Inhabitat » Daekwon Park’s Superstructure for Sustainable Skyscrapers

March 26, 2008

Daekwon Park’s Superstructure for Sustainable Skyscrapers

by Mike Chino

eVolo Architecture, Daekwon Park, Symbiotic Interlock, skyscraper competition, new design, architecture, sustainable design, eVolo, prefabricated housing, wind power, future architecture, Sustainable Building, daekwonpark1.jpg

Now in its fourth year running, the eVolo Skyscraper Competition takes future-forward architecture to its breaking point, unveiling a stunning array of new structural concepts by architects, engineers, and designers. The latest crop of entries is up, and Daekwon Park’s Symbiotic Interlock goes far beyond the standard skyscraper to envision a total renovation of inner-city infrastructure. The pitch: it’s modular, prefabricated, and completely symbiotic on the existing vertical infrastructure of the city.

Skyscrapers are one of the modern city’s most ideologically charged structures. Dominating the skyline, they captivate and articulate a wealth of ideals while anchoring a city’s social fabric. As the world’s population increases and cities stretch to accommodate it, these structures will become increasingly important in sustaining this massive influx. Out of necessity, they will have to evolve. eVolo Architecture was founded in 2003 by a group of international architects in NYC and hosts a yearly contest dedicated to rethinking the skyscraper in radical new ways. The only requirement: “Designs must be technologically feasible and environmentally responsible.”

Daekwon Park created Symbiotic Interlock “to reunite the isolated city blocks and insert a multi-layer network of public space, green space and nodes for the city”. It comprises a system of stackable modules that are designed to add an extra layer of infrastructure to existing buildings via sky docks and bridges, vertical gardens, cultural spaces, and energy producing wind turbines. It addresses some of the shortcomings of green roofs by internalizing green environments within its biomorphic structure while contributing functionality, energy, and food. It may not have beaten the competition, but its symbiotic integration with existing buildings struck us as a brilliant brand of future-forward thinking within the present era.

+ evolo-arch.com

Via treehugger.com via Pruned

12 Responses to “Daekwon Park’s Superstructure for Sustainable Skyscrapers”

hugo Says:

March 26th, 2008 at 4:22 am

This realy looks great and is a great source of inspiration for me. As a parasite it uses some essentials from the excisting structures. Though the design is not my taste, the idea is great; creating sub-communities in large scale communities. Actually downscaling the city…

LivingSpaceBuilders.com Says:

March 26th, 2008 at 7:35 am

But hugo, as you see from the photos only beautiful people can live inside of these structures :)

PL Says:

March 26th, 2008 at 11:03 am

I think this would be a disaster for our cities - both visually and socially. Hugo is right. They are parasitic and they look the part. I can’t imagine the crime that would occur on those sky bridges. And I just don’t think these are green at all. I know there are wind turbines here and there and some sky gardens but that’s doesn’t nearly come close to off-setting the resources needed to make these and the extra energy they are drawing from their hosts. And all that structure for hardly any programmable space - who would pay for that? Anyway, let’s get past the cool imagery and criticize it for what it is.

organicgrid Says:

March 26th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

By far, one of the ugliest Sustainable Skyscrapers I have ever seen. Looks like a beehive for humans.

Scott Says:

March 26th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

How do I enter into the competition? Exciting stuff!

bpg131313 Says:

March 26th, 2008 at 3:56 pm

While I\’m not sold on the vertical structures themselves, I do like the idea of sky bridges. The idea that one can get to a building a few blocks away simply by going through the bridges means a lot of time saved by not getting on an elevator, going down, walking on the sidewalks and having to stop for traffic at each intersection, and then getting on an elevator to get to the floor you needed to be on in the building. Sky bridges are a great idea and I think they deserve further study in their wider adoption throughout a city structure.

Mike Chino Says:

March 26th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Hi Scott,
Archicool has a post outlining what the submission process was like for the 2008 contest. Since it’s a yearly competition, I’d imagine the next contest will fall along a similar timeline (October - March). We’ll be sure to post updates as the year progresses. Best of luck!

http://www.archicool.com/cgi-bin/presse/pg-newspro.cgi?id_news=3466

Kate Andrews Says:

March 27th, 2008 at 2:12 am

Mike - Thanks for posting this competition, it’s made happy [and inspired] reading this evening. K.

shroomie77 Says:

March 31st, 2008 at 6:09 pm

PL- what kinds of crimes do you speak of?

And what would make you say they’re not green?

…I would pay for that.

Inhabitat » Coastal Fog Tower Harvests Chilean Mist Says:

April 2nd, 2008 at 5:47 am

[…] the spirit of Daekwon Parks’ Symbiotic Superstructure, we’re continuing coverage of the eVolo Competition with another incredible entry. This […]

doug l Says:

April 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 pm

I think I prefer these fantastic structures to the skyscrapers they are attempting to connect. Perhaps they could grow organically and evolve into elevated nests where the villages similar to the arboreal societies of our past could flourish, up above the floor of the (concrete) jungle.