Sky garden is organized around a central spine that contains the community’s utilities and services. Sky Garden also makes extensive use of green roofs to provide community as well as environmental benefits. The spine is covered in a green roof becoming a focal point for community interaction. In addition the residential buildings have green terraces.

This project consists of social housing and a drama school in the El -Raval district in Barcelona. El -Raval consists of an extremely dense historic fabric. Many housing units in El- Raval lack proper ventilation and natural light. In this project we break the program into four towers connected by a two story base oriented to provide optimal sunlight. The tower configuration also allows sunlight to reach housing across the street and opens many of them to views of the adjacent park. On the street front the project maintains a consistent street facade in keeping with the historic fabric of the district. The front facade is punctured in response to a perpendicular street opining the street to the park and forming a small plaza.

Our project is based on three main concepts connectivity and the idea of building as landscape.

The site, though close to the main thoroughfare of Michigan Avenue is isolated by rail road tracks that run along the western edge of Grant Park. We sought to use the project to reconnect the southern end of Grant Park to the city. The project also connects bicyclists, pedestrians, and skate boarders by pulling together various paths forming a hub of activity in an under used section of the park. In the case of pedestrians the building itself becomes the path. In addition the project establishes a visual connection to the lake where previously there was none. From the highest point of the roof one is able to seethe lake as well as orient your self in Grant Park. From the ground level the transparency of the building maintains the connection of the city to the park.

In order respect the informal rules established for grant park prohibiting buildings in the park the building becomes a landscape element. From these ideas came the concept of peeling up a section of the park and inserting program underneath. The surface of the building is composed of three types of landscape. The green surface of the park and a hard surface relating to the city/ urban side of the park.