Evolo 2016 SkyScraper Competition | FLT-OFFICE

CONCEPT

Try to imagine that you are in Manhattan, and one morning you wake up viewing the Empire State Building illuminated by the sun; try to imagine yourself surrounded by nature and try to think that you can stay and enjoy all this spending little money.

The idea of locating campgrounds in big cities within skyscrapers is a revolutionary way to achieve a number of benefits such as the vertical development of spaces that usually are located on huge horizontal areas outside the cities; the possibility to use campgrounds in both cold and mild weathers and lastly, the possibility to create for the first time in big cities, new accommodating services in which users can pay little money.

BUILDING DESCRIPTION

The Skyscraper has a shape that quotes the “gennaker sail” of boats. Just like boats hoist or lower sails according to the environmental conditions, this skyscraper employs a skin that can be adjusted according to the different seasons. We wanted to underline the climatically flexibility of the skyscraper through a specific design of the skin. During the cold season a heating system warms the building up obtaining a comfortable thermal environment. The idea of a building with two identities (winter mode and summer mode) creates a new kind of relationship between building and city: the skyscraper is a high mountain park in summer and a greenhouse in wintertime to protect users from cold temperatures. Like boats host sails to exploit the wind power, the skin we designed can be completely open/closed or partially open according to the direction of the wind. We designed this skyscraper following the considerations above mentioned, however it is important to underline that this specific typology of accommodating service can be easily retrofitted to any abandoned skyscraper. We believe that putting together an urban park with a camping area is great opportunity to share a space that is well suitable to house these two activities. We aimed to give to the skyscraper a social value through the use of a specific typology that makes this project unique. Our idea is that, contaminating an organism leads itself to be better in the future. Contaminating Manhattan means not only creating a low-cost space where people can stay overnight but also, experiencing a new way to live the city. We believe that locating campgrounds in big cities and within skyscrapers can evolve the concept of camping, turning the idea of campgrounds into an urban accommodating point. This idea originated when we saw a number of New Yorkers placing tends on their rooftops to host friends; this idea leads also to the creation of social areas where people can meet and talk and where anyone can enjoy the sight of cities from the best spot. For this reason we designed the rooftop as a space to host concerts and events. Moving to the technology point of view, we designed a façade with an organic photovoltaic system and a rainwater collection system that collects water from each floor through a sewage system in order to irrigate the green areas when required. Tourism statistics show an increasing number of alternative accommodating services for holidays, above all campgrounds. This data led us to carry on with our idea that we have always believed it was good, trying to finalize some drawings able to communicate the passion and the beauty of camping at 200 meters above the ground.