Skyler: A new aging tower by HWKN

Skyler is a unique architectural design by Hollwich Kushner to create an intergenerational skyscraper prototype that allows users to age in one place and constantly grow and shape their own future.

Architect: Hollwich Kushner

Follow the architects: This prototype was designed following the principles of Matthias Hollwich’s new book, “New Aging ‐ Live smarter now to live better forever” published by Penguin Random House. The building encapsulates a cross section of society, where we can live fulfilling lives from birth to old age in one building that serves us all life long.

The building program consists of over 600 residential units for 1000 people of different typologies with tailored amenities placed throughout the building. Fifty kids below the age of five; 210 minors below the age of eighteen; roughly 500 working adults; and 150 seniors above sixty‐five. The building offers a mix of micro studios to maximize economy, pooled apartments that eliminate isolation, and duplexes that act as single family homes. It also incorporates special amenities like shared transportation to extend mobility and services to help facilitate laundry, grocery shopping, and school dropoffs.

It includes a business continuation center for the 65+ community, one that is hardly ready to retire, daycare centers for small children, an infirmary for the 0.5% in need of extra care, a health center where anyone from 20 to 90 can stay healthy and fit, and social activation that keeps inhabitants engaged their whole lives so that they can nurture an informal support system with neighbors, family, and friends.

“Skyler takes the challenges of aging and turns them into opportunities,” says architect Matthias Hollwich. “Imagine how the experience of living would be different if you were supported for your whole life. How would it change the way you engage with the people around you? Wouldn’t that be a smarter way to live? A better way to live? This is why we created Skyler, a building designed to enable users to constantly grow and shape their own future.”

McKinsey Consulting has stated Longevity will be one of the four mega trends to shape our future and the amount of people above 65 years old will double in the next 35 years. Keeping aging in mind when developing new buildings will be key in the future, and present a competitive advantage to developers who start actively adjusting amenities, services, and apartment configurations today.

Skyler is a hybrid of the classic 1930s New York City tower with the programmatic layering of a city. The building’s unique shape celebrates the sculptural quality of character that comes with age and is unique from every vantage point.

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