Winners of the SKYHIVE Timber Skyscraper competition speculate on sustainable tall buildings

Buildner has announced the results of their latest SKYHIVE Timber Skyscraper competition. The annual contest, now in its sixth edition, sought “iconic and unique designers for a high-rise structure,” with this year featuring the “added twist” of requiring a skyscraper that was primarily constructed out of timber.

The competition did not set a defined site and instead called on participants to select any hypothetical site measuring 426ft x 262ft (130m x 80m), which could be accessed by roads on two sides. “It is important that designs show consideration for 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,” the brief added.

Take a look at the winning schemes:

First Prize: Space Gradients by Yanyan Zhang (United States)

Jury comment excerpt: “Space Gradients explores the potential of the post and beam structure, challenging the limitations of this well-known structural system. The intent of the project is to create a variety of spaces by testing variations in column density and beam depth, with a denser system of beams yielding smaller spaces at the base of the building, and a sparser set of columns with deeper beams yielding larger spaces at the top of the building, opening the upper floors for greater views. The project is an exploration in simple form and timber structure which offers a great range of spaces.”

Second Prize: The Pro-sumer by Sophia Michopoulou (Greece)

Jury comment excerpt: “The Pro-sumer is an organic office space structure conceived to produce, consume and recycle water, energy, food and waste in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint. Situated theoretically in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, the tower is designed in consideration of its warm and humid climate, as well as the tidal waters in which it is proposed to be constructed. The high-rise project makes use of solar panels and deep balconies to engage and protect spaces from the sunlight.”

Third Prize and Buildner Student Award: Rebuilding Green by Beom Seok Ko, Shiwon Kim, Joo Hye Lim, and Eun A Jeong (Hongik University, South Korea)

Jury comment excerpt: “Rebuilding Green is a study that responds to desertification - the phenomenon in which forests and meadows in dry climates disappear and become deserts as rivers and lakes dry. The tower proposal consists of commercial, laboratory and residential facilities on desert sites in Mongolia. It makes use of a repetitive building module that can be constructed and later deconstructed using a centralized integrated crane. The intent for the project is to construct a temporary laboratory facility that aids in greening a region of 10,000 square meters by producing plant specimens for a new forest. Once complete, the building could be deconstructed and moved to a new location.”

Buildner Sustainability Award: A New Weave in the Pattern - Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary by Michał Spólnik and Marcin Kitala (Poland)

Jury comment excerpt: “New Weave in the Pattern is a timber tower designed to address declining monarch butterfly populations, a phenomenon resulting in a general sense from deforestation. The project, conceived for a site in Mexico where monarch butterflies begin their annual migration. The tower is designed according to a module of joints that gives the structure a branchlike quality, mimicking the form of trees and offering butterflies a multitude of niches, nooks and crannies to be protected.”

More information on the competition series can be found on Buildner’s official website here.