B.I.O.S. Tower

Questioning what is or will be the skyscrapers of the future, it should not be definable in one way, but instead, in many ways. The skyscraper of the future should be certainly a solution for the exponential population growth and should question advanced fabrication techniques but not only. It should react within the urban context, reconsider the program, create spatial flexibility and possibilities, and most of all, it must aim to redefine social identity. The project locates this potentiality not in a specific neighborhood of the city but provides a solution adaptable to the different urban tissues that constitute the metropolitan area. Considering the street pattern as the main structure of each neighborhood, the project find its location where the flows, coming from multiple directions, meet: the intersections. As solution of the urban block’s corner, the building has the double function to answer efficently to the need of new residences (tower) and to offer public/commercial services (lower part). The city of New York is expected to add one million more residents by 2040, but there likely won't be room for hundreds of thousands of them unless a big number of housing is built. The goal of the project is to give a solution to this problem but with a particular attention to the different needs of the residents. The use of structural steel framing system offers the maximun flexibility in the organization of public spaces and especially the possibility to have different sizes of apartments in answer to different needs of accomodation. To guarantee the best view to the city and to have continuity with the urban context was chosen a glazed curtain wall system. The building responds to the impact of various forces thanks to a performative curtain skin that filters solar radiation guaranteeing an optimal exposition to the daylight and reduces the wind load on the facades emproving the indoor comfort. Vertical metal blades on the facades have four important functions: • increase the effect of lightness of the tower • support the curtain wall system • screen the solar radiation • support the performative skin Wind vertical turbines, hidden on the rooftop, contributes to the building’s energy needs. Six aerodynamic steel blades canalyze the wind streams improving the efficiency of the wind turbines. At full capacity, will generate about 5% of the building’s energy needs. This may not seem like very much, but it amounts to several dozen mega (million) watt hours annually–saving the owners and residents a great deal of money.