CTBUH presents the winners of the 2nd annual CTBUH International Student Tall Building Design Competition. The competition theme for 2012 was Reimaging Tall: Considering Context, Sustainability and Efficiency, kindly sponsored by KONE. The competition received 357 submissions from 89 countries. From these, five finalists were chosen to fly to Shanghai for the CTBUH World Congress and present to the jury during a special session at the Congress. The winner was announced at the Congress Dinner.

The jury was composed of Jury Chair Chris Wilkinson, principal and founder, Wilkinson Eyre Architects; Craig Gibbons, global structural engineering leader, Arup; Gordon Gill, founding partner, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture; David Malott, director, Kohn Pederson Fox; and Anne Stenros, design director, KONE.

Mosaic Habitat
Alexis De Bosscher; KIT Karlsruhe

The project integrates the need for dense, cheap settlements with the spontaneous housing typology. In addition to the basic needs in water and electricity, it also provides the necessary infrastructure in case of earthquakes and heavy rains. The residents use this platform to build their own houses. Community spaces are placed at regular intervals with community kitchens and bathrooms. It is possible for everyone to buy larger spaces and remain flexible over time.

Urban Forest
Zhao Jianxiu, Wang Yuchen, Xue Chenwang, Luan Qing and Geng Yifei; Hefei University of Technology

This design adds forest to the skyscraper. The forest provides different species with different spaces to live and move around. The skyscraper serves as a kind of fundamental space for city living, as well as a three-dimensional garden to make public activities and communication more convenient. The new skyscraper is de-objectified to foster urban connectivity, green space, and community life. The building creates new communal life in the existing dead space.

Postitalo Torni: Parasitic Residential Tower
Gabriel Huerta; University of California Los Angeles

This project was interested in the development of a parasitic structural approach in cities that are resistant to towers. The project is sited opportunistically at the cusp of the old city center and the developing cultural zone of Helsinki, making the tower an iconic beacon from the harbor waterfront. The selected host building for the proposed tower is the Postitalo (the former main post office building), a building already in violation of zoning height ordinances.

Fourth place (tied)

Woven
Shawna Hammon; North Carolina State University

Woven challenges the public's perception of wood as a viable structural material for skyscrapers.  Wood sequesters carbon, requires less embodied energy to produce, has a fire rating, has a comparable strength-to-weight ratio and is a renewable resource. When the trees are sourced from sustainably managed forests, wood becomes a more environmentally sensitive material.  A healthy market for wood from sustainable sources will increase the need for well managed forests, keeping the cost of wood comparable to that of steel and concrete.

Healing High-rise
Noura Ghabra, Jing Huang and Rong Xu; University of Nottingham

This project tackles both environmental and social sustainability through the design of a tall building and meets Passivhaus performance criteria. Located in Elephant and Castle, a bustling community in South London, it accommodates a mix of functions: a low-rise fitness center, a well-being hotel and residential accommodation. The design agenda is embraced within the building through three states namely relax, nurture and heal.

See all the 25 semi-finalists projects here.