SURE Architecture—a Chinese firm with an office in London—has won the SuperSkyScrapers Awards, a competition in quest of an "inspirational typology for a high-quality organic skyscraper concept to be used as a tech city."
Named the Endless City, the remarkable theoretical skyscraper proposed for London is capable of containing a complete vertical city, complete with residential communities, schools, shopping centers, plazas, and enormous parks.
"Rather than superimposing one floor on top of another without real continuity," explained the architects, "our project is thought of as two endless ramps circum-rotating continually and rising gradually with a low gradient from the ground floor to the sky."
The inventive architects also managed to design the "city" in a way that would minimize reliance on artificial lighting and motorized ventilation by maximizing the usage of passive energy.
The multi-layered, freeform edifice would be comprised of two 300-meter spiraling ramps, which would wind up around the building's exterior and be connected by bridges. Six gigantic steel tubes would support the ramps, while simultaneously enclosing staircases and elevators in order to provide transportation for people, energy, waste and water, making the structure a complete ecosystem. The tubes would also allow for the skyscraper to be made taller, as they would provide a way to transport the materials needed to build on top of the building.
In their competition entry, the architects explicated, "London's streets can now be developed both horizontally and vertically in a continuous way. There is no break anymore, neither between the street level and the skyscraper, nor between the skyscraper floors themselves."
Photos and details courtesy of Dezeen
