February 20, 2018
We are proud to announce Mr. Jon Carag’s recent accomplishment of winning 2nd place in the Skyhive Skyscraper Challenge competition. This international competition takes proposed concepts for the future of high-rise offices that address issues of sustainability, globalization, adaptability and the digital revolution. Mr. Carag proposed to re-use the abandoned site for Calatrava’s Chicago Spire located in the Streeterville community. His unique design takes an office tower and incorporates a mixed-used podium building with open public space to connect the north side of the Chicago Riverwalk with a pathway to Navy Pier. The vertical organization of the office tower utilizes intermittent “Sky Lounges” for the users of the tower as shared meeting and recreational spaces. The building’s “Living Facade” uses a double skin layer and interstitial inhabitable gardens to help control the internal temperature of the building and redefine the image of an office within the city. The outer façade layer maximizes the large available surface area of the façade by collecting of rainwater and capturing wind power. To adapt to the larger required floor area of an office tower core in comparison with the original Spire’s residential program, the building’s radial column grid was shifted outward and angled back towards to the existing caisson locations of the Spire foundation. We are amazed by his work and very proud of him for taking on this challenge. Did we mention he got 2nd place, internationally? Read more here: https://skyhive.beebreeders.com/#p2
