Press Release
Yuhan Zhang and Dreama Simeng Lin Is Honored with the Silver A' Design Award for Eden Rise Vertical Eco Living Community in Futuristic Design
Yuhan Zhang and Dreama Simeng Lin honored for futuristic design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 18, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Futuristic Design category for Eden Rise Vertical Eco Living Community by Yuhan Zhang and Dreama Simeng Lin, designed for Yuhan Zhang & Dreama Simeng Lin. The result belongs to the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Silver A' Design Award
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
About Eden Rise Vertical Eco Living Community
This project addresses Chicago's food deserts by creating a mile high vertical community at the lakefront, incorporating vertical farms that provide fresh produce within the urban fabric. Inspired by water droplet patterns, the four interconnected towers feature a tubular structure supported by a diagrid exoskeleton, maximizing structural depth and allowing for natural light and air circulation. Renewable energy sources, including wind turbines and cloud harvesting, create a self sustaining environment that can be reproduced in the future.
Award Record
Yuhan Zhang and Dreama Simeng Lin is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.
About the A' Futuristic Design Award
The A' Futuristic Design Award is an international futuristic design competition recognizing cutting-edge futuristic design concepts from designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to futuristic designers, futuristic brands, futuristic architects and concept product designers from all countries. Entries typically include conceptual architectures, advanced robotics, innovative transportation systems, futuristic fashion designs, progressive furniture pieces and next-gen electronic gadgets. Awarded futuristic designs are published at https://desingers.org/design-category/futuristic
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://desingers.org/164052
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/164052
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!164052
- Laureate Profile: https://desingers.org/d/358783
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Eden Rise Vertical Eco Living Community
- Function
- Vertical Eco Living Community
- Category
- Futuristic Design
- Discipline
- Design Strategy
- Industry
- Innovation and Design Industry
- Colors
- Silver, Antique White, Dark Gray, Light Gray and Dark Slate Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Yuhan Zhang & Dreama Simeng Lin
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Yuhan Zhang and Dreama Simeng Lin
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #164052
Credits
- Team
- YUHAN ZHANG and DREAMA SIMENG LIN
- Image Credits
- YUHAN ZHANG DREAMA SIMENG LIN
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Imagine a future where Chicago's skyline symbolizes sustainable living, with food grown just floors below, making "food deserts" a thing of the past. This project transforms urban life into vertical ecosystems, where skyscrapers become green spaces that nourish body and soul. Inspired by water droplet patterns, the mile-high community extends Chicago’s green belt into the sky. Vertical farms in the towers reduce food inequality and carbon footprints, powered by advanced green technologies.
- Inspiration
- The project is inspired by two key aspects: programmatically, it addresses the food desert crisis in Chicago by integrating vertical farms into skyscrapers, creating a self-sustaining urban ecosystem where fresh food is grown locally. Formally, it draws inspiration from the city’s water landscape, with the tower’s organic shape inspired from a water droplet. This combination of program and form creates a sustainable community that tackles food inequality in Chicago.
- Research
- Food deserts in Chicago primarily affect low-income, urban neighborhoods, where residents often struggle to find affordable, nutritious food within a reasonable distance from their homes. The lack of accessible grocery stores and fresh produce has created significant health disparities, as many are forced to rely on convenience stores or fast food, which contribute to poor diet and related health issues. These food deserts exacerbate existing socio-economic inequalities and highlight the need for innovative solutions to provide sustainable, fresh food to underserved communities.
- Challenge
- The project embraced exciting research challenges, turning them into opportunities for innovation. Integrating vertical farming into skyscrapers required advanced exploration of efficient agricultural systems, energy solutions, and water recycling, driving breakthroughs in sustainability. Balancing the structural demands of a mile-high building with green technologies like cloud harvesting and natural ventilation fostered creative engineering. Understanding food deserts also inspired in-depth community engagement to promote equitable food access.
- Realization and Technology
- The tower incorporates a range of sustainable and green technologies that ensure self-sufficiency and environmental harmony, embedded seamlessly within its architectural design. Vertical farming, housed within the core tubular structure, addresses food deserts by producing fresh, local produce for the community. Cloud harvesting and rainwater collection systems, integrated into the tower’s outer shell, ensure efficient water recycling, while wind turbines are strategically placed along the exoskeleton to generate renewable energy.
- Operation and Interaction
- The tower hosts a diverse array of programs, creating a dynamic vertical community that supports living, working, learning, and leisure. Residential units are integrated with commercial spaces, offering a complete urban lifestyle within the same structure, while hotels provide short-term accommodations with panoramic views of the city. Schools are embedded throughout the tower, ensuring education is accessible and integrated into daily life for families living within the complex. Multiple sky terraces, positioned at various levels, function as communal hubs where residents and visitors can enjoy green spaces, relax, or engage in recreational activities.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project is proposed as a future icon for the next half century of Chicago's skyline.
- Specifications
- The four conjoined towers are laterally supported by two layers of bracing structure to increase the structural depth. On the outer tube, based on a diagrid pattern spanning 25 stories in one unit, exoskeleton structures weave the building in a network of fluid lines that integrate mega-bracing with lateral support. Supported by the diagrid structure, the inner void allows more light and air into the tower.
- Keywords
- Sustainable development, Super tall tower, vertical farming, vertical community, Renewable energy, Cultural integration, Circular economy
