SKYHIVE

The Biorefinery is sited atop a roundabout in the London borough of Hackney. This particular location was chosen for its history of pollution and Hackney’s pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040. The project displays a fantastic collection of detailed sectional, perspective, and axonometric drawings. The tower’s form is defined by a unique set of tapering tubular forms, driven by its function as a combination of mineral-recovery, biogas-production, and waste-water-recovery facilities. This set of programs is infused with office and residential spaces, gardens, and atria. The building’s apex is designed as a machine of steel enclosing mechanical elements, reminiscent of both Paris’ Centre Pompidou and the guts of a typical oil refinery.

This winning entry is designed for a site in Dubai, where energy consumption is mostly spent on keeping spaces cool. The facade is pocketed with articulated prefabricated window units, angled to capture prevailing winds and prevent direct sun exposure in the brutal afternoon heat. The tower is comparatively opaque compared with the typical fully-glazed surrounding buildings of the city. According to the jury, “The project is characterized by an interesting ambiguity. It deals with the duality of cost and resources consuming construction of high-rise buildings, and an ecological approach.” The building ‘breathes’: its structural system is integrated with hollow-core concrete walls and slabs to bring cooled air through the building, channeled from floor plates to walls to flush out warm air.

Titled Vertical City, the submission attempts to find a balance between the connectivity and articulation of traditional low-rise streets, and the banal disconnection of the typical skyscraper. It relies on a system of cable cars at mid-height to link the tower with the surrounding city. The cable car station is programmed with outdoor gardens, shops, and restaurants. The lower half of the building contains an agri-food market, hotel, offices and residences, while the upper half contains the commercial and public spaces of a cinema, library, auditorium, and a sports center. This organization flips the programming of the standard high-rise as it has evolved over the last century, which may be a hard sell for any developer (higher commercial revenues generally result from upper-floor residential and office spaces with better views). Nonetheless, the project is optimistic and encouraging.