spaces to suit the size of the family. The third and fourth layers are used as service areas and offices, along with the deepest part of the project dedicated to geothermal energy exploration and collection.

District No. 6 - New York. Situated above the existing cityscape, the building occupies the space between 22nd and 14th Streets and 6th and 7th Avenues in New York City. The size of the structure creates interdependence and allows for the formation of a new community within an already dense development. Woven into the fabric of residential buildings, large office towers provide work space for the structure's residents. These towers are deployed to create a public park high above the city, providing public access to nature.

The proposed building is located on Singapore's waterfront and will serve as an addition to the existing financial districts. Considering Singapore's climate and its scarce water resources, the design emphasis is on creating strategies to utilize natural ventilation, rainwater and sunlight. The tower is tilted 20 degrees towards the embankment. In addition, the project aims to create an ideal home with its own garden, in close proximity to the center of Singapore. The base, which resembles an area with rich vegetation, forms two outdoor swimming pools, public gardens, and sports facilities.

A lunar skyscraper is planned to be built on the outskirts of Shackleton Crater at the Moon's South Pole.

The main idea of the Floating Olympic Complex is the creation of vertical inverted skyscrapers that will serve as hosts during the games, and will be further transformed into a floating city with residential buildings, recreation areas, offices and other infrastructure. This project is expected to be implemented at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Opened in 2010, the 828-meter Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai has become the tallest building on the planet, a symbol of the triumph of engineering genius. But she is not destined to be a record holder for long. In different parts of the Earth, preparations are already in full swing for the construction of even more tall and complex skyscrapers, each of which has a height at least a kilometer.

Sky City. China

The Sky City Tower, although it will have a height of just under a kilometer, is likely to be the first to break the Burj Khalifa's record of 828 meters from the base to the top of the spire. The project involves the construction of a stepped 838-meter tower in the Chinese city of Changsha, on 202 floors of which there will be residential apartments, hotels, educational institutions, hospitals, offices, and shops.

But what is interesting is not so much the record height of Sky City, but the incredibly fast pace of construction of this building. The Broad Sustainable Building company, which will build it, is known throughout the world for erecting high-rise buildings in just a few days. She plans to build this skyscraper in just 90 days plus 120 days of preparing the site for construction.

Construction of this skyscraper was supposed to begin in the summer of 2013, but has so far been postponed. True, preparatory work on the site where Sky City will grow is gradually underway.

Azerbaijan Tower. Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan also wants to build the world's tallest skyscraper. Growing revenues from the sale of oil and gas make it possible to implement very large social and infrastructure projects in this country, for example, the construction of the artificial Khazar Islands archipelago, the high-rise dominant of which will be the 1050-meter Azerbaijan Tower.

The construction of the archipelago began several years ago. Now the first public, residential and office buildings have grown on it, and the construction of the Azerbaijan Tower itself is expected to begin in 2015.

The project’s investors promise to put the Azerbaijan Tower building into operation in 2019, and to complete the entire artificial archipelago by 2020.

Kingdom Tower. Saudi Arabia

But still, most of the super-tall building projects are planned to be implemented in rich Arab countries. For example, Saudi Arabia lives with the idea of building the tallest building in the world - they are haunted by the Burj Khalifa in the neighboring United Arab Emirates.

Construction of the Kingdom Tower skyscraper began in 2013 in the city of Jeddah. The height of this 167-story building will be just over 1000 meters. The exact data is still unknown - they will appear only after the facility is put into operation. Investors are afraid to make them public, fearing that someone will build a structure just a few meters higher and break the record.

Kingdom Tower will be the centerpiece of the Kingdom Center mixed-use development, a city of residential, office, hotel, retail and entertainment developments that will cost $20 billion.

Madinat al-Hareer. Kuwait

They want to build a kilometer-long skyscraper in Kuwait. In June 2014, a building project called Madinat al-Hareer, whose height will be 1001 meters, was finally approved there.

The name "Madinat al-Hareer" translates as "Silk City", which alludes to Kuwait's glorious history as one of the world's silk trading centers. It was originally planned that this skyscraper would be built by 2016, but, apparently, this deadline will be postponed by at least two years.

Dubai City Tower. United Arab Emirates

Dubai is looking at the projects listed above with caution - in the very near future they could break the height record of the Burj Dubai skyscraper. But, on the other hand, in this city they don’t sit with their hands folded. There, work is in full swing to create a project for the world's first two-kilometer building.

The Eiffel Tower is used as the basis for the design of Dubai City Tower. But the dimensions of this Arab skyscraper will be seven and a half times larger than the French prototype. The height of the future tower will be 2400 meters.

The 400 floors of the Dubai City Tower will be connected not only by elevators, but also by a vertical train that can travel at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour and transport people from the ground floor to the top in a matter of seconds.

Sky City. China

But what is interesting is not so much the record height of Sky City, but the incredibly fast pace of construction of this building. The Broad Sustainable Building company, which will build it, is known throughout the world for its construction in just a few days. She plans to build this skyscraper in just 90 days plus 120 days of preparing the site for construction.

Construction of this skyscraper was supposed to begin in the summer of 2013, but has so far been postponed. True, preparatory work on the site where Sky City will grow is gradually underway.

Azerbaijan Tower. Azerbaijan

The project’s investors promise to put the Azerbaijan Tower building into operation in 2019, and to complete the entire artificial archipelago by 2020.

Kingdom Tower. Saudi Arabia

Kingdom Tower will be the centerpiece of the Kingdom Center mixed-use development, a $20 billion city of residential, office, hotel, retail and entertainment developments.

Madinat al-Hareer. Kuwait

They want to build a kilometer-long skyscraper in Kuwait. In June 2014, a building project called Madinat al-Hareer, whose height will be 1001 meters, was finally approved there.

Dubai City Tower. United Arab Emirates

Dubai is looking at the projects listed above with caution - they could break the height record of the Burj Dubai skyscraper in the very near future. But, on the other hand, in this city they don’t sit with their hands folded. There, work is in full swing to create a project for the world's first two-kilometer building.

Investors and authors of the Dubai City Tower skyscraper project expect it to be commissioned in 2025. The construction estimate has not been disclosed.

This time, 525 projects were sent from 43 countries from all continents of the globe. A jury of architecture and design professionals selected three winners, and 20 entries deserved special mention.

Of course, none of these projects will be realized in the near future, but they offer new ideas that could very well be implemented in the skyscrapers of the future.

First place, Vernacular Versality. Yong Ju Lee, USA

The main prize was taken by a skyscraper project that combines the features of traditional Korean architecture and ordinary American high-rises.

Second place, Car and Shell Skyscraper,Mark Talbot, Daniel Markevich, USA

This project proposes the placement of residential buildings, recreation areas and offices in one giant cube.

Third place, Propagate Skyscraper: Carbon Dioxide Structure, Yu Hao Liu, Ryu Wu, Canada

This environmentally friendly skyscraper destroys gases in the atmosphere, reducing the greenhouse effect.

The jury also highlighted twenty other impressive projects:

Sand Babel: Solar-Powered 3D Printed Tower, Qiu Song, Kang Pangfei, Bai Ying, Ren Nuoya, Gu Shen, China

These skyscrapers that look like huge mushrooms are supposed to form a research base built right in the middle of the desert. The most interesting thing is that all buildings are proposed to be built from sand fired in a solar-powered 3D printer. When creating the design, the authors were inspired by the unique features of desert flora and fauna.

Climatology Tower, Yuan-Sung Hsiao, Yuko Ochiai, Jia-Wei Liu, Hung-Lin Hsieh, Japan

The Climatology Tower is a "greenhouse" that will function as the city's meteorological research center.

Launchspire, Henry Smith, Adam Woodwart, Paul Atkins, UK

This skyscraper is a launch pad for spacecraft. Only rockets are launched into space from it thanks to the forces of electromagnetism.

Hyper-Speed Vertical Train Hub, Christopher Christofi, Lucas Mazarraza, UK

This project demonstrates the vertical transport system of 2075.

Rainforest Guardian Skyscraper, Ji Huang, Qiaowan Tang, Yiwei Yu, Zhe Hao, China

This massive water tower stores rainwater and can be used to put out fires and irrigate vegetation during dry periods.

The New Babel Tower, Petko Stoevski, Germany

The "New Tower of Babel" is a giant steel structure located in the middle of the desert and proposes the concept of an "open" city.

Bamboo Forest: Skyscraper and Scaffoldings in the Symbiosis, Thibout Desprez, France

In this project, the floors are made entirely of bamboo. This will make it possible to create hanging gardens and will also protect the building in the event of an earthquake.

PieXus Tower: Maritime Transportation Hub Skyscraper For Hong Kong, US design team

PieXus is proposed for construction in Hong Kong. The lower part will be given over to the needs of the city, and the upper part will be used for private apartments.

Hyper Filter Sky, Alexey Umarov, Russia

The project from our compatriot not only looks great, but it should also benefit people: this skyscraper cleanses the atmosphere of harmful substances and enriches it with concentrated oxygen.

“Project Blue”, Yang Xiqi, Zhan Beidi, Zhao Renbo, Zhang Tiansuo, China

This umbrella-like structure creates powerful air currents.

“Liquefactor: The Sinking City”, Eric Nakajima (New Zealand)

This building can survive a strong earthquake. In the event of a natural disaster, it will simply go into the soil and will not be destroyed.

“Urban Alloy Tower”, Matt Bowles, Chad Kellogg, USA.

These buildings should create a large amount of free space at the intersection of railway lines in large cities.

“Skyvillage For Los Angeles”, Ziwei Song, USA

“Sky Village,” perhaps the most unusual project from the selection, is proposed for construction in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

“Here.After: The Material Processing Machine.” Tsang Aron Wai Chun, Hong Kong

This project would transform an abandoned mine into a university campus.

“The Blossom Tower.” Anthony Fieldman, RAFT Architects (United States)

The Bloom Tower in Malaysia includes a sculpture park, outdoor activities and a couple of museums.

“Seawer: The Garbage-Seascraper”, Sung Jin Cho, South Korea

This skyscraper is different from the others because it needs to be built under water. Its functions include cleaning the ocean floor from large volumes of debris.

“Infil Aquifer”, Jason Orbe-Smith (USA)

This building has the ability to regenerate and restore ground wave reserves.

“Re-Silence Skyscrpaper”, Diego Espinosa Figueroa, Javiera Valenzuela Gonzalez (Chile)

The Re-Silence Skyscraper is made entirely from biomass.

“21st Century Neoclassical Skyscraper”, John Houser, McDowell Park, USA

This skyscraper will be located in an abandoned part of Chicago.