The Opening Plenary kicked off the core proceedings for the CTBUH 2019 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference with a panel discussion answering the pertinent question: What Makes an Award-Winning Buidling? 
Delegates enjoy a hearty breakfast, kindly sponsored by BuroHappold Engineering, before a full day of programming. 
CTBUH Chairman Steve Watts, Partner, alinea Consulting, welcomes attendees to the first day of the Conference Core Program at the 2019 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference, reminds the audience that all of the award-winning projects are featured in Tall Buildings + Urban Habitat, Volume 2, and introduces the panelists.
Andrew Danza, Executive Director – Projects, Multiplex, emphasizes that a concern for the health and happiness of human occupants and labor defines award-winning tall buildings in 2019. 
At the Opening Plenary, Karl Fender, Founding Partner, Fender Katsalidis Architects, shares his thoughts on what makes an award-winning tall building truly sustainable, saying that since “tall buildings have such an impact on cities, we all need to go a step further and transform tall buildings into machines that make cities sustainable.” 
During the Opening PlenaryCTBUH Fellow Hashimah Hashim, Executive Director, KLCC Property Holdings Berhad, notes that energy-efficient operation is a crucial characteristic of an award-winning tall building. 
Thomas Oetterli, CEO, Schindler, talks about the importance of connectivity and integration within tall buildings during the Opening Plenary panel discussion “What Makes an Award-Winning Tall Building?  
The founder of WOHA Architects, Mun Summ Wong, brings his experience creating Oasia Hotel DowntownSingapore, the 2018 Best Tall Building Worldwide Award to the discussion on influential factors in creating award-winning tall buildings.  
The panelists of the Opening Plenary panel discussion “What Makes an Award-Winning Tall Building? From left to right, CTBUH Chairman Steve Watts, Partner, alinea Consulting; Andrew Danza, Executive Director – Projects, Multiplex; Karl Fender, Founding Partner, Fender Katsalidis Architects; CTBUH Fellow Hashimah Hashim, Executive Director, KLCC Property Holdings Berhad; Thomas Oetterli, CEO, Schindler and Mun Summ Wong, Founder, WOHA Architects.  
Attendees listen intently to the Opening Plenary panel discussion “What Makes an Award-Winning Tall Building?” at the 2019 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference.
Fruit and pastries were part of an energizing coffee/tea break sponsored by Jay Paul Company, available to delegates after the Opening Plenary had concluded. 
CTBUH Urban Habitat Awards Jury Chair James Parakh, ManagerUrban Design for Toronto and East York District, City of Toronto Planning Division; and CTBUH Trustee Vincent Tse, Managing Director, WSP, enjoy a cup of morning coffee during a coffee/tea break between sessions at the Grand Hyatt Shenzhen.
Best Tall Building Award – Under 100 meters: Ana Bassat, Partner, Huma Desenvolvimento Imobiliário and Fermín Vázquez, CEO & Founder, b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos, break down the different façade textures implemented on the colorful exterior of São Paulo’s Forma Itaim.  
Tim Neal, CallisonRTKL, welcomes the presenters into the room for the Best Tall Building Award – Under 100 meters session.
Best Tall Building Award – Under 100 meters: Bryan Zhang, JQZ and Phillip Rossington, BVN Architecture, talk about the process of designing Emblem, which easily links to both Sydney’s CBD and its international airport.
CTBUH Chairman and Best Tall Building Jury Member Steve Watts, Partner, alinea Consulting (left) and Best Tall Building Jury Chair Karl Fender, Founding Partner, Fender Katsalidis Architects (right) listen intently to the engaging Best Tall Building presentations. 
Best Tall Building Award – Under 100 meters: Hwee Yian Ng, Director, Housing & Development Board, Singapore and Darren Chen, Associate, WOHA Architects, pictured here with session chair Tim Neal, CallisonRTKL, created a multigenerational community for Kampung Admiralty.
Best Tall Building Award – Under 100 meters: Robert Tsai, Chairman, Earnest Development & Construction Corporation, Taipei and Yijun Qian, Director, Aedas, discuss how  Architecture was inspired by the shape of river pebbles
Best Tall Building Award – Under 100 meters: Peter Stephenson, Executive Director – Development, Omniyat Middle East Real Estate Developments LLC discusses how the carved-out cube anchors The Opus’ urban connectivity, a feature that makes it a contender for the category-winner distinction of Best Tall Building under 100 meters. 
Best Tall Building Award – 100-199 meters: Bokyoung Ju, Construction Team Leader, Amorepacific Corporation, Seoul and Christoph Felger, Partner, David Chipperfield Architects, talk about the environmental performance of Amorepacific Headquarters.
Best Tall Building Award –  100-199 meters: Zhao Yanfei, General Manager, Baidu, Inc., Beijing and Zhaoming Wang, Senior Design Director, CCDI Group, explain how Baidu Headquarters was designed around the concept of connectivity. 
Best Tall Building Award –  100-199 meters: Ole ScheerenPartner, Buro Ole Scheeren, highlights the honeycomb texture of DUO, a contender for the Best Tall Building 100-199-meter category distinction. 
Best Tall Building Award –  100-199 meters: Jayananda Jesudason, Executive Vice President, Construction and Design, Melco Resorts & Entertainment and Viviana Muscettola, Associate Director, Zaha Hadid Architects, discuss how the dramatic public spaces of Morpheus were achieved using parametric methods.
Best Tall Building Award –  100-199 meters: Jiansheng Tsai, General Manager, YUAN LIH Construction Co., LTD. and Ivan Harbour, Senior Partner, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, explain how stunning views of natural features were a large part of the design for One Park Taipei.
Best Tall Building Award – 100-199 meters: Edda Franz, Principal Director for General Administration, European Patent Office, and Diederik Dam, Owner, Dam & Partners Architecten, explain how biodiversity infuses every corner of the European Patent Office, due to a double-skin façade filled with over 300 varieties of plants. 
Urban Habitat Award – District/Master Plan Scale: Keith Griffiths, Chairman, Aedas, talks about how porous, multi-level pedestrian routes can enhance dense cities. 
Attendees of the 2019 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference are engaged with the presentations from the Innovation Award of Excellence Winners. 
Urban Habitat Award – District/Master Plan Scale: Michael Goldrick, Frasers Property Australia, explains to delegates how large-scale carbon savings were achieved across the master plan for Central Park, Sydney, an Award of Excellence Winner. 
Innovation Award – Bianca Cheung, Associate Director, Zaha Hadid Architects, and Wolf Mangelsdorf, Partner, BuroHappold Engineering, talk about the challenges of creating a complex geometry and irregular diagrid exoskeleton at Morpheus.
Urban Habitat Award – District/Master Plan Scale: Quanhong Li, CallisonRTKLdiscusses how Changsha Jinmao Meixi Lake International Plaza project takes advantage of its unique landscape resources.
Innovation Award – Christian Studer, Head of New Technologies, Schindler, explains how the Robotic Installation System for Elevators (R.I.S.E.) can be applied in the construction industry. 
Michael Montgomery, Chief Technical Officer, Kinetica, educates delegates on how the Viscoelastic Coupling Damper is suitable for risk mitigation in both small and large displacements resulting from weather or other events. 
Expert panelists assemble to answer the question “What Makes for Innovative High-Rise Development?” From left to right: Panel Chair Junjie Zhang, President, ECADI; Ru Bai, Chief Architect, Horoy Holdings Limited; Tieshen Chen, CEO, Hanking Group; Wuren Wang, General Manager, CITIC HEYE Investment Co. LTD.; Yiping Zhang, Executive General Manager, China International Marine Containers (Group) Ltd. 
Panel experts listen and respond intently during the panel discussion “What Makes for Innovative Tall Building Interiors?” From left to right: Panel Chair Jing Wang, Director, North Asia, USGBC; Claire Stephens, Director, Strategy, Greater China, Gensler; Ian Smith, Vice President, Special Projects, thyssenkrupp; Jeff Tung, Senior Project Director, New World Development Company Limited and Jian Zhao, Co-Chief Designer, CITYGROUP DESIGN Co., LTD.
Ian Smith, Vice President, Special Projects, thyssenkrupp, responds to a question during the panel discussion “What Makes for Innovative Tall Building Interiors?”
Claire Stephens, Director, Strategy, Greater China, Gensler, responds to a question during the panel discussion “What Makes for Innovative Tall Building Interiors?” 
Panel Chair Jing Wang, Director, North AsiaUSGBC, listens to colleagues during the panel discussion “What Makes for Innovative Tall Building Interiors?” 
During the panel discussion “What makes for Innovative Dense Urban Habitat?” experts in the field responded to incisive questions about groundbreaking developments in creating comfortable, functional dense urban habitats. From left to right: Panel Chair James Parakh, Manager for Urban Design for Toronto and East York District, City of Toronto Planning Division; Jon Gately, Director, BkL Architecture; Tao Huang, Deputy General Manager, Shenzhen Centralcon Real Estate Co. Ltd; Bryant Lu, Vice Chairman, Ronald Lu & Partners and Kourosh Salehi, Design Director – MENA, LWK & Partners.
Bryant Lu, Vice Chairman, Ronald Lu & Partners, answers a question during the panel discussion “What Makes for Innovative Dense Urban Habitat?”  
Panel Chair James Parakh, Manager for Urban Design for Toronto and East York District, City of Toronto Planning Division, guides the debate during the panel discussion “What Makes for Innovative Dense Urban Habitat?”
Structural Engineering Award – Daniel Snodgrass, Project Engineer, Read Jones Christoffersen (right) and Michael Montgomery, Chief Technical Officer, Kinetica (left) explain the high-performing structural damping system for Toronto’s YC Condominiums. 
MEP Award – CTBUH Trustee KaChuen (Vincent) Tse, Managing Director, Building MEP, China Region, WSP, gives a presentation entitled “The Benefits of a Tri-Path Underfloor Air Distribution System in a Tall Building,” about the MEP strategy of Salesforce Tower in San Francisco.
Speakers from the Geotechnical Engineering Award session give a thumbs up – From left to right: Session Chair William Maibusch, Project Executive, The Walsh Group; Jury Members Nick O’Riordan, Director/Principal, Arup; Tony Kiefer, Senior Consultant, Terracon; William Howell, Project Manager, Turner International LLC; Jury Chair Alan Poeppel, Managing Principal, Langan Engineering; Danilo Nanni, Senior Associate, DeSimone Consulting Engineers; Kirk Ellison, Senior Engineer, Arup; Tasos Papthanasiou, Senior Associate, Langan Engineering
Nengjun Luo, Vice-General Manager, CITIC HEYE Investment Co., LTD., shares the building process of CITIC Tower from a full life-cycle management perspective during the Development and Design Drivers session. 
Lei Li, Director, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, talks about how cultural references influenced the shape of the shell of CITIC Tower during the Development and Design Drivers session. 
Weiping Shao, Chief Architect & Company Leader, Beijing Institute of Architectural Design, responds to a question during the Development and Design Drivers session. 
Xiang Li, Director, Business Education, Bentley Systems, overviews the application of digital tools to coordinate complex workflows across teams and locations, using CITIC Tower as an example. 
Yunping Zeng, General ManagerChina Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co. Ltd., shares his experiences developing the integrated technologies at CITIC Tower, the tallest building in Beijing.