Winners of eVolo 2016 Skyscraper Competition

The jury* of the 2016 Skyscraper Competition selected 3 winners and 21 honorable mentions from 489 projects received. The three winners are highlighted below; more information is available on the eVolo website.

Surprisingly, the first place winner – "New York Horizon" by Yitan Sun and Jianshi Wu from the United States – is more horizontal than vertical. The duo propose "a continuous horizontal skyscraper around the full perimeter of a sunken Central Park," per the eVolo website. Further, "The project would create 7 square miles (80 times greater than the Empire State Building) of housing with unobstructed views and connection to the park."

"New York Horizon" also turns Central Park into a mountainous landscape. But that's not created by the earthmoving required for the foundations of the new new buildings. Instead, "The soil removed from the original park is relocated to various neighborhoods, which will be demolished and moved into the new structure. This creates a new urban condition, where landscape can serve as an inherent part of the city."

Second place has been awarded to The Hive, designed by Hadeel Ayed Mohammad, Yifeng Zhao, and Chengda Zhu from the United States. Their project "imagines a vertical control terminal for advanced flying drones that will provide personal and commercial services to residents of New York City."

The third place recipients are Valeria Mercuri and Marco Merletti from Italy for the only non-New York City project of the three. Data Tower "envisions a sustainable skyscraper in Iceland designed for Internet servers."

*The jury for the 2016 Skyscraper Competition was made up of:

• Matias del Campo, principal SPAN
• Thom Faulders, principal Faulders Studio
• Greg Lynn, principal Greg Lynn Form
• Marcelo Spina, principal PATTERNS