Editors’ Choice

2020 Skyscraper Competition
Gary Esposito, Ryan Barney

United States

Developments in implementation and safety have led serious proponents of realistic energy solutions to conclude that nuclear energy remains our most promising carbon-free resource. This proposal is speculation on architectural design as a fundamental component of future nuclear systems. Using a recognizable infrastructural icon as the starting point, we propose adopting the cooling tower as a misunderstood entity, adapting it as a symbol for environmental security by reorienting public perception. We propose reimagining specific energy, social, and economic cycles through an integrated architectural argument, centered around an urban ?Generation 4? nuclear power plant. Using a mixed-use program including an oncological research facility, Gen-4 hitchhikes off 21st-century innovations in nuclear technology, asserting its role as civic symbol and economic entity to fuel research into human longevity, biologically and environmentally?Architecture as Cure. Situated at the site of an earlier nuclear plant proposal adjacent to New York City, Gen-4 proposes the skyscraper as a 21st-century symbol of evolution, reorienting public perception, standing with Promethean conviction against fear and ignorance.  PROPOSAL

As researchers of energy technology would agree, nuclear energy is the only scalable carbon-free energy resource we have. By ?scalable?, we mean realistically meeting 21st-cent...