Honorable Mention
2021 Skyscraper Competition
Liu Yifei, Tian Yu, Wang Hangdi, Zhou Beiyu
China
For the current loss of architectural identity and urban renewal issues, we conceived a future urban renewal system. Based on the extensive use of 3D printing technology in the future, it will be possible to print sophisticated building bodies and equipment using different high-strength materials. The city of the future will become a rapidly reborn diversified life body, and the temporary 3D buildings that can be quickly rebuilt will replace the permanent buildings as the main body. The Printscraper scattered in different areas designed by us is like a mobile operating table in the city, which accurately retrieves, rebuilds, or repairs buildings.
The Printscraper is driven by solar and nuclear energy and transfers within the service radius of the city. During construction, the three auxiliary towers on the side and the cantilever membrane structure spread out to cover the entire construction area, using 3D nozzles for operation. The membrane structure isolates noise and dust, ensuring the daily life of the surrounding blocks to the greatest extent. The demolished building is processed and stored inside as greening soil and reused materials. The lower part of the building is equipped with a viewing platform and a vertical park open to all citizens. People can visit and monitor the progress of the project while the Printscraper stays in the block, or simply treat it as a temporary good place to meet others.
Printscraper will be able to bring rebirth to the city in a way that people can perceive, and continue to work and operate as a relatively eternal existence in a constantly changing city. The boundary between the death and rebirth of architecture becomes blurred due to the rapid metabolism, or is architecture as it should be, just like the cycle of nature? Thinking about this issue prompted us to make this response.
