Vancouver House Named “Best Tall Building Worldwide” for 2021

20 May, 2021

2021 Best Tall Building Worldwide Winner, Vancouver House, Vancouver.
The circular stair which comes down into the lobby expresses the warm and raw palette of materials used throughout the site.
Unavoidable constraints led Vancouver House to develop and activate the fractured triangles of buildable space on its site to reimagine the typical “Vancouverism” townhouse podium into a multi-programmable village approach.

 

CHICAGO – The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is pleased to announce the winners of the 18th Annual CTBUH Awards Program. These winning projects—comprising tall buildings, urban developments, and technical innovations—competed for winning distinctions at the 2021 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference from 18 to 20 May, which took place virtually. The CTBUH Awards Jury has named Vancouver House, Vancouver the “Best Tall Building Worldwide,” in addition to naming Category Winners across 28 award categories.

Described by Best Tall Building Jury Chair Karl Fender, Founding Partner, Fender Katsalidis Architects, as a “formally striking building brilliantly conceptualized to enhance its surroundings from a seemingly improbable development site,” Vancouver House was recognized for its inventive inverted massing concept, which functions as a gateway to Vancouver, and its meaningful engagement with the community via a richly programmed podium. The residential building sits at the main entrance to Vancouver on a tight, triangular site where a major bridge forks in three directions upon reaching downtown. A 30-meter setback from the busy area ensures residents can enjoy views free of noise and traffic, and which are still exposed to maximum sunlight. From its canted clusters of green roofs to a playful mixture of cool and warm tones and materials, the tower’s exterior and interior are animated with movement, creating a vivid template for urban living.

Vancouver House was selected from the “Best Tall Building” track, which falls into five height thresholds: under 100 meters, 100–199 meters, 200–299 meters, 300–399 meters, and 400 meters and above. Additional categories include: Urban Habitat, Innovation, Renovation, Interior Design, and Construction, alongside five categories focused specifically on Engineering achievements. The program also feature(d/s) additional Best Tall Building projects in functional designations including Office, Mixed-Use, and Residential Building, and five regional categories. Notably new this year is an interactive Audience Awards program, where attendees cast their votes in each category.

In addition to the Best Tall Building category winners, a number of other award recipients were recognized at the conference, including DUO Tower (Singapore) for the Urban Habitat Award—Single Site Scale; Hudson Yards—Eastern Yards (New York City) for the Urban Habitat Award—District/Master Plan Scale; Rainier Square Tower (Seattle) for the Construction Award; UTS Central (Sydney) for the Interior Design Award; and Hanwha Headquarters (Seoul) for the Renovation Award. The Engineering Awards included Lakhta Center (St. Petersburg) for the Façade Engineering Award; CITIC Tower (Beijing) for the Fire & Risk Engineering Award; Claridge’s Hotel (London) for the Geotechnical Engineering Award; Museum Tower Kyobashi (Tokyo) for the MEP Engineering Award; and Vancouver House (Vancouver) for the Structural Engineering Award. Burj Khalifa (Dubai) received the 10 Year Award for 2010 completion, and 1 Bligh Street (Sydney) for 2011 completion. The Innovation Award went to Baker Brace. In all, the category winners were chosen from a group of over 160 Award of Excellence Winners representing over 40 countries.

The CTBUH Annual Awards program recognizes projects and individuals that have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and that achieve sustainability at the highest and broadest level. The awards program delivers a comprehensive and sophisticated view of these important buildings, spaces, and technologies, while advocating for improvements in every aspect of performance, especially those that have the greatest effect on their everyday users. All projects recognized in the CTBUH 2021 Awards Program, including Category Winners and Award of Excellence winners, are featured in the third and fourth editions of the Tall Buildings + Urban series.

 

 

Best Tall Building Awards: Height

Under 100 Meters

Overall Category Winner

25 King, Brisbane

One of Australia’s tallest and largest commercial timber buildings, its expression is marked by a ground-level timber colonnade and “verandah” south façade.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 271 Spring Street, Melbourne
  • ARC by Crown Group, Sydney
  • Asia Financial Center & AIIB Headquarters, Beijing
  • Cardero, Vancouver
  • Gala Avenue Westside, Shanghai
  • Hourglass, Amsterdam
  • Infinity, Sydney
  • River City 3, Toronto
  • Siamese Exclusive 31, Bangkok
  • U.S. Embassy, London, London
  • UTS Central, Sydney
  • Walan, Brisbane
  • White Tree, Montpellier

 

Audience Winner

U.S. Embassy, London

A winding trail helps visitors navigate around the building, through to its interior gardens, which are abundant with native plants from both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 25 King, Brisbane
  • 271 Spring Street, Melbourne
  • ARC by Crown Group, Sydney
  • Asia Financial Center & AIIB Headquarters, Beijing
  • Cardero, Vancouver
  • Gala Avenue Westside, Shanghai
  • Hourglass, Amsterdam
  • Infinity, Sydney
  • River City 3, Toronto
  • Siamese Exclusive 31, Bangkok
  • UTS Central, Sydney
  • Walan, Brisbane
  • White Tree, Montpellier

 

100–199 Meters

Overall Category Winner & Audience Winner

Vancouver House, Vancouver

The inverted massing turns the inefficient triangle into optimal rectangular floor plates for living spaces at its top, while freeing up public space at its base.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 18 Robinson, Singapore
  • Changsha Hua Center Phase II Project, Changsha
  • EDEN, Singapore
  • K11 ATELIER King’s Road, Hong Kong
  • Mira, San Francisco
  • Museum Tower Kyobashi, Tokyo
  • OMNITURM, Frankfurt am Main
  • Rosewood Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok
  • SHUIBEI International Center, Shenzhen
  • Sixty Martin Place, Sydney
  • Sky Green, Taichung
  • ToHA Tower 1, Tel Aviv
  • Tour Saint-Gobain, Courbevoie

200–299 Meters

Overall Category Winner

Telus Sky, Calgary

As the building rises, the floor plates gradually reduce in size, stepping back to provide slender residential floor plates with nested balconies.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 110 North Wacker, Chicago
  • ARO, New York City
  • Atrio North Tower, Bogota
  • FIVE Jumeirah Village Dubai, Dubai
  • Leeza SOHO, Beijing
  • Maike Centre, Xi’an
  • NEMA Chicago, Chicago
  • Newfoundland, London
  • One Barangaroo, Sydney
  • One Thousand Museum, Miami

 

Audience Winner

Atrio North Tower, Bogota

To combat solar gain from the sun’s strong radiation levels at such a high altitude, the façade system has a solar coating and contains micro-ventilation technology in the mullions.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 110 North Wacker, Chicago
  • ARO, New York City
  • FIVE Jumeirah Village Dubai, Dubai
  • Leeza SOHO, Beijing
  • Maike Centre, Xi’an
  • NEMA Chicago, Chicago
  • Newfoundland, London
  • One Barangaroo, Sydney
  • One Thousand Museum, Miami
  • Telus Sky, Calgary

 

300–399 Meters

Overall Category Winner & Audience Winner

Raffles City Chongqing, Chongqing

By including a new multi-modal transit hub and an amenity-rich skybridge, the development engages the public at all levels.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 53 West 53, New York City
  • Comcast Technology Center, Philadelphia
  • Hanking Center, Shenzhen
  • Hengqin International Finance Center, Zhuhai
  • One Manhattan West, New York City
  • Poly Pazhou, Guangzhou
  • The Address Beach Resort, Dubai
  • Zhuhai Tower, Zhuhai

 

400 Meters and Above

Overall Category Winner

CITIC Tower, Beijing

Inspired by the form of an ancient ceremonial vessel, the concave profile offers more valuable prime floor spaces at height, while creating a strong centerpiece for a new business district.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Central Park Tower, New York City
  • Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg
  • Suzhou IFS, Suzhou
  • The Exchange 106, Kuala Lumpur
  • Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, Tianjin
  • Wuhan Center Tower, Wuhan

 

Audience Winner

Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg

Consisting of five wings interconnected by a circular, central core, the tower geometry creates a curved shape that transitions to a spire, enhanced by glass that modulates its color throughout the day.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Central Park Tower, New York City
  • CITIC Tower, Beijing
  • Suzhou IFS, Suzhou
  • The Exchange 106, Kuala Lumpur
  • Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, Tianjin
  • Wuhan Center Tower, Wuhan

 

Best Tall Building Awards: Function

Office Building

Overall Category Winner

ToHA Tower 1, Tel Aviv

Configured as a large seven-story-high main lobby space, the atrium of ToHA Tower 1 continues upwards as a stepped lightwell culminating in a generous walkable skylight on the public roof.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 100 Bishopsgate, London
  • Asia Financial Center & AIIB Headquarters, Beijing
  • Atrio North Tower, Bogota
  • Hanking Center, Shenzhen
  • One Manhattan West, New York City
  • Shimao Qianhai Center, Shenzhen
  • Tour Saint-Gobain, Courbevoie


 

Audience Winner

Atrio North Tower, Bogota

Using just two internal columns, the braced structure is surrounded by views at eight orientations to optimize sunlight. 

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 100 Bishopsgate, London
  • Asia Financial Center & AIIB Headquarters, Beijing
  • Hanking Center, Shenzhen
  • One Manhattan West, New York City
  • Shimao Qianhai Center, Shenzhen
  • ToHA Tower 1, Tel Aviv
  • Tour Saint-Gobain, Courbevoie


 

Residential/Hotel Building

Overall Category Winner & Audience Winner

Vancouver House, Vancouver

Taking advantage of a site once considered “unbuildable,” Vancouver House is a gateway to the city and an artful accommodation of difficult conditions.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Arlozorov 17, Tel Aviv
  • Mira, San Francisco
  • Sky Green, Taichung


 

Mixed-Use Building

Overall Category Winner

Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex, Toronto

A continuous thread of public space, described in vibrant orange cladding, connects classroom, laboratory, and residential programs to each other, and to the city beyond.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 35 Hudson Yards, New York City
  • Telus Sky, Calgary


 

Audience Winner

35 Hudson Yards, New York City

Clad in a pleated composition of the limestone and glass, the tower’s façade unifies the elements stacked within.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex, Toronto
  • Telus Sky, Calgary


 

Best Tall Building Awards: Region

Americas

Overall Category Winner

Comcast Technology Center, Philadelphia

A public transit-oriented development, the program serves the building’s 4,000 day-time occupants with a climate-controlled pedestrian connection to the regional transportation network.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 110 North Wacker, Chicago
  • 53 West 53, New York City
  • ARO, New York City
  • Atrio North Tower, Bogota
  • Cardero, Vancouver
  • Central Park Tower, New York City
  • Mira, San Francisco
  • NEMA Chicago, Chicago
  • One Manhattan West, New York City
  • One Thousand Museum, Miami
  • River City 3, Toronto
  • Telus Sky, Calgary
  • Vancouver House, Vancouver


 

Audience Winner

NEMA Chicago, Chicago

By employing an innovative structural bay of 11.5 by 11.5 meters, it achieves an outsized structure that expresses the building’s verticality with exposed columns, responding in scale to the city’s skyline.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 110 North Wacker, Chicago
  • 53 West 53, New York City
  • ARO, New York City
  • Atrio North Tower, Bogota
  • Cardero, Vancouver
  • Central Park Tower, New York City
  • Comcast Technology Center, Philadelphia
  • Mira, San Francisco
  • One Manhattan West, New York City
  • One Thousand Museum, Miami
  • River City 3, Toronto
  • Telus Sky, Calgary
  • Vancouver House, Vancouver


 

Asia

Overall Category Winner

Asia Financial Center & AIIB Headquarters, Beijing

Its 80-meter-tall central hall is framed by a ring of top floors, permitting a panoramic vista over the city.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 18 Robinson, Singapore
  • Changsha Hua Center, Changsha
  • CITIC Tower, Beijing
  • EDEN, Singapore
  • Gala Avenue Westside, Shanghai
  • Hanking Center, Shenzhen
  • Hengqin International Finance Center, Zhuhai
  • K11 ATELIER King’s Road, Hong Kong
  • Leeza SOHO, Beijing
  • Maike Centre, Xi’an
  • Museum Tower Kyobashi, Tokyo
  • Poly Pazhou, Guangzhou
  • Raffles City Chongqing, Chongqing
  • Rosewood Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok
  • SHUIBEI International Center, Shenzhen
  • Siamese Exclusive 31, Bangkok
  • Sky Green, Taichung
  • Suzhou IFS, Suzhou
  • The Exchange 106, Kuala Lumpur
  • Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, Tianjin
  • Wuhan Center, Wuhan
  • Zhuhai Tower, Zhuhai


 

Audience Winner

CITIC Tower, Beijing

Inspired by the form of an ancient ceremonial vessel, the concave profile offers more valuable prime floor spaces at height, while creating a strong centerpiece for a new business district.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 18 Robinson, Singapore
  • Asia Financial Center & AIIB Headquarters, Beijing
  • Changsha Hua Center, Changsha
  • EDEN, Singapore
  • Gala Avenue Westside, Shanghai
  • Hanking Center, Shenzhen
  • Hengqin International Finance Center, Zhuhai
  • K11 ATELIER King’s Road, Hong Kong
  • Leeza SOHO, Beijing
  • Maike Centre, Xi’an
  • Museum Tower Kyobashi, Tokyo
  • Poly Pazhou, Guangzhou
  • Raffles City Chongqing, Chongqing
  • Rosewood Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok
  • SHUIBEI International Center, Shenzhen
  • Siamese Exclusive 31, Bangkok
  • Sky Green, Taichung
  • Suzhou IFS, Suzhou
  • The Exchange 106, Kuala Lumpur
  • Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, Tianjin
  • Wuhan Center, Wuhan
  • Zhuhai Tower, Zhuhai


 

Australia

Overall Category Winner

ARC by Crown Group, Sydney

Inspired by the masonry of significant heritage buildings and their characteristic arches, its eight-story atrium is designed to enrich the street life of the CBD.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 25 King, Brisbane
  • 271 Spring Street, Melbourne
  • Infinity, Sydney
  • One Barangaroo, Sydney
  • Sixty Martin Place, Sydney
  • UTS Central, Sydney
  • Walan, Brisbane


 

Audience Winner

One Barangaroo, Sydney

The main design concept is based on a narrative for an “inhabited sculpture,” comprising three “petals” that twist together as they rise to form a hotel and residential tower.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 25 King, Brisbane
  • 271 Spring Street, Melbourne
  • ARC by Crown Group, Sydney
  • Infinity, Sydney
  • Sixty Martin Place, Sydney
  • UTS Central, Sydney
  • Walan, Brisbane


 

Europe

Overall Category Winner

White Tree, Montpellier

Projecting from the building’s core like drawbridges, its generous balconies create essential indoor/outdoor spaces—shaded by brise-soleil—in the sun-drenched city.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Hourglass, Amsterdam
  • Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg
  • Newfoundland, London
  • OMNITURM, Frankfurt am Main
  • Tour Saint-Gobain, Courbevoie
  • U.S. Embassy, London


 

Audience Winner

Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg

Consisting of five wings interconnected by a circular, central core, the tower geometry creates a curved shape that transitions to a spire, enhanced by glass that modulates its color throughout the day.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Hourglass, Amsterdam
  • Newfoundland, London
  • OMNITURM, Frankfurt am Main
  • Tour Saint-Gobain, Courbevoie
  • U.S. Embassy, London
  • White Tree, Montpellier


 

Middle East & Africa

Overall Category Winner

ToHA Tower 1, Tel Aviv

Following an “L”-shaped arrangement, the building takes the form of two hewn, prismatic masses, connected by a raised 20-story volume bridging the east and west cores.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • FIVE Jumeirah Village Dubai, Dubai
  • The Address Beach Resort, Dubai


 

Audience Winner

FIVE Jumeirah Village Dubai, Dubai

Featuring three alternating wings on each floor, the revolving void creates a natural cooling system, decreasing the temperature by 2-3 degrees Celsius.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • The Address Beach Resort, Dubai
  • ToHA Tower 1, Tel Aviv


 

Urban Habitat Awards

Single-Site Scale

Overall Category Winner

DUO Tower, Singapore

The design subtracts circular carvings from the building volumes, generating urban spaces, while a net-like hexagonal pattern of sunshades reinforces the dynamic concave shapes.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 18 Robinson, Singapore
  • AND Pastel, Istanbul
  • Assuta Village, Tel Aviv
  • Taipei Nanshan Plaza, Taipei
  • Trinity, Puteaux
  • Victoria Dockside, Hong Kong


 

Audience Winner

Victoria Dockside, Hong Kong

The collection of outdoor and sheltered spaces and terraces constitutes the public domain along, around, and through the development, forming a varied landscape of pedestrian routes.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 18 Robinson, Singapore
  • AND Pastel, Istanbul
  • Assuta Village, Tel Aviv
  • DUO Tower, Singapore
  • Taipei Nanshan Plaza, Taipei
  • Trinity, Puteaux


 

District/Master Plan Scale

Overall Category Winner & Audience Winner

Hudson Yards – Eastern Yards, New York City

Notably home to the 16-story interactive “Vessel” landmark, this massive development is built on a microgrid, helping it save 25,000 metric tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent greenhouse gases per year.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Darling Square, Sydney
  • Lincoln Common, Chicago
  • Poly Greenland Plaza, Shanghai
  • Pudong Financial Plaza Office Tower 1, Shanghai


 

Innovation Award

Overall Category Winner

Baker Brace

Derived from discrete typology optimization, this brace is similar to X-bracing, except the central node occurs at the three-quarters height instead of the mid-height of the bracing module.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Adaptative Outriggers
  • Advanced Base-Isolation Device
  • CEILINGREEN
  • DokaXact
  • Performance-Based Structural Fire Design of Tall Buildings
  • Platinum Tower Green Façade
  • Stereoform Slab
  • Turbo Twin Parking Lift

Audience Winner

Performance-Based Structural Fire Design of Tall Buildings

This peer-reviewed exercise compared prescriptive and performance-based designs for a building, in terms of safety in fire, as well as cost and aesthetic implications.


Award of Excellence Winners

  • Adaptative Outriggers
  • Advanced Base-Isolation Device
  • aker Brace
  • CEILINGREEN
  • DokaXact
  • Platinum Tower Green Façade
  • Stereoform Slab
  • Turbo Twin Parking Lift

Construction Award

Overall Category Winner

Rainier Square Tower, Seattle

The innovative hybrid steel-concrete structural system greatly improved the speed of construction, topping out in only 10 months, approximately twice as fast as a traditional concrete core.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Collins House, Melbourne
  • Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg
  • The Clement Canopy, Singapore


 

Audience Winner

Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg

For a foundation slab more than 21 meters below grade, this was the site of one of the largest continuous concrete pours ever conducted.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Collins House, Melbourne
  • Rainier Square Tower, Seattle
  • The Clement Canopy, Singapore


 

Renovation Award

Overall Category Winner

Hanwha Headquarters, Seoul

The upgraded headquarters received embedded solar technology into its exterior, while the interior promoted social engagement with natural materials and planned coffee nooks throughout the north and south lobbies.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Hudson Commons, New York City
  • LondonHouse Chicago, Chicago
  • Renovation Laboratory Necker, Paris
  • Shinjuku Sumitomo Building, Tokyo
  • The Residences of 488 University Avenue, Toronto
  • Woolworth Building, New York City


 

Audience Winner

Woolworth Building, New York City

In transforming the tower floors from commercial to residential use, modern engineering parameters were applied to perform major structural and mechanical modifications throughout the building.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Hanwha Headquarters, Seoul
  • Hudson Commons, New York City
  • LondonHouse Chicago, Chicago
  • Renovation Laboratory Necker, Paris
  • Shinjuku Sumitomo Building, Tokyo
  • The Residences of 488 University Avenue, Toronto


 

Interior Design Award

Overall Category Winner

UTS Central, Sydney

A double-helix staircase functions as a focal point while a spacious and light-filled three-story Reading Room reinvents the traditional study space.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • L’OrĂ©al Headquarters DĂĽsseldorf, DĂĽsseldorf
  • Leeza SOHO, Beijing
  • One Excellence, Shenzhen
  • Rosewood Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok
  • Sixty Martin Place, Sydney
  • The Independent, Austin
  • The Warsaw HUB, Warsaw
  • ToHA Tower 1, Tel Aviv

Audience Winner

Leeza SOHO, Beijing

Its striking full-height atrium communicates a strong identity in a mostly obsidian palette of black marble, black-tinted glass, and black stainless-steel details, which generates contrasting shadows as daylight floods the interior.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • L’OrĂ©al Headquarters DĂĽsseldorf, DĂĽsseldorf
  • One Excellence, Shenzhen
  • Rosewood Bangkok Hotel, Bangkok
  • Sixty Martin Place, Sydney
  • The Independent, Austin
  • The Warsaw HUB, Warsaw
  • ToHA Tower 1, Tel Aviv
  • UTS Central, Sydney

Engineering Awards

Façade Engineering

Overall Category Winner

Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg
Radio frequency identification chips traced the location of each of 16,500 unique façade panels, in order to manage production and installation status.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Brunel Building, London
  • Hybrid Tower, Shenzhen
  • Nordbro, Copenhagen
  • PIF Tower, Riyadh
  • Sixty Martin Place, Sydney
  • ToHA Tower 1, Tel Aviv


 

Audience Winner

Brunel Building, London

A complex exoskeleton frame interacts with a high-thermal-performance façade to provide 20 percent shading, reducing energy demand and providing sufficient natural light.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Hybrid Tower, Shenzhen
  • Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg
  • Nordbro, Copenhagen
  • PIF Tower, Riyadh
  • Sixty Martin Place, Sydney
  • ToHA Tower 1, Tel Aviv


 

Fire & Risk Engineering

Overall Category Winner

CITIC Tower, Beijing

The dynamic virtual environment model can be jointly operated and combined with municipal fire and emergency planning software, and used to rehearse any kind of emergency plan.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Raffles City Chongqing, Chongqing


 

Audience Winner

Raffles City Chongqing, Chongqing

The design team used advanced finite element modeling techniques to ensure a fully-loaded skybridge could be safely evacuated.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • CITIC Tower, Beijing


 

Geotechnical Engineering

Overall Category Winner

Claridge’s Hotel, London

A five-story basement was mined below a listed Victorian structure, without ever disrupting the live operation of the hotel above.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 500 Folsom, San Francisco
  • Chapultepec Uno R-509, Mexico City
  • ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai
  • Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg
  • Skyline Tower, New York City


 

Audience Winner

500 Folsom, San Francisco

A ground improvement system mitigated liquefaction and transferred building loads to deeper strata through a closed-cell grid pattern of jet-grouted columns.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Chapultepec Uno R-509, Mexico City
  • Claridge’s Hotel, London
  • ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai
  • Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg
  • Skyline Tower, New York City


 

MEP Engineering

Overall Category Winner

Museum Tower Kyobashi, Tokyo

The hybrid natural ventilation system can either double the air volume by exploiting both effects simultaneously, or enable natural ventilation during a period when there is no external wind pressure.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • DaiyaGate Ikebukuro, Tokyo
  • The Exchange 106, Kuala Lumpur
  • Torre Glorieta Insurgentes, Mexico City
  • Victoria Dockside, Hong Kong


 

Audience Winner

The Exchange 106, Kuala Lumpur

To accommodate the limited number of MEP floors, the systems are designed with high static pressure backbone systems, and low-pressure end-user runouts, using a limited number of pressure-break stations.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • DaiyaGate Ikebukuro, Tokyo
  • Museum Tower Kyobashi, Tokyo
  • Torre Glorieta Insurgentes, Mexico City
  • Victoria Dockside, Hong Kong

Structural Engineering

Overall Category Winner

Vancouver House, Vancouver

To counteract the challenges of the tower’s complex form and the region’s high seismicity, a flexure- and torsion-resilient core is implemented as the rigid spine of the tower.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 35 Hudson Yards, New York City
  • 80 Collins Street, Melbourne
  • Atrio North Tower, Bogota
  • DaiyaGate Ikebukuro, Tokyo
  • Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg
  • MjøstĂĄrnet, Brumunddal
  • One Thousand Museum, Miami
  • Raffles City Chongqing, Chongqing
  • Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower, Tokyo
  • The Okura Prestige Tower, Tokyo
  • The Residences of 488 University Avenue, Toronto
  • Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, Tianjin


 

Audience Winner

Raffles City Chongqing, Chongqing

A “seismic fuse” component can dissipate the seismic energy in case of severe shaking, protect other components of the outrigger system, and ensure the safety of the whole tower.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 35 Hudson Yards, New York City
  • 80 Collins Street, Melbourne
  • Atrio North Tower, Bogota
  • DaiyaGate Ikebukuro, Tokyo
  • Lakhta Center, St. Petersburg
  • MjøstĂĄrnet, Brumunddal
  • One Thousand Museum, Miami
  • Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower, Tokyo
  • The Okura Prestige Tower, Tokyo
  • The Residences of 488 University Avenue, Toronto
  • Tianjin CTF Finance Centre, Tianjin
  • Vancouver House, Vancouver


 

10 Year Award

2010 Completions

Overall Category Winner & Audience Winner

Burj Khalifa, Dubai

Redefining the possible in the design and engineering of supertall skyscrapers, the world’s tallest building since 2010 set a global precedent for icon-driven real-estate development.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • Guangzhou International Finance Center, Guangzhou
  • International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong
  • Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
  • O-14, Dubai


 

2011 Completions

Overall Category Winner

1 Bligh Street, Sydney

The significant investment in enhancing the comfort and variety of the building’s communal spaces has had an indelible impact on office buildings throughout Australia and beyond.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • African Union Headquarters and Conference Complex, Addis Ababa
  • Al Hamra Tower, Kuwait City
  • NBF Osaki Building, Tokyo


 

Audience Winner

Al Hamra Tower, Kuwait City

A thick concrete spine serves double duty, carrying asymmetric loads and protecting occupants from harsh sunlight, a concept that has been deployed elsewhere in the Middle East.

Award of Excellence Winners

  • 1 Bligh Street, Sydney
  • African Union Headquarters and Conference Complex, Addis Ababa
  • NBF Osaki Building, Tokyo