Honorable Mention
2012 Skyscraper Competition
Damian Przybyła, Rafał Przybyła
Poland
The “Migrant Skyscraper” is literally mobile: A giant, thin tire with a building and green space in the center, this skyscraper is ready to roll.
The concept behind this structure is that in an unstable world, people need the stability of self-sufficiency to truly be free, and the future of the architectural field can help provide that to people. By constructing a safe haven for residents to live in that ensures they will have food to eat and water to drink, the Migrant Skyscraper affords people freedom despite what natural and social disasters may come. The building-inside-a-wheel can stay stationary for however long residents please, but, for example, if political upheaval destabilizes a region, residents can fire up the biofuel-powered engine and cruise to a new location.
The structure’s exterior tire is clad in recycled rubber. Inside, two buildings and surrounding green space provide everything residents need to survive, making the tire-encapsulated unit completely self-sufficient. Outside of the buildings there is space for agriculture, including crops and livestock; within the tire, plumbing systems circulate potable, gray and black water for drinking, waste facilities and irrigation.
Each tire holds facilities for one family; layouts show two buildings next to each other within the tire. The first is three stories tall, with restroom facilities on the ground floor, indoor agriculture space on the second, and a balcony and kitchen on the third. Next door, both floors of the two-story building hold bedrooms for residents.
Unique features within the buildings include rolling platforms for indoor/outdoor agriculture and bridges that fold up for stability when the tire structures are on the move. When stationary, the designers envision the tires grouping around public green spaces to form communities, or parking in tight spaces to create density.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
