Yesterday, eVolo magazine announced the winners of their 2010 Skyscraper Competition, an award that aims to ‘discover young talents whose ideas will change the way we understand architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments.’

The nine jurors selected 3 prizes and 27 special mentions out of 430 entries from 42 countries, and considered factors such as globalisation, sustainability, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution when making their considerations.

The First Prize went to Malaysian Architecture students Chow Khoon Toong, Ong Tien Yee, and Beh Ssi Cze, for their prison in the sky, pictured above. Inmates would live in a free and productive society with farming and factories supporting the world below. It’s an interesting idea that seeks to totally re-imagine the prison system, and even though the logistics of creating such a system are pretty unfavourable, the judges considered this the strongest entry.

Second place went to a water purification tower from Indonesia, and third went to a skyscraper that changes form depending on climate, from Japan. Head over to eVolo’s competition page for more about the winners and special mentions.