The challenge of Tomorrow entry by Alejandro Bermudez Pascual

First idea was based on…

“What if we go to a time when pollution, in big cities, would make difficult for humans to enjoy parks in the outside?
What would happen if we (they, the researchers and scientis) invent a breathable membrane we can use as air filter?
Could we transform a skyscraper with it? Using a couple of floors, maybe three, to create a landscape at a high level, protected by a high-tech membrane with air filters and a water collector on top with another garden and new pipes distribut… Would all of this be a refurbishment?”

Then I went to Thesaurus, I am improving my english… and I found the synonym revitalization.

BOOM!! Suddenly the idea turned out from a dark perspective to a bright one!

I am now thinking in hudson yards, new buildings made of cross laminated timber structure. Wood give us a sense of nature. Maybe hudson yards would have the tallest building with a timber structure ever made! But anyway, I still want to keep my focus to revitalize an existing building, so this will be a background and the bubbles thought at the begining will mutate into something else.

To build the future is as much important as to revitalize the past.

In the meantime I was thinking, which of the current buildings would be the winner?

55 Hudson yards is the chosen one for this exercise.

I let a few early sketches and views I am considering.

Let’s enjoy!

The challenge of Tomorrow entry by UNBOXED

The health measures taken in order to control epidemics, biological attacks and climate change have resulted in the expansion of alternative sports such as drone races, since large gatherings are restricted. The industry of e-sports is bigger than ever, and races through city centers have replaced old sports events.
The idea is to portray Hudson Yards as a background for the race. While the area is designed as a top commercial and working destination, different activities will also take place, and the public space will be updated to accomodate this type of new events.

I don’t imagine the area or the buildings will look very different in 20 years from now – I live in Madrid and as an example, the Madrid Rio project took around ten years to complete. But the public space will be colonized by new elements, like public transport pods, health metrics stations, touch surfaces to buy groceries while you wait for your transport…I also see the cities in 20 years from now without the need for proper roads or traffic signs, since all transport inside cities will be restricted to AI vehicles, in a much more limited road network.

I still have to polish the idea, but I have started looking for interesting camera angles to show the race ambience. I also want to develop a very dense atmosphere, so I will try to play a bit with fog, volume shading, etc.

The challenge of Tomorrow entry by Tony Hin Chun Lai

Hudson Gate is a reimagined master planning of the Hudson Yards. It serves as the frontier of the Hudson Commercial District, a major transportation hub for the Midtown Manhattan Region, and the end point of the New York – Washington Hyperloop train.

The concept of developing Hudson Yards into a transportation hub initially stems from coming up with a solution to relieve the Manhattan region traffic, by providing an alternative to connect between Union City and Hudson Yards. Therefore in the initial sketches, in addition to the main building above the rail yard, a pair of twin bridges were added. However later I took a step back in the concept, thinking if I were to connect two places, shouldn’t it bear more significance? Also the twin bridges concept didn’t really go well with the main building. As a result I scrapped the twin bridges idea, and reimagined this transportation hub would connect with somewhere much more significant both in terms of commerce and politics – Washington.

The form of the architecture is still in very premature state, neither the transportation tube nor the main building in the sketch would resemble the final concept. But in general, to portray the idea of a frontier and a portal or gateway to something, I imagine it would take on a streamlined, Zaha Hadid-ish form, and a pristine white color. I know in the creative brief of the competition we are advised to avoid something sci-fi, however the idea of hyperloop transportation is completely possible to achieve in 20 years.

The challenge of Tomorrow entry by Domenico Tariello

” Breathe, breathe in the air ”

Hello everyone, I’m Domenico from Italy.

For this challange, after several ideas, I chose to carry on this.

Probably also conditioned by the current condition we are experiencing, and some of my passions, like as playing guitar and listening to music.

“Breathe (sometimes called “Breathe (In The Air) is a song by progressive rock band Pink Floyd on their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon.
The text, which present a vague reference to rest after fatigue and, by allegory, to the relief of a woman after, at the end of the pain of labor and childbirth, gave birth to a son, to the frenetic pace imposed by work and stop and take a breathe in the air.
In the second part of the piece the metaphor of the rabbit is proposed which, at the end of the frenetic digging of a hole, immediately begins another one: this would do nothing but « bring it to the grave prematurely» funal words of th piece).”
(Wikipedia)

I like, at least imagine it, a city “apparently”, not too futuristic.

After the work done, in a frenetic way, with ever simpler and faster virtual connection, the desire , after finishing,it is the need for a breath of relief. Above all, to live life in a carefree way, with real connections, at least in our free time.

I think, and I hope, that after the problems of “recent years” people will be more sensitive, and will take on a greater sense of responsibility towards our planet, as its guests.

The basic idea is this, but being also a creative work, maybe I’ll add more.

Thanks to those who have had the patience to read.

See you in the next update.

Good luck and enjoy it!!
Domenico Tariello

The challenge of Tomorrow entry by Duy Phan

UPDATE – March 20

With the concept of the ARM in mind, I developed it’s massing accordingly to the master plan of Hudson Yards from our brief resources.

_Through the rough sketches, I would like to have the mass as simply as possible so it could strengthen the initial concept without any spare additional “legs”._

_Also, By sketching on the master plan, I see that vertically there is need to have a connection between the ARM and the VESSEL underneath. This should be noticed and developed further in the next stage._

_At first, I think the materiality for the ARM could be covered by 100% transparent glass, then I came up with the idea of divide the skin of the ARM structure into multiple parts where it will be opaque glass, this gives the skywalkers a feeling of resting and framing the view better rather than distracting by spinning around._

_I collected a few photos of what helps me form an understanding of how sky bridges connections could be captures emotionally._

_Internal spaces are put on my list of potential views I could end up having at least one in order to explain how it will look like from the inside, and these pictures evoke a lot more ideas for me at this stage:_

_And having some part of the structure opening out to the sky:_

_Finally, I put together the atmospheric images I saved long time ago which reminds me of interesting compositions, colour palettes, lighting conditions and camera angles that I can study and learn from._

Image credit (Not in order) : Alex Hogrefe, alisonbrooksarchitects, andrew whitmore, christopher burns, aron-van-de-pol, janurschel, henninglarsenarchitects, powerhousecompany, rafal-naczynski, tim-mossholder, ryan-johnston.

Thank you for visiting the post,
C&C is very much welcome!

Duy Phan