Honorable Mention
2014 Skyscraper Competition
Henry Smith, Adam
Woodward, Paul Attkins
United Kingdom
A cylindrical matrix of
super tall structure centered on an electromagnetic vertical accelerator to
eliminate the hydrocarbon dependency of aircraft during takeoff. The radical
re-interpretation of the skyscraper format provides hyper density in an organic
and adaptive habitat.
Commercial air travel is
celebrating its centenary in 2014 and over the last 100 years aviation has made
an unprecedented impact on the way people can experience an interconnected and
relatively open world. Looking ahead, we can see that in 2050 aviation is
predicted to fly 16 billion passengers and 400 million tones of cargo. We must
be able to manage that with sustainable technologies and efficient
infrastructure.
The future of Aviation is
anticipated to rely on energy dense hydrocarbon fuels to provide the power
required to make flight possible. On short flights, as much as 25% of the total
fuel consumed is used during takeoff. The most fuel-efficient route length for
airlines is 4,300 kilometers, roughly a flight from Europe to the U.S. East
Coast. About 45 percent of all flights in the European Union cover less than
500 kilometers.
An electromagnetic vertical
accelerator, utilizing the technological principles developed at CERN’s LHC and
maglev train propulsion, provides a method for commercial aircraft to be
accelerated to cruising speed using renewable electrical energy sources from
ground based infrastructure. The longer the accelerator and greater exit
velocity resulting in the aircraft being closer to cruising altitude. This
creates a need for a super tall structure that is advantageous due to
improvements in aviation efficiency, not as an iconic expression of supremacy.
We propose a new methodology
of ‘spiral tube’ structure that ensures a habitable floor plate depth and
simple pedestrian movement throughout the structure, whilst providing an
overall cross-sectional width to overcome stability issues.
The structural solution is
born out of a desire to reinvigorate the ‘core and floor plate’ model of
high-rise buildings. By creating a continuous street of privately owned ‘plots’
of habitation the development and evolution of the towers inhabitation becomes
organic and specifically tailored to provide for the people that live within
the tower. The use of plots would be governed by a democratic planning system
to ensure the building serves its occupants well. Schools, hospitals,
commercial, residential uses would be interspersed throughout the tower with
approximately one third of all Plots to be public green spaces, nature reserves
and farm land. Due to the scale of the building different climates would be
experienced at various levels of the structure housing various wildlife and
crop species, whilst also being natural devices for internal climate control.
The concept is essentially
a helical version of the classic urban grid environment. This has the benefits
of extreme high density, elevated living, mass transportation to different
levels, pedestrian and cycle travel locally to enable healthy living. Community
interaction and a unique and varied sense of place is achieved to each area of
the tower. As the building ages specific areas develop to support an organic
and culturally rich network of settlements within the matrix of the structure.
The towers can be built
close to renewable energy infrastructures; hydropower in the mountains, tidal
and offshore wind nearer the coast. The city is the building, the surrounding
environment will remain natural thus the urban realm becomes a vertical entity
within the wilderness.
The building is effectively
a confluence of road, rail, air and space transportation. A contemporary
settlement built around the movement of people.