eVolo holds a Skyscraper Competition every year with the main idea focusing on the relationship between the skyscraper and the natural world, the community and urban life. They recently started showcasing some of the entries on their blog from the competitions from 2006-2009. A recent post focused on the vertical element as using more of the traditional horizonal streetscape elements rather than traditional buildings. Too bad they don’t know how to spell “scale” ;-)

From eVolo, “The main idea behind this project is to create a vertical city with the same qualities of traditional horizontal settlements. The goal is to define an outdoors vertical street that is connected to commercial, recreational, housing, and office areas. The vertical street would have a mix of escalators, ramps, elevators, and stairs with green parks and terraces.”

“The grouping of several buildings would create a new type of city with vertical streets and bridges. There is no need for automobiles because a series of electric monorails will connect each building to create a true sustainable city. Farms, wind turbines, solar panels, and water recollection systems are the norm in this true green city typology.”

images via eVolo

The Reburbia competition, sponsored by Inhabitat and Dwell, is now open for voting on the top 20 finalists. The design competition is geared towards re-envisioning the suburbs. The current housing crisis has torn through many suburban communities and ripped them up as homes have been foreclosed and abandoned. Suburbia will no longer be able to continue as it has, so what is the future for these sprawling communities? Can they be re-imagined into something far less generic and bland? Can the weaknesses in these areas be turned around to produce assets that move more towards sustainable, walkable communities? Or can these empty buildings be re-purposed? Here’s a few highlights from the competition…

Some of the entries focused on what to do with all these big boxes littering the ‘burbs. In “Big Box Agriculture: A Productive Suburb“, the idea is that the large retail stores that go out of business can be turned into productive farms with greenhouse and restaurants inside and larger agriculture taking over the parking lot. These farms in turn would grow food for local markets and restaurants and residents could prepare their freshly picked produce on the spot in the big box restaurants.

Another finalist looks at these big boxes as a way to produce fuel in rather simple and realistic way, called “Big Box Stores Transformed Into Biofuel Generators.” This entry is dedicated to fueling the Biofuel movement which needs cheap, flat, modular space with connections to the nations freeways to produce algae-based fuel on the scale required to push the movement to the next level and move beyond traditional oil.

Another interesting finalist, titled “Pure: Transforming Swimming Pools Into Water Treatment Plants” looks at what to do with all those backyard pools in the warmer areas. Pure would use six successive purification stages to clean the areas wastewater in the same vein as constructed wetlands, to achieve clean water that could then be used once again by the community. Small-scale food production could also be a product of this solution.

Or perhaps go even larger scale like in “Frog’s Dream: McMansion’s Turned Into Biofilter Water Treatment Plants.” The predictions are that the mansions of suburbia will become adadoned as more people seek a shrink in their household size and overall change in lifestyle. Frog’s Dream proposes to “transform the vacant McMansions, at the periphery of cities, into eco-water treatment machines, commercially known as Living Machines, in which a micro-ecosystem of plants, algae, bacteria, fish and clams are present to purify the water. A micro-wetland ecosystem will be formed around these mansions to sustain larger wetland animals and plants. The project also involves transforming the highway system into a multi-functional infrastructure that transports cars, trains and bikes, as well as forming a network to facilitate water transport between a city and its surrounding suburban wetlands.”

Another finalist has come up with a nice solution called “Regenerative Suburban Median” that seems doable now in many areas and that’s to take those ugly too-wide streets and narrow them down for a friendlier feel, allow for safer pedestrian activity and to introduce a productive median. This would also help to activate the space, give people a reason to get out of their houses and meet each other and to engage in the community.

Narrowing down the street and injecting some friendliness into these neighborhoods isn’t the only goal here, the medians would also become a closed loop system for water, agriculture and human waste. From the website: “The localized water treatment system, when tied into existing infrastructure, slowly curbs the neighborhood demand for distant fresh water supplies and the energy required for its transport and treatment. Depending on local conditions the design of a regenerative median could manipulate other elements ultimately inserting open space, residential units, mass transportation, pedestrian circulation, park land, or native habitat.”

Definitely check out the Notable Entries as well because there’s some good nuggets in there. I love the “Brick Habitats: Bricks With Built-In Gardens and Minihomes For Animals” in it’s well-thought out design details. This would be really fun to have incorporated into some walls. Not sure about the home exactly because I’ve had birds in my chimney before and they are LOUD so I’m not sure I’d want birds right on my walls but nevertheless, the idea is pretty darn cool and I love the flexibility and the thought that went into these, even the actual built versions.

But of course, we all know that the best of them all is definitely to “Let Them Burn“. Although you can’t vote for it but you can check it out in the Notable Entries. But if that ain’t a party then I don’t know what is. I think I hear some Bloodhound Gang playing in the background…

images via reburbia

So if you haven’t already, go VOTE now!

image via New York Times

Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is no stranger to the biking scene as he’s been pedaling around New York for thirty years. He wrote an article in the Times recently about the book Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities by Portland-based author Jeff Mapes.

Byrne agrees that a revolution is coming but that it also isn’t here quite yet. Since he’s been using a bike as his primary mode of transportation for three decades, he’s seen the changes first hand and how it’s gone from only the people that have to bike to adding the people that want to bike and actually enjoy it as a mode of transportation in an urban area.

image via Portlandize

Many cities have made changes to accomadate those on wheels like here in Portland with new additions like the big green bike box and trading out vehicular parking for bike corrals.

But not everyone has taken the leap, more often than not, people still look at biking as a recreational outing like a weekend trail ride and not as a mode of transportation. And many bikers feel that drivers only tolerate bikes and still don’t fully know how to live with them in harmony on the streets. The more people on bikes creates safety in numbers, which helps, but there’s still a ways to go both in infrastructure and the mental shift from what is currently still predominantely a car culture.

Also, here’s an older video from the time of the design competition New York City held for the design of some new bicycle racks. David Byrne, a judge for the competition, decided he would make some of his own, as seen in the picture at the top of this post, which he had made and installed in various parts of the city:

Foster + Partners along with Berg Arkitektkontor have come out the winners of the Slussen urban redesign competition which is a materplan to transform the Slussen waterfront area in the heart of Stockholm. From Bustler, the text provided by the design team explains…

The proposal will bring new life to the area, linking the islands of Södermalm and Gamla Stan and stripping away the layers of history to reclaim a valuable city quarter. For so long separated by a maze of roads and acres of concrete, the two waterfronts will be linked by a new footbridge and the historic lock will be revealed once more to provide a symbol for the area’s regeneration.

The masterplan re-establishes the waterfront to give Södermalm a new face. While contemporary in concept, the buildings that form the new city blocks continue the grain and scale of the adjacent urban quarter, retaining the long street views to the water and defining new public squares and extensive waterfront promenades. Their flexible nature allows for a rich mixture of uses, from culture and entertainment to shops and hotels, while the uninterrupted pedestrian quayside incorporates terraces, and promenades served directly by new cafés and restaurants.

At the heart of the new Slussen is an elegant footbridge, which fuses straight and S-shaped decks to complete the missing link in the north-south pedestrian route across central Stockholm. The historic Katarinahissen will also be renovated and extended to serve the quayside level, with a new observation deck built at its top to offer spectacular views over the city’s archipelago.

Reversing the dominance of the car, the scheme gives priority to pedestrians and cyclists. A new transport interchange is incorporated that allows easy pedestrian circulation between an upgraded metro station, bus station and the port quayside. A new lightweight, transparent structure with kiosks, a café and bicycle parking will also be created in front of the City Museum to provide street-level entrance to the naturally lit pedestrian mall and transport hub below.

images via Bustler

The capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, recently underwent a competition for the design for the new city center to be built within the next ten years. Ministries and state agencies will be relocated here, creating a strong state center. The competition included international architecture superstars like Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid and Massimiliano Fuksas along with some local firms out of Bulgaria.

Among the six finalists, french architect Dominique Perrault was selected. The concept includes a strong green core surrounded by buildings that step up from the core. Vegetation and the link between the built and the living environment appear to be strong with green not only seen on the horizontal but also the vertical plane. It will be interesting to see what develops from these initial sketchy ideas.

Norman Foster vision:

Zaha Hadid vision:

images via Bustler

Vancouver B.C. recognizes the need for people to take charge of the future of their city and their own communities in terms of promoting great urban space and has formed the Vancouver Public Space Network. The network is devoted to things like “challenging the increase of advertising ‘creep’ in public places, promoting creative, community-friendly urban design, monitoring private security activities in the downtown core, fostering public dialogue and democratic debate, and devising creative ways to re-green the neglected corners, alleys and forgotten spaces of the city.”

The VPSN has 11 working groups the focus on different areas from public art to mapping and security as well as urban design. The urban design group is currently working on 4 initiatives….the public realm report card, where’s the square?, ecodensity & livability, and planning & design advocacy. While there are a bunch of different initiatives going on concurrently, one that I find particularly interesting is Where’s the Square? a design competition to imagine a public square for the city. According to the website over 100 design teams entered the competition and they are trying for one of two awards: the Jury Selection and the People’s Choice.

This competition was formally launched on September 23rd, 2008 and several events like walking tours, dialogues and presentations from prominent professionals covering various topics important to the public realm. Some background, as stated by the website:

“Public squares form the heart of many great cities around the world. When well-designed, they provide a central location for accessible, year-round activity – whether these are as straightforward as eating a bite of lunch, catching some sun, or playing a game of chess, or as elaborate as community celebrations, concerts and political rallies. Public squares are engines of cultural and local economy. They are a key factor in fostering community connections and quality of life.”

Now, the competition has ended and the designs have been submitted. This evening of April 28th, the shortlist of competitors will be revealed and available for public viewing. The public will then decide on the winner of the Public Choice Award. A link will also be available this evening online to view the competitors.

Update, April 29:
The 13 shortlisted entries are available for viewing online.
You can view them here now.

EVolo has announced the winners of their annual skyscraper competition focused on innovated ways to incorporate new levels of vertical density. These new concepts were to carefully consider quality of life, environmental effects and the urban fabric with a focus on historical and social context and human scale, things that many of growing cities around the world are just tossing aside in order to quickly grow their vertical footprint.

There were many interesting submissions but my personal favorite is the Urban Nebulizer that looks at the human spine as an inspiration with green decks that fly around the central spiraling core.