From 3D-printed towers of sand to garbage-powered architecture of the seas, these eVolo Skyscraper Competition entries push the envelope in every possible direction, and a few impossible ones too. A common theme this year: harvesting energy and building materials from local environments, and turning pollution into part of a futuristic solution. The award winners are certainly impressive, but a number of other entrants are well worth their honorable mentions as well. Set everywhere from the urban jungles of Los Angeles and suburbs of Detroit to the world’s rain forests, deserts, oceans, here are ten designs, selected from hundreds, all deserving of a closer look (leading up to and including the three award winners).

Sand Babel is one such runner up, an incredible skyscraper crafted from the very sands on which it sits, its 3D-printed construction powered by solar energy (abundantly available). Inspired by desert tornadoes, its above-ground portion is anchored by an underground system of root-like spaces. Temperature differentials help the structure generate water via condensation along its expansive top viewing platform.

Project Blue, another honorable mention recipient, is fueled by its environment as well, but takes things up a notch by turning particulate pollution in the sky and converting it into “green energy by creating an enormous upside down cooling tower with a multi-tubular cyclic desulfurization system that produces nitrogen and sulfur. When both elements are combined with the atmospheres surplus of carbon monoxide the result is water coal that would later be transformed methane and used as green energy through a low-pressure reaction called low pressure efficient mathanation – a physical-chemical process to generate methane from a mixture of various gases out of biomass fermentation or thermo-chemical gasification.”

The Hyper-Speed Vertical Train Hub provides a fantastic vertical spin on a conventionally horizontal phenomena, turning transportation on its side and making it more visible in the city, all while saving precious ground space. “The proposal will ‘flip’ the traditional form and function of the current train station design vertically, and re-form it into a cylindrical mass to increase the towers train capacity. This tall cylindrical form aims to eliminate the current impact that traditional stations have currently on land use, therefore returning the remaining site mass back to the densely packed urban Mega City.”

The Skyvillage draws its inspiration from the challenging condition created by freeway interstates, which are at the heart of the car-centric city of Los Angeles where the conceptual project is set. The “Los Angeles freeway system segregates the city’s fabric restricting urban activities to single locations. Similarly, skyscrapers exacerbate this condition of segregation instead of encouraging urban integration. The envisioned vertical city would bridge over freeway interruptions and connect the four quadrants around 101 and 110 freeways as a single architectural organism while boosting cultural exchange, urban activities, and social interaction.”

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Futurbanist 10 Award Worthy 2014 Evolo Skyscraper Designs

The Prentice Women’s Hospital building at Northwestern University has some serious fans, including a range of architects such as Frank Gehry, Robert Venturi, Tadao Ando, Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, who would like to see it preserved. The open question: is the exterior of sufficient historical value to keep, even if it means building up through, above and/or around it?

While a wonder of structural engineering with an iconic shape, the structure simply is not practical or fit-to-purpose anymore. One daring proposal from Studio Gang Architects (illustration by Jay Hoffman) involves adding dozens of upper stories, and nearly a million square feet, while leaving the shell of the original intact.

A scheme by Cyril Marsollier and Wallo Villacorta won a competition to suggest alternatives with another approach – one that allows half of the building to be absorbed by a new structure, while reflecting the other half – using a mirror-image effect to preserve the complete appearance via a rather ingenious and nuanced illusion.

Critics exist on both sides. Some say this proposal strips away so much of the building and its context that what is left is really metaphorically (not just literally) a shell. Others suggest that any solution bends too far toward impracticality to accommodate an arguably unattractive building (many consider it an eyesore). Humorists like LunchBreath have weighed in as well, as seen above.

Meanwhile, the university itself does not seem interested in considering preservation options, so these concepts, while compelling, could well be moot in the end. Still, the High Line in New York is a great example of how enough public pressure and celebrity support can change the minds of an entire city, and perhaps a private institution as well.

Each year, thousands of designers from over one hundred countries submit works of architecture, furniture, packaging and more to be considered for A’ Design Award. From the past two years of winning projects featured on DesignMag, WebUrbanist is pleased to present ten of the most compelling designs.

Starting small: the pencil sharpener is perhaps one of the most significant inventions by and for designers of the 20th Century. In a new age where manual writing implements are rapidly becoming retro chic, the Acutor by Jaeryong Lee highlights the cool chaotic remnants of each act of sharpening in a classic scientific flask.

Sizing things up, designers are famously workaholic by nature, so it only makes sense that one inspired insomniac – Athanasia Leivaditou – would craf the Life Desk, an intentional solution for sleeping where you work without simply drifting off while you sit at your desk.

Chateau D’eau House by Mauro Brigham is an exemplary real-life adaptive reuse project. The stunning cylindrical shape once housed a water tower, and now contains six stories of rounded residential and community space.

Office 04 by I29 Interior Architects addresses traditional problems of an office – privacy versus community, quiet versus communication – and solves them with an effective-yet-minimalist palette of unusual designs and materials, including suspended-wall seating stations and sound-absorbing fabric finishes.

Trying to get the public to the library can be a tricky proposition, which is why the Robi Rolling Library by Claudia Miller brings books and reading spaces right to your doorstep. Built-in furniture manages both to save space and provide neat reading nooks in which to sit and watch the world go by.

Chairs and ottomans go together like horses and carriages, but few fit quite as snugly as the Gibbous by Nanu Al-Hamad. In his transforming furniture piece, the two pieces actually become one whole.

Another seating surprise, the Cloche Chair by Carlo Sampietro hides inside a safety barrel, turning “symbols of caution into objects of comfort” with a whimsically-upcycled twist. In a traffic-rerouting protest or public gathering, these could really come in handy.

The Sensei Transformable Chairs/Coffee Table set by Claudio Sibille turns a literal interpretation of the Yin/Yang symbol combination and makes it into a functional piece of convertible furniture, as clever as it is plain.

The Kitchen Train series of accessories by Ahmad Abedini shows that even everyday appliances have room left for creative expression – the potential to be integrated elements as well as modular accent pieces.

A bit of a spin on your standard sink, the Vortex washbasin by Deniz Karasahin gives solid shape to the spiral form of water winding its way toward and down the drain – an elegant solution to spice up an otherwise-ordinary bathroom or kitchen fixture.

Stay tuned: in the upcoming weeks we will give you the inside scoop on what A’ Design Award is all about, how to submit your own designs for consideration, expanding your audience of clients and employers in the process.