Wuhan Blue Sky Prototype seeks to provide a highly rationalized steel construction system that is cost effective; appropriate to the current site, program, and project partner production facilities. As well, it aims to be readily adaptable to future diverse sites, programs and environmental conditions.

The primary quality of the Blue Sky proposal is not so much in the precise form and space of its configuration for this site, but instead in the broad adaptability that this system provides for efficient design modification for this and future projects without altering the fundamental building components or detail engineering which can be continuously developed and refined in parallel with larger scale planning and program changes.

The fundamental building block of this system is a modular moment frame box assembly that can be easily stacked at full building height without temporary bracing or scaffolding, before in-fill beams are placed and floor slabs are cast. This construction sequence allows for extremely rapid, precise erection, with immediate working floor space, providing safety and efficiency at each step in the building process. Each of these modules is designed to be prefabricated offsite for optimum efficiency and quality assurance, and is sized to match the international standard high cube shipping container dimensions. This regularity is central to the concept of factory quality; seamless transportation options within standardized truck, rail and overseas shipping systems; and the inventory and job site advantages of just-in time manufacture, uniform production scheduling and the ability to serve distant as well as local markets in order to maintain production line efficiency and sustainable job stability for the factory workers.

This basic module is designed to incorporate all of the more complex building systems that will be most effectively produced in a controlled factory environment. For example, the moment frame module contains all critical structural welds. In-fill beams spanning between the modular moment frame towers require only bolted connections with no field welding. There is substantially improved cost and schedule efficiency as well as increased quality assurance just within this innovative modular framing system, using only the developer's existing production facilities. This efficiency can be greatly expanded for this or for future buildings if the factory production is expanded to include additional prefabrication bundled into this core module. All plumbing, mechanical systems, electrical sub-panels and dwelling unit stairs are designed to occur within the basic moment frame modules. This affords the opportunity for factory fabricating most of the complex building tasks and minimizing on site work, resulting in very rapid construction at greatly reduced costs, and introducing a highly competitive, easily transportable construction product capitalizing on local excess capacity for steel production and fabrication.

The basic moment frame module is adaptable for a range of conditions within efficient production limits, but unlike most modular systems, this core component does not require standardization or system limitation on the larger bulk of the building in-fill, which can be developed with great design flexibility, since the most complex construction issues are efficiently contained in the base module. In addition to the base module that defines the bulk of the building volume for both residential and ground level commercial and public space, the Blue Sky Prototype system provides an additional kit of parts that delivers specialized green technology capabilities along with a distinctive and inspiring thread of spatial experiences within the public and community circulation and social spaces. This secondary kit of parts is based on spherical geometric volumes framed with rolled hollow tube steel structure in-filled with a calligraphic steel rod screen of varying densities created by overlapped windings of steel rod efficiently produced using standard cad-cam rebar bending and spot-welding machinery. This distinctive thread of lacy spatial definition serves multiple purposes as it weaves through the public spaces of the buildings. Its primary function is as a fine-grain modulator of light, wind velocity and privacy as a seemingly light and fluttering screen wall embedded across the deep ventilation corridors of the south façade. While the overall form of the building does most of the solar screening and wind channeling, the screen wall is an essential tool for optimizing the varied shading and wind screening needs that analytical software identifies at each point and elevation in the building.

All aspects of the project design are intended to facilitate a healthy, sustainable and joyful open-air life of "streets" and public gardens in the sky. The "streets" occur at every other floor in the building, providing great efficiency and facilitating social interaction. The building is highly porous and is designed to provide abundant air and light at all sides of each dwelling unit, and to make for pleasant travel and accommodation throughout the building. The residential tower is integrated with the surrounding site with strong spatial, environmental, and social connections that work to weave the building into the life of the surrounding community.

The basic element of this simple structural design is a prefabricated moment frame box assembly containing all of the complicated structural connections and all of the plumbing, mechanical systems, architectural interior exposed steel and casework. These modules are erected in towers between which simple beam and steel deck structures are field-bolted without field welds. This structural system provides cost, effective, precise, rapid assembly with greatly enhanced worker safety. The stacking strength of this system allows diverse geometries including both vertical and horizontal offsets and cantilevers.

The steel frame system is clad in highly insulating, painted, galvanized steel sheet metal and foam sandwich panels alternating with panels of floor to ceiling insulated glass. Floors are concrete on steel deck. Interior walls and ceilings are of recycled content gypsum wallboard on a substrate of steel framing containing utility chases and additional thermal and sound insulating foam. There are no water absorbing or decay susceptible materials in the structure. Private balconies are concrete pavers above single ply membrane roofing on steel decking. Public "street" corridors and public gathering places and rooftops are constructed of plantation-harvested, decay-resistant hardwood planking screwed to steel joists. Railings in public areas are similar wood planks on steel frames.

The secondary prefabricated screen wall and public stairway and community space system is constructed of welded tubular steel frames and bents wound with a lattice network of steel rods fabricated into a delicate weave of varying porosity and transparency utilizing common cad/cam rebar and spot welding fabrication methods, to create a lively network of lines and shadows throughout the public spaces. This system allows the fine-tuning of privacy, shading, wind deflection and air distribution within the open-air portions of the building. This system creates a rich spatial experience, but is composed of a simple set of repetitive, prefabricated steel fabrications in transportable panels and construction elements. This secondary system creates the support armature for attachment and distribution of current and future sustainable energy networks and systems, including wind turbine power that may be attached at the tops of the internal stair towers to capture both the higher velocity passing air at the top of the building and to harness the chimney effect hot air updrafts moving through the vertical shafts.

The first step in producing a healthy, sustainable living environment has involved shaping the space of the building to minimize land use and to optimize orientation to sunlight and natural ventilation. The modular structural system is offset in both plan and section in order to shade the dwelling and community spaces from the hot summer sun, while fully welcoming the low winter sun. This offset geometry further opens the north face to a larger view of the sky and to optimized daylight and ventilation on all sides of every dwelling unit. The offset further creates a terraced hillside on the north face of the building, planted with trees to provide summer shade and winter wind protection, to create a filtering screen enhancing and modulating natural ventilation, offering a foreground of receding hills and ridges viewed from the balconies, and providing a constructed hillside full of trees as a pleasing presence above the community spaces and public gardens below. This vertical system of gardens and public spaces spills down the hillside of the building to become sunlight and wind modulating screens within the public space below.

The building is organized and detailed to provide maximum daylight and airflow to each unit, and all primary community spaces, stairways and balconies are open air. All rooftops are designed for maximum photovoltaic energy production or for community and private garden spaces, and all roofs collect and filter rainwater for use as non-potable household water. Household gray-water will be filtered and recycled as garden irrigation. Black water and grade-level storm water will both be pre-filtered and partially treated prior to release into the respective city systems, in order to minimize the impact of increased density on existing city services. The intention of the site planning and building systems construction is to minimize adverse impacts on the local urban and natural ecosystems. The construction of the building and its site reaching out into the adjacent park with a water-filtering bio-swale system, edible gardens and orchards is intended as a prototypical approach to the functional and symbolic possibility of sustainable community life in a within a robust natural eco-system.