Editors’ Choice

2023 Skyscraper Competition
Bartosz Pszczó?kowski

Poland

We live in a world of connections. A world of relational networks designed to ensure security and peace in a reality in which the decisions of individuals can determine the fate of millions of people. In the light of recent events in eastern Europe or prior ones in the Middle East, we can infer that maybe we should not rely as fully and as blindly as we have so far on interdependencies such as the international supply chain and mutual assured destruction. It seems increasingly important to strike the right balance between reliance and autonomy, especially in a world where so many voices count for so little.
The project is an attempt to write the first chapter of a new, better future for Iraq, a country facing a rapidly deepening water crisis?yet another hurdle after a history of severe injustice, military conflicts, religious and political extremism, and international social and economic alienation. The main idea is to create an oasis, an almost completely independent system capable of meeting all of the basic needs of the Iraqis. Its focal point would be a kilometer-tall, non-habitable tower, pumping and purifying water from the underground. It would be used for the production of food and electricity, which would then be distributed to the surrounding settlements, and all people in need.
The system is intended to use underground waters, in particular those that are currently unfit for human ...