The SKYHIVE Skyscraper Challenge 2022 results are in

Buildner’s SKYHIVE competition has returned for the 5th consecutive year with a list of winning skyscraper concepts that work to challenge and redefine established notions of the tall-building typology.

The design brief states that proposals had to "examine the relationship between skyscrapers and the natural world, the community, and the rest of the city as a whole," with consideration given to "the impact on the surrounding environment, as well as how the increase in inhabitants will affect the current infrastructure, pollution levels, economic division, and urban sprawl."

Participants were invited to interpret the competition’s design brief as creatively as they saw fit and were selected for their designs’ response to the chosen site and aesthetic consistency with its existing skyline. The sites were restricted to a 10,400-square-meter (112,000-square-foot) total area that could be accessed by roads on at least two sides. 

Jury members included Turkish architect Hayri Atak of Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio (HAADS); Oscar-nominated production designer Jim Bissell; Chartier+Corbasson Architectes Associate Thomas Corbasson; Benedikt Hartl of Opposite Office; Zutari Associate Samista Jugwanth; and PILA Principal Ilias Papageorgiou. 

The full list of prize winners and honorable mentions can be found below. 

1st Prize + BB Student Award: City 2040: Microclimate Control Tower by Dong Young Kim and Young Hyun Choi (Yeungnam University, South Korea)

Jury commentary: "City 2040 is a design for a ‘microclimate control tower’ for the metropolitan city of Daegu, South Korea. It takes one of the current urban challenges of the city, which questions whether to focus on commercial or cultural development, and proposes a dual response - a cultural podium topped with a commercial tower, designed using heat pumps to respond to another urban challenge: reducing urban heat accumulation. [...] Besides the idea of a mixed-use building - the designer also wanted the building to assist with the urban heat that the city faces. Its heat pumps cause circulation, therefore breaking the heat sink. This idea of the microclimate is a strong concept that should have been developed even further. It is admirable in its ambitions, with a design that is impressively detailed and the concept supported with clear and understandable graphics."

Read their full interview here.

2nd Prize: Tall Pile Of CLT by Edgar Rodriguez (Mexico) 

Jury commentary: "Tall Pile of CLT is a proposed mixed-use tower for a site located in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. The project explores the architectural possibilities of cross-laminated timber, for use in a modular high-rise. To achieve variability in its form, the consistent floorplate is rotated among floors. [...] An innovative construction idea, the project addresses sustainability in a meaningful way. The use of the CLT panels seems advantageous - and there has been deep thought put into how loads are managed. It is a simple, but worthy concept with intriguing design. The presentation is clear, albeit wordy."

Read his full interview here.

3rd Prize + BB Green Award: Dahavi's Redemption And Rebirth — Skyscraper Design Based On Biological Simulation by Yufei Liu, Fuyuan Xu, and Huizhong Wang (University of Jinan, China)

Jury commentary: "Dharavi’s Redemption and Rebirth, designed for Mumbai’s largest slum, proposes a podium intended for conversion of waste into raw materials and energy for industry. Waste from future residential and industrial sites provides construction material for this podium. The tower of housing units is intended to be built over time, using capital gained from the waste conversion. [...] Waste and recycling is a critical issue for the 21st century. The approach to a ‘growing’ building is commendable. However, the actual design remains relatively conventional, and could be more innovative in terms of expression, form and presentation. Innovative and smart, this project takes into account a very problematic  environment - the slum - and turns it into something positive and productive." 

Honorable Mention: Vertical Data Center Delirium by Chuchu Chen (Rhode Island School of Design, United States)

Read her interview here.

Honorable Mention: Collective Tower by Misak Terzibasiyan (Netherlands)

Read his interview here.

Honorable Mention: Maslow City Tower by Diana Samarina (Moscow Institute of Architecture, Russia)

Read her interview here.

Honorable Mention: The Sprawl Of A Vertical City by Souha Boumatar (Lebanon)

Honorable Mention: Post Pandemic Tower by Christian Rudolph and Justus Würtenberger (Germany)

Read their interview here.

Honorable Mention: Nomad Unite by Kinga Gawlik and Piotr Rajewski (Poland)

Read their interview here.