Type: Competition (SuperSkyscraper)

Role: Design, Digital Model, Renderings

Collaborator: Nathan Lephart

Awards: Special Mention

Software: Rhino, Grasshopper, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Premier Pro, Lumion, Revit

As an annual international competition, SyperSkyscraper creates a new challenge each year for its competitors. This year’s theme was to design a skyscraper in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There were no limits of what defines a skyscraper or its shape, but only that it should serve as a hotel. For our entry we challenged the idea of a conventional skyscraper, believing that the site dictated that it extends down rather than up, that it serves as more of a void than a solid. We also questioned what would its purpose be in the middle of the ocean. Poised for the challenge, we entered with a more radical design which lead us to receiving an Honorable Mention, the only United States based team to do so.

What defines a skyscraper?

We grappled with this question as we tried to understand the differences between land and sea. If we extend the structure below “grade” rather than above, we can maintain the vertical nature of a skyscraper while improving its buoyancy.

Can this place be more than a hotel?

From the beginning we thought the prompt offered more than the program of a hotel. We asked ourselves, what could turn this place into a destination? While the Pacific Ocean is remote, it also offers some unique protection as well as specialized weather patterns. For this reason we thought it could be an excellent location for an animal sanctuary. Give animals a safe place thrive and allow people the unique opportunity to live among them.

How will it be constructed?

To allow for the most diversity while providing the healthiest conditions for the wildlife, a series of conoids with specific climate region characteristics will be created. The conoids will host pods which will provide living quarters for both wildlife and visitors. Each pod and conoid is designed specifically with it’s climate region’s wildlife style in mind.

How will the wildlife remain wild?

Cradling each conoid is a single, semi-flexible surface. This surface serves duel purpose, structurally unify the skyscraper and to provide habitat space for the wildlife and people to roam. Supported by floating air chambers and a pliable skeleton, the surface is to look and feel as natural as earth itself. While the wildlife are housed in the conoids, they thrive upon the surface.

How will it survive the ocean?

By constraining the perimeter the interior surface is aloud to flex and adjust as the ocean waves interact with it. The ring will provide a secondary means of buoyancy while also providing additional tether points to prevent the structure from floating too far from its origin.