The competition invited participants to "explore, rethink, speculate and experiment in new ideas that would change the conception and redefine the term skyscraper... formulate new questions, and perhaps give society a new type of building. The project should also investigate urban and private space as well as the definition of new programs for a vertical structure."

Our response was to stack multiple programs into large towers. This approach enabled consolidation of many programs into a spatial system with a sharply limited ecological footprint.

Site and Context
The site is located on a pristine stretch of the Portuguese Coastline, 30 km northwest of Lisbon. It is currently undeveloped but a likely candidate for urban or suburban development in the future because of its proximity to Lisbon.

Portugal has one of the most progressive immigration policies in the European Union. While many European countries are putting increasingly restrictive border policies in place, it has become more open to immigration in the last two decades. Tens of thousands of immigrants arriving each year to fill the ever-increasing demand for labor. Additionally, since joining the EU in 1986 Portugal has experienced high demand from foreigners for vacation homes. Oporto, Lisbon and other urban areas are now experiencing chronic shortages of housing.

These pressures, among others, have led to the implementation of a variety of suburban models to manage the chronic shortages of housing in Oporto and Lisbon.

Environmental Footprint
Given current trends in Portugal the issue is not if but how such coastal regions will be developed. The question of whether this can occur without erasing the unique and long-standing characteristics of these regions is a pressing one.

This project proposes extremely high-density development along this ecologically fragile coastline. Our strategy is to embed residential, retail, recreational and municipal programs within small groupings of large towers. This consolidation of program minimizes construction footprint, leaving the majority of the coastline undisturbed.

Social Organization
Each tower consists of a series of interlocking stacked rings. Horizontal rings house the majority of the program while diagonal rings provide structure, vertical circulation and utility space. Private and communal garden space is inserted into open spaces between rings, providing expansive views as well as public and private exterior space accessible from each residential unit. .

While typical arrangements of such towers grant those with greater means preferential treatment through market-driven organizations (resulting in large penthouse units and a de-facto socioeconomic hierarchy), this project attempts to disrupt such stratification. Equal distribution of unit types (single and multi-story) and equal access to exterior space along the height of the tower create a more egalitarian settlement.