Competition Sponsor: SuperSkyScrapers

Competition Title: Singapore Bamboo Skyscraper

Competition Objective

The objective of this competition is to create an investigation into the design and construction ideas of high-rise or very tall architecture and the dynamic communities within and around them with attention to aesthetics, material, technology, innovation, flexibility, adaptability and sustainability.

The Challenge

The program challenged participants to design a NEW Architect’s Village Bamboo Skyscraper in Singapore city that takes into account the need for a contemporary approach of bamboo construction in such an urban setting and also today’s ever-increasing need for ecological design principles. The design had to be visually and aesthetically engaging in contributing to the wider investigation to the use and possibilities of bamboo in tall construction design.

The new proposed skyscraper was in general to maximise positive impact of such a vertical Structure and be an acceptable addition to the Singapore City Skyline.

It was to respond directly to the issue of sustainable and ecology space creation in a city such as Singapore and also address the social, environmental, cultural and economic issues and concerns of the ever-increasing construction of urban Skyscrapers.

The design proposal had to have bamboo as the dominant material as this is an investigation into innovative possibilities for bamboo as a material for tall construction design as support or covering (cladding) for such structures.

The competition was also interested in designs that push the possibilities for such a material by proposing the growing, slicing or reshaping and treatment of bamboo into fascinating shapes to be used for tall structure design.

Ecology with Bamboo

Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth, with reported growth rates of 100 cm (39 in) in 24 hours.However, the growth rate is dependent on local soil and climatic conditions, as well as species, and a more typicalgrowth rate for many commonly cultivated bamboos in temperate climates is in the range of 3–10 centimetres(1.2–3.9 in) per day during the growing period. Some of the largest timber bamboo can grow over 30 m (98 ft)tall, and be as large as 15–20 cm (5.9–7.9 in) in diameter. However, the size range for mature bamboo is speciesdependent, with the smallest bamboos reaching only several inches high at maturity. 

Bamboo is a kind of grass, which explains the speed of growth. This means that there’s lots of it, and when it’s harvested it grows itself back again quickly enough not to leave a dent in the eco-system. Unlike all trees, individual bamboo stems emerge from the ground at their full diameter and grow to their full height in a single growing season of three to four months. During these several months, each new shoot grows vertically into a culm with no branching out until the majority of the mature height is reached. Then, the branches extend from the nodes and leafing out occurs. In the next year, the pulpy wall of each culm slowly hardens. During the third year, the culm hardens further. The shoot is now considered a fully mature culm. Over the next 2–5 years (depending on species), fungus begins to form on the outside of the culm, which eventually penetrate and overcome the culm. Around 5–8 years later (species and climate dependent), the fungal growths cause the culm to collapse and decay.

Competition Period: 22nd August 2013 - 04th February 2014

Deliberation Period: 07th February  - 18th February 2014

Jury

Mitchell Joachim Ph.D. – Associate Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at New York University / Founding Co-President of Terreform ONE, USA An Innovator in ecological architecture and urban design, researcher and architectural educator.

Piotr Kuczia Ph.D. – Architect / Founder of Kuczia Architect, Poland / Germany Architect of 'CO2-Saver' House, educator and renowned expert on ecological constructions.

Damian Przybyla – Architect, co-author of “Migrant Skyscraper” Evolo 2012, Poland.

JUDGING PANEL’S SUMMARY:

1st Place: 1000001026

Design reveals critical, distinctive, high-quality, and innovative analysis of the competition theme with its clarity, quality of the model, very good presentation and beautiful rendering. The material enhances the design and the viewer can almost “feel” the material.

The general concept comes from an assumption of vertical urbanism and leads to convincing architectural solution of open spaces, which may be perceived as main avenues, that connect complex functions of the vertical city. The authors analysed structural issues and looked for possible applications of the bamboo in such mega-structures. The result is an interesting re-interpretation of the usual concrete/steel frames using bamboo as a visible alternative to the steel and glass dominated skyscrapers.

Concept shows a great combination of strong ideological basis and a pragmatic, well presented architectural solution that is exceptionally sensitive and inspiring.

It is a successful implementation with proper relation to the place, good solutions for safety and functionality, great response to the climatic conditions of Singapore with sun protection with bamboo, stack effect, natural cross ventilation, water reuse system, analysis of regeneration of whole building, smart structural concept with good organisation of space.

This project exhibits the quality of a real bamboo icon and a landmark for the city of Singapore.

2nd Place: 1000001062

This project exhibits a strong awareness of possibilities of technology with a strong visual presentation that is rather witty, an unexpected concept with an amorphic form that correlates with attributes of bamboo as a building material (“elastic” skin).

The visual affinity with bamboo structure results in a nice, friendly architecture drawing attention to need for water management.

It is innovative in its approach of using environmental technologies and systems based on bamboo, however the structure, function and communication of all these expects could be clearer. The project on the whole, presents a delightful concept for a bamboo skyscraper.

3rd Place: 1000001064

Despite the schematic way of its presentation, the concept has great potential. Authors look for inspiration within nature and transpose it into interesting architectural solution. The organic layout of the building has been redefined into spatial and structural solution with the density of bamboo pillars higher in the central parts of the building (higher parts) and decreases towards exterior.

This principle bases on a structural analysis, but leads to interesting consequences regarding spatial and functional solutions. This building offers a soft spatial gradation between exterior and interior, there are no strict conventional walls, and in consequence building is integrated with a landscape. Interiors could be compared to bamboo forests filled with unified vertical elements.

Concept is presented in laconic way, which lacks great architectural execution. It doesn’t solve any detailed functional and environmental issues, but it can be perceived as an inspiring starting point – an ideology that offers a wide range of further interpretations and possibilities for a convincing detailed architectural solution.

Special Recognition Place: 1000001063

This proposal offers a plausible urban concept (Archipelago) with well thought out visual connections, very good presentation and coherent concept decreasing the environmental impact of the building: bio waste and water management, solar energy, natural ventilation (cool, green “cave” in the base of the building / stack effect), shading with bamboo elements, smart concept for wind energy harvesting and clear functional allocation.

It is a sophisticated, innovative structural concept (the “backbone” and the “cells”) and plausible use of bamboo as a construction material, reasonable mixed with steel and glass.

The slight disappointment is that bamboo is scarcely perceptible for the viewer outside of the building and the arbitrary, but pleasant form of the building. The proposal has potential for a landmark, however could exist on a site elsewhere. 

1st Place

Main Panel

Elevation

Interior-1

Interior-2

Massing Strategy Diagram

Program and Circulation

PROJECT DETAIL 

Name: SuperSkyScrapers Competition

Project: Bamboo Skyscraper, Singapore

Site: Republic Avenue, Singapore

Title of Project: Bamboo Skyscraper                                               

Site Use - Site Area (m²): 3,500 m² - 54,835.37 m²

Building Area (m²): 261,160 m²

Gross Floor Area (m²): 339,508 m²

Building Coverage Ratio (%):  0.064%

Gross Floor Ratio (%): 1.3%

Building Scale: Mega Structure

Stories above Ground: 110

Stories below Ground: 6

Structure: Steam Bent Bamboo Stalks held together by Steel Bracket

Maximum Height (m²): 440 m

Landscape Area: 51,335 m²

Parking Lot: 10,500 m²

Exterior Finish: Operable Bamboo Screen

AWARD DETAIL:

Team Names: Mui Richard; Vilcu Alexandru; Wang Di

Registration Number: 1000001026

Country: Canada

CONCEPT DETAIL:

The Bamboo Skyscraper was conceived as a section of a city that was flipped vertically. The major streets become the shafts, and the stores along those streets become the various programs at different levels. Like a street, these shafts house the major circulation and service armatures of city.

The building was situated on site to straddle the existing subway line and be encircled by the major roads. The building is raised off the ground to creating a free plan, allowing for circulation both horizontally and vertically.

The Bamboo Skyscraper is situated beside the forest on the site and on top of the Subway Station. The strategic siting allows for the preservation of existing landscape as well promoting public transit by making the Bamboo Skyscraper a destination in the public transit network.

The Bamboo Skyscraper is composed of one modular unit called the Tectonic Unit. This Tectonic unit is made from steam bent and arrayed bamboo stalks. As a result, each Tectonic Unit provides the floor, ceiling, vertical circulation, and access to the vertical circulation. These Tectonic Units make up floor slabs that can vary in three dimensions, optimizing each slab for the assigned program. Each program group is separated by a Skypark.

Structurally, the Bamboo Skyscraper has two pieces: the Tectonic Unit and vertical tubes within the Tectonic Unit for lateral bracing. The Bamboo stalks are connected together to form these two components using basic steel brackets. The result is a moment frame that works similarly to a concrete and steel moment frame.

Sustainability is inherent in the building design simply because it is made from bamboo. On a well managed 1000 hectare plantation, it would take 2 years to grow the amount of bamboo required to make this skyscraper. Further, the distributed organization of the circulation tubes allow them to contain sustainable functions like: water filtration for grey water use, stack effect for washroom ventilation, mist sprinkler system for fire protection.

Overall, the Bamboo Skyscraper is an extremely sustainable and renewable model for a flexible mixed use tower.­­­

2nd Place

Main Panel

Elevation

Interior

Section

PROJECT DETAIL 

Name: SuperSkyScrapers Competition

Project: Bamboo Skyscraper, Singapore

Site: Republic Avenue, Singapore

Title of Project: Self-sufficiency Urban Infrastructure: The Life Story of Bamboo

Site Use - Site Area (m²): 58,000m²

Building Area (m²): 4,459.28m²

Gross Floor Area (m²): 200,667.6m²

Building Coverage Ratio (%): 7.688%

Gross Floor Ratio (%): 345.98%

Building Scale: N/A -Skyscraper

Stories above Ground: 45 stories

Stories below Ground: 4 stories

Structure: Aluminum and Stainless Steel Frame Structure

Maximum Height (m): 225m

Landscape Area: 1,5970m²

Parking Lot: 720

Exterior Finish: Aluminum and Stainless Steel coated with waterproof painting, Glass

AWARD DETAIL

Team Names: Beobyeong Park | DongJun Kim | MinSung Kim | SeungGeun Kwak

Registration Number: 1000001062

Country: Republic of Korea

CONCEPT DETAIL

The concept is the life cycle of bamboo, the series of process that covers bamboo sprout coming out from the underground, bamboo growth, bamboo forest and eventually turning to charcoal. In addition, bamboo sprout, grown bamboo and effects of charcoal are reflected in this program (process).

Bamboo has rapid growth potential. It can grow more than 1 m per a day. Because of this surprising growth potential, this study grow bamboo in high-rise buildings and try to find how to use bamboo differently according to the life stage of bamboo. The purpose is to construct sustainable high-rise buildings that activate local economy and enhance competitiveness of a relevant city, with bamboo sprout, bamboo forest and bamboo charcoal, as well as preparing an environment friendly system that considers local circumstance.

3rd Place

Main Panel

Plan

Interior

Section-1

Section-2

Elevation-1

Elevation-2

PROJECT DETAIL 

Name: SuperSkyScrapers Competition

Project: Bamboo Skyscraper, Singapore

Site: Republic Avenue, Singapore

Title of Project: Bamboo Skyscraper                                               

Site Use - Site Area (m²): 54 835 m2

Building Area (m²): 54 835 m2

Gross Floor Area (m²): 1 168 000 m2

Building Coverage Ratio (%): 100%

Gross Floor Ratio (%):  2130%

Building Scale: - Skyscraper

Stories above Ground: 40

Stories below Ground: 5

Structure: bamboo structure

Maximum Height (m²): 123 m

Landscape Area: 54 835 m2

Parking Lot: 274 175 m2

Exterior Finish: Bamboo | Concrete | Glass

AWARD DETAIL

Name/Team Names: Miloslav Olejar | Jakub Lenart | Tomas Boros

Registration Number: 1000001064

Country: Canada + Slovakia

CONCEPT DETAIL

We decided to place the bamboo skyscraper on the area of the whole property, which enabled us to decrease the problem of the static function of the whole building. At the edge of the transition between the surroundings and

skyscrapers and at the same time dissipates the border between interior and exterior. We tried to integrate the whole building more into the space of the river and the surrounding green area than into the area of the urbanised town.

The type of material is not the only ecological part of the skyscraper, which we dealt with. We decided to appropriate central parts of the skyscraper for the air circulation of the whole building. Air is drawn away from

the facade of the building and rises up in a chimney effect through the centre of each ground plan so the whole building can be cooled in natural manner.

The form of the skyscraper is reminiscent of hills where the highest point is placed where the widest floor plan of the property is. This hill creates a certain differentiation between the strict shapes of the skyscrapers, which expresses its material, and conceptual difference. While thinking of the form we clearly refuse all formal shapes and tried to turn towards simplicity even to a primitive natural form. This natural form enables air to flow and at the same time allows for the natural circulation of communication on the contours. This communication ramp curves around the whole skyscraper and connects the individually functioning nodes of the building. There is also another type of communication vertically. These communication cores were always placed in the centre of a certain area; Since the whole form is based on the gradual liberation of the space from the middle into the edge of the building, we decided to lighten the edges of each floor with holes of various sizes and shapes. These holes also enable natural light in the deeper parts of the dispositions.

More stable and thicker construction was placed in the most burdened space. We therefore decided to build a skyscraper from wood based on the same system, which is the most natural for use with this building material. The columns were organised according to their width with the widest columns at the most burdened places while the others narrow leading out to the borders. This principle allowed us to easily organise the whole interior space.

Special Recognition

Main Panel

Image-1

Image-2

Construction Diagram

Section

Diagram

Skyline

Skyline

PROJECT DETAIL

Name: SuperSkyScrapers Competition

Project: Bamboo Skyscraper, Singapore

Site: Republic Avenue, Singapore

Title of Project: Archipelago                            

Site Use - Site Area (m²): 55 000 m2

Building Area (m²): 4 000 m2 (Skyscraper), 20 000 m2 (Islands)

Gross Floor Area (m²): 45 000 m2

Building Coverage Ratio (%): 7.2% (Skyscraper), 36.5% (Islands)

Gross Floor Ratio (%):  81.8%

Building Scale:  Skyscraper

Stories above Ground: 62 including the inner harbor (“Cave”)

Stories below Ground: 0 within main skyscraper, 5 below parking building

Structure: bamboo and steel

Maximum Height (m²): 250 m

Landscape Area: 20 000 m2 (Islands Roof) , 15 000 m2 (Park)

Parking Lot: 5 Stories below and 5200 m2 (Parking Building)

Exterior Finish: Bamboo | Wood | Glass

AWARD DETAIL

Team: DFG Architetti

Registration Number: 1000001063

Country: Italy

CONCEPT DETAIL

1.CONCEPT

The Project starts from the analysis of the physical and social nature of Singapore, that is a country-city lying on an Archipelago of 63 islands and a cultural result of the fusion of many folks. The new sustainable bamboo Village, for that reason, consists of an Archipelago of volumes, among which stands out the Skyscraper. They all spread around a water Core, the Marina, calling back the close Marina Bay, in the Downtown Core.

2.MASTERPLAN

The Masterplan is a configuration of many “functional islands”, settled around a central Core. The main volume, the Skyscraper, hosts the functions required from the program, while the other ones, lower and on the same level of the street, are the shell of ricreational spaces, sport facilities, educational structures, theaters and cinema. They overlook a central courtyard that consists in a small Marina, accessible from the Kallang River by a new waterway. Along the edge of the site there are gardens on the same level of the surrounding areas. Underneath the gardens, are placed underground parking, technical rooms, storages and support facilities of the infrastructural nodes. All the buildings are linked on more levels by plates that host the main routes, the squares, the shopping terraces, and the pier of the inner harbour. They have been designed for cycle-pedestrian flows but they can be crossed also by electric vehicles, or by shuttles.

The main access are: from East, by the Nicoll Highway Station; from North, by the Nicoll Highway, through pedestrian entrances; from West, through the new link to the Ophir Road and the Suntec City; from South, by the new infrastructural node between the Project and the ECP, from Republic Avenue; from South-East, by a new cycle-pedestrian path and the new water way to Marina Park and Kallang River. The main routes are the structural axes of the entire Project that link the main access to the Village, flowing toward the Core, where there is the access to the Skyscraper. Buildings and pathways are designed to allow the visual connections from the plates to the main landmarks of Singapore: The Flyer, Marina Park and the other surrounding buildings.

3.CELLULA

The Skyscraper consists in two concentric structural cylinders joined together by horizontal rings; inside this steel structure, independent self-supporting CELLS, made by a structural net of bamboo, are inserted. Each level of the building is design as a continuous tunnel, along which the CELLS are combined through the horizontal rings, assuming different configuration. The different assembly combination allows the design to achieve different and flexible spaces, depending on the function to allocate. Each CELL is easily replaceable in case of deterioration over time: this is done through a system of vertical movement within the central structural cylinder. The spaces thus defined are finished with removable bamboo paneling that facilitate the maintenance of the building and facilities, and are divided by movable partitions, adaptable to changing needs.

The Skyscraper is then covered with a double skin of glass and shading elements of bamboo, creating an air space for insulation and natural ventilation. The Skyscraper is composed for the most part from bamboo, in the form of structural CELLS and finishing, from a reduced percentage of steel, as a strictly necessary skeleton, and from a small part of glass.

4.TECNOLOGIA E BIOCLIMATICA

Two steel cylinders tied together by horizontal rings are the main structure of the Skyscraper and create the backbone and the housings for the CELLS. In each level they lay one beside the other, combined or separated depending on the spaces to configure, creating a continuous "tunnel".

The cell is designed as a hollow section of the tunnel, dimensioned to be able to be transported vertically through the internal structural cylinder, facilitating the assembly and the possible replacement. The Skyscraper is accessible from the cycle-pedestrian plates and through a navigable inland port, inside a large green Cave. It creates a large reservoir of fresh and humid air just below the warmer ventilation channels through the buffer zone and along the internal structural cylinder; the difference of pressure and the narrowing of the channels trigger natural ventilation.

The elevators are placed in the large pillars, which also give access to galleries around the Cave-Harbour, up to the first cell; from there up the elevators are contained in the internal structural cylinder. In some levels the absence of CELLS allows to create large inner squares for socializing, recreation and catering. The outer skin of bamboo allows for filtration of the strong outer light and it is designed according to the high angle of incidence of the sun, which is always very high throughout the year. It constitutes the distinctive “dress” of the Skyscraper, becoming a unique with the squares and external routes; the design of the bamboo elements of the outer skin and the CELLS allows to filter the strong sunlight and ensures the natural lighting, while in the first and last hours of the day creates plays of light and shadow on the inner surfaces of the interiors.

The outer skin is also an integrated system for the capture and collection of rainwater, which is stored, purified and reused. Bamboo is used both as a dress and structure and also in public spaces, along the route and in the squares. A thick tropical vegetation will be provided on the roof of each of the other buildings, so as to return a bit of the green that the expansion of the city has drastically reduced over time. Among the trees and taller plants will be incorporated photovoltaic panels, able to meet most of the energy needs. Biomass obtained from green roofs will provide fertilizer and energy from combustion. Another energy will be provided by wind turbines in the top of the skyscraper while in the Marina, tidal generators will provide electricity from the energy of tidal flows.

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