Oleg Kozlovskii placed Top 50 in the Skyrise 2022 International Architecture Competition!

The competition challenged participants to create an innovative and iconic landmark skyscraper. Oleg sought to combat issues of urban density, gentrification, and depersonalization in his design by “empowering a vibrant, interconnected, and inclusive community” within the typical rigid and unlively fabric of a skyscraper. His modular concept maximizes flexibility and returns agency to residents to create unique and vibrant communities within the structure. You can explore the project synopsis and image board below.

Skyless Skyscraper

Synopsis: In the ever-increasing gentrified density of Hong Kong, the skyscrapers are often unable to fulfill their destiny—being part of the skyline. Most skyscrapers end up hidden by the taller skyline skyscrapers from all sides. The inhabitants of such hidden skyscrapers, living in isolated pods, end up suspended in the rigid urban fabric, stuck between the two unattainable extremes of the street and the sky. In contrast, the informal architecture of Kowloon Walled City, although unsightly, empowered a vibrant, interconnected, and inclusive community despite being largely skyless and streetless.

The Skyless Skyscraper is an informal city fabric weaved into a formal structure. The flexibility and adaptability of the informal are not restrained by formalization but expanded further by the ability to take modules out of the building with cranes, take them apart in the basement, put them back together in any configuration, and put them back in any place in the building. Through that, the skyscraper captures the key quality of informal architecture: it becomes a direct reflection of the residents’ changing community, culture, and priorities—their changing way of life. Could this hybrid of formal and informal halt gentrification and create a humane, streetless and skyless environment?