Honorable Mention
2014 Skyscraper Competition
Chris Thackrey,
Steven Ma, Bao An Nguyen Phuoc, Christos Koukis, Matus Nedecky, Stefan
Turcovsky
United States
The PleXus Tower emerges from
the banks of the West Hong Kong Harbor as a distribution of disjointed
structures, initially finding itself amidst the neighboring ferry terminal. The
structure starts out as distributed pods reaching out to connect with the
city’s transportation fabric, accepting traffic from the water in the form of
boats, ferries, and other water vehicles. This misfit arrangement of structural
pods weaves into alignment with the Macau terminal to greatly increase the
scale of the transportation hub. Bridged together by connected pipelines over
the water, these pods work in harmony with the existing Macau Ferry Terminal to
expediently move people towards the inner structure. This assembly forms a
podium for the first segment of the tower, which emerges as a parking structure
accessible from the highway network tangent to the tower.
Located at the water’s edge
next to the Macau Ferry Terminal, the tower’s design varies in both its
circulation and organization to control the speed at which it receives and
negotiates the flow of traffic to optimize movement around and inside the
structure.
As you move inward from the
receiving pods, the main structure begins to evolve its own function. First is
a horizontal parking structure on the lower levels of the main building, which
emerges as a parking structure accessible from the connected highway network to
efficiently receive car traffic. As you move up the main structure, business
and shopping space is available, all accessible by car to the highest level of
the tower. The upper reaches of the towers are set aside for residential space,
high above the noise of the city, providing a living area that incorporates
spectacular views of the dynamic city skyline. A heliport on top of the
structure can receive air traffic from above.
The solid form on the south
side of the main tower receives solar energy during the day, providing power to
the building. The skin is breathable with numerous openings designed to overlap
each other, undulating throughout, allowing carbon dioxide to easily filter out
from the designated parking areas on the lower levels. Each parking level will
also utilize foliage to further filter carbon dioxide from the air helping to
reduce pollution in Hong Kong.
The PleXus tower was
conceived as a segmented, but highly connected network of major transportation
functions, as well as housing conventional program. The shift in the way the
tower design is read, as well as in the functionality of each segment, provides
greater programmatic control. Residential is accessible yet private, parking is
convenient, and circulation through the ground-level public space is able to
provoke interest. At night, lights will glow from the panels, reminding us of
the connections these segments share as well as blending in with Hong Kong’s unique
night skyline.