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Either as singular outcroppings or as part of a bustling center, skyscrapers are neck-craning icons across major city centers in the world. A modern trope of extreme success and wealth, the skyscraper has become an architectural symbol for vibrant urban hubs and commercial powerhouses dominating cities like New York, Dubai, and Singapore.

While skyscrapers are omnipresent, 2018 introduced new approaches, technologies, and locations to the high-rise typology. From variations in materiality to form, designs for towers have started to address aspects beyond simply efficiency and height, proposing new ways for the repetitive form to bring unique qualities to city skylines. Below, a few examples of proposals and trends from 2018 that showcase the innovative ideas at work: 

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A series of concave concrete panels hoisted on slender plank-like columns sit amongst the vast rural plains of Sweden, silently redefining the typology of an otherwise utilitarian structure. White Arkitekter's recent proposal for a water tower in Varberg is a slim horizontal structure, deviating from the typical, vertical and round design. Titled VÅGA, it features two tanks for storing water within its unique shape that may actually be better suited to its purpose.

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Perkins + Will have revealed a design for an open-air museum along the Crenshaw light-rail line in Los Angeles. Dubbed Destination Crenshaw, the project will run 1.1 miles and feature outdoor art and cultural spaces that celebrate black thinkers, activists, and performers of Los Angeles. Featuring works of public art as well as streetscape upgrades by Studio-MLA, the design was conceived as a response to Metro’s decision to put a section of the Crenshaw/LAX Line at ground level.

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The government of Moscow has begun developing an existing district in the city to test nearly 30 new ‘smart’ technologies for urban development. Home to over 8,000 people, the district is testing ideas on smart lighting, smart waste management, and smart heating. The city intends to evaluate what impact technologies bring to residents and adjust its urban renewal plan once the pilot is complete.

Apartamento is pleased to announce the release of the second title in a series of books devoted to some of our favourite architects, the houses they build, and the stories behind them. In La Fábrica, readers are transported to the fringe of Barcelona and deep into the labyrinthine home of world-renowned Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill, who transformed a disused cement factory into his personal and professional headquarters at the beginning of the 1970s.