Gallery: Winning Designs For Skyscrapers Of The Future

I always enjoy these peers into the future, and what kind of innovation is at work. I am glad to see that these concepts are tied to self sufficiency, utilizing their environment in an eco-conscious way.

Yheu-Shen Chua of the United Kingdom designed this update to the Hoover Dam, turning the concrete behemoth into a curvy structure evocative of water-carved canyon rock. Instead of a flat viewing platform, the new structure would engage visitors with the water, incorporating a vertical aquarium and other amenities.

The winning design would be based in New Delhi, one of the dirtiest cities on Earth, and incorporates a wind turbine into a circular greenhouse that would help clean the air. The Ferris-wheel-shaped building is made from recycled cars, and waste heat from the on-site recycling center would be used to grow plants to produce biofuels.

Recycled cars huh? Well there should be plenty of material for that!!

Not everyone wants the tallest skyscrapers money can buy. Some cities, like Washington, D.C., don’t even allow them, because they would interrupt important landmarks and ruin pretty skylines. This flattened approach would provide some of the benefits of vertical living while keeping things relatively close to the ground.
Holes in the structure allow sunlight to reach the ground, and its wide berth would enable large solar arrays or rainwater collection systems, eVolo points out.

This one seems like a good design to use natural resources like rainwater and solar panels.

Designed for Mexico City, a place that already celebrates its dead with unrivaled fervor, this subterranean tower descends into the Earth like something out of Dante, and is designed to help people grieve.
It rises slightly above the ground, and at the pedestrian level it looks like an empty hole — “the sensation of vacuum represents the absence caused by death,” according to its Mexico-based designers.
Mourners would descend along with the casket of their lost loved one, and they would be “reborn” into the light after their trip to the underworld. The tower also solves the problem of where to bury the elderly, especially in overpopulated areas like Mexico City. After a parting ceremony, the caskets are taken to a crematorium.

Well that's an interesting idea, a subterranean skyscraper for the dead and buried. Looks like a more efficient idea than traditional cemeteries.

Why build a separate football stadium, basketball arena and ballpark, when you can combine them all into one structure? Sports Tower, designed by a Ukrainian architect, would let visitors move between various venues, so you wouldn’t have to choose between spring baseball and the NBA playoffs.
It could conceivably host the soccer World Cup, Olympics events and tennis grand slams.
Then it would just be a battle over who gets the megacomplex naming rights.

A sport's mega-plex, cool idea

This tower would occupy the space between 22nd and 14th streets and 6th and 7th avenues in New York City, towering over the existing infrastructure. A park sandwiched between the residential spaces and office towers gives residents a calming oasis, and everything would be connected to the subway system.

Built from a graphene exoskeleton, the Hydra skyscraper is designed to harvest power from lightning and store it in giant batteries. Hydra would power hydrogen fuel cells, whose byproduct is clean water. The project also includes living quarters for scientists and their families.

This looks like of the skyscrapers in Saudi Arabia's new city(that no one occupies

This concept takes advantage of 3.5 million tons of garbage to create floating iceberg-like islands, which would serve as garbage aggregators and recycling facilities.
It would use trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, estimated to be twice the size of Texas. The islands’ goal would be to collect and process the trash, also using part of it to generate energy. They would also have housing and recreational facilities for workers.

Thank goodness there is an idea to utilize the vast amounts of waste we produce. Maybe these can burn their own methane gas for fuel.

Oil rigs could be repurposed as water-purification facilities, storing desalinated water for delivery to thirsty countries. These “seascrapers” would involve modified oil pipes that can bring water into spherical containers, where it would be distilled and desalinated.

I'd like to see those abandoned rigs put to good use.

Like the plant root systems for which they are named, Rhizome Towers would be mostly underground, but partly exposed to the light. They could be used to construct entire underground cities, in response to climate change or global catastrophe.
The first layer of the "groundscraper" would be above the surface and host recreational and agricultural facilities, along with solar panels. The 60-level second layer would be for living quarters, including a variety of house types and sizes; the third and fourth layers are offices and service areas; and the bottom layers would be devoted to harvesting geothermal energy, according to the designers.

Nice, Rhizome Towers eh? Time to move the innovation downwards I guess too.

Any discussion of the future of buildings wouldn’t be complete without at least mentioning the prospect of living somewhere other than Earth. The Moonscraper concept satisfies our high hopes, soaring above the lunar surface to reach precious sunlight.
It would be situated at the rim of Shackleton Crater on the south pole of the moon, where, as we all now know, there is plenty of water. A nested system of vertical towers beneath the lunar surface would protect inhabitants from radiation, meteors and widely varying temperatures.

Maybe one day....

[url=http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-04/2011-skyscraper-contest-floating-islands-energy-harvesters-and-other-buildings-future]Popsci[/ur l]


And I always thought it may look something like this
I am just glad that incorporating self sustainability is part of the intent in designing our future skyscrapers. If we can make it past this apocalyptic era, whether natural or self actualized, our(human race) ingenuity can shine for all of humanity.

Peace,
spec

Great find! That certainly is a fun redesign for the hoover dam but my favorite is the lightning harvesting one. It reminds me of something that would be underwater though. Great find!

Yeah, I don't think I'll be living in any of those, especially the one being used as a dam. Neat for a science fiction flick, but I still prefer a rural setting... IE> No neighbors!

How about some underwater Tall buildings complexes and cities.? We’ve already had enough of the surface dwellers.

Nevertheless nice concepts.

Wicked cool.
Especially love the idea for water-purification facilities.
And while it would be pretty cool to vacation on the moon, but I can't see wanting to live there.
I love my little blue & green planet! (well, for as long as it's still blue & green I suppose.)

Great post some incredible ideas to be sure!

Would live in every single one, except the sports centre.. (yeah, even the grave).

Thank you for the replies, and yes, some underwater ventures would be cool too. I guess they have to figure a way to safely deal with all that pressure. The one by the dam? Yea that could be scary, but what a great source for negative ions, so maybe the residents would always feel elated. I would want some emergency escape hatches though, just in case of a quake or something.

Peace,
spec