CTBUH 10th Annual Awards Ceremony & Dinner

CTBUH 10th Annual Awards, 2011.

2011 Awards Committee

Richard Cook
Awards Committee Chair
Cook+Fox Architects, USA

H.E. Mohamed Ali Alabbar
Emaar Properties
Dubai, UAE

Gordon Gill
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill
Chicago, USA       

Peter Murray
New London Architecture Centre
London, UK

Werner Sobek
Werner Sobek Group
Stuttgart, Germany        

Antony Wood
CTBUH Executive Director
Chicago, USA


2011 Best Tall Building Americas

Eight Spruce Street, New York, USA
Completion Date: April 2011
Height: 265 m (870 ft)
Stories: 76
Gross Floor Area: 102,193 m² (1,100,00 ft²)
Use: Residential
Owner/Developer: Forest City Ratner Companies
Design Architect: Gehry Partners, LLP
Structural Engineer: WSP Cantor Seinuk
MEP Engineer: Jaros Baum and Bolles
Construction Manager: Kreisler Borg Florman General Construction Company
Main Contractor: Kreisler Borg Florman General Construction Company

The façade of "New York by Gehry" at Eight Spruce Street, designed to create a draping fabric-like quality, creates a unique signature, while holding itself as very much a "New York" building grounded in its traditional setback rules. The façade is partly a result of the client's desire to have bay windows in each residential unit. The windows are shifted from floor-to-floor and vary in size, creating the drape-like effect. Inside, the residential units are arranged to efficiently marry the plan to the façade

"The tower invigorates a part of Manhattan that has been somewhat overlooked in recent years, and as the Tallest All-Residential Building in North America, adds significantly to the urban-population and diversification of its neighborhood."  -  Rick Cook, 2011 Awards Chair, Cook + Fox Architects

2011 Best Tall Building Asia & Australasia

Guangzhou International Finance Center, Guangzhou, China
Completion Date: 2010
Height: 440 m (1,444 ft)
Stories: 103
Gross Floor Area: 250,095 m² (2,692,000 ft²)
Use: Hotel/Office
Owner/Developer: Yue Xiu Group
Design Architect: Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Associate Architect: Architectural Design and Research Institute of South China University  of
Technology (ADRISCUT)
Structural Engineer: ADRISCUT; Arup
MEP Engineer: ADRISCUT; Arup
Project Manager: Yue Xiu Group
Main Contractor: China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd;
Guangzhou Municipal Construction Group Co Ltd

The slender crystalline form of the Guangzhou International Finance Center is both elegant and clean. Each of the three façades of the curved triangular plan are also gently curved in section, set out asymmetrically with the widest point at a third of the height, tapering to its narrowest point at the top. The building's aerodynamic form reduces the impact of wind at height, thereby reducing the necessary size and weight of the structure. The building utilizes the world's tallest constructed diagrid structure, whose inherent stiffness resists acceleration and sway, eliminating the need for damping.

"The building has an elegant simplicity in both form and structure, with the diagrid giving depth, strength and character to the building. It is also great to see the British adept at designing supertall buildings!"
  -  Antony Wood, Awards Juror, CTBUH Executive Director, Illinois Instiute of Technology


2011 Best Tall Building Europe

KfW Westarkade, Frankfurt, Germany
Completion Date: May 2010
Height: 56 m (184 ft)
Stories: 14
Gross Floor Area: 18,116 m² (195,000 ft²)
Use: Office
Owner: KfW Bankengruppe
Design Architect: Sauerbruch Hutton
Associate Architect: Architekten Theiss Planungsgesellschaft mbH
Structural Engineer: Werner Sobek GmbH
MEP Engineer: Reuter Rührgartner GmbH; Zibell, Willner & Partner
Project Manager: Architekten Theiss Planungsgesellschaft mbH

Already being touted as one of the most energy-efficient office buildings in the world, KfW Westarkade is projected to use approximately half the energy of an average European office building, and one-third of a US-based one. The building addresses the prevailing wind direction to exploit it for controlled natural ventilation of the offices by means of its double-layered façade, which allows for the building to be naturally ventilated eight months out of the year.

"The streamlined form integrates itself into its surrounding context, while simultaneously standing out through the playful use of color. Whereas many buildings use color as a way to mask an otherwise unremarkable building, here it contributes an additional rich layer to what is already a remarkable building."  -  Peter Murray, Awards Juror, Wordsearch


2011 Best Tall Building Middle East & Africa

The Index, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Completion Date: March 2011
Height: 326 m (1,070 ft)
Stories: 80
Gross Floor Area: 170,400 m² (1,834,170 ft²)
Use: Residential/Office
Owner/Developer: Union Properties
Design Architect: Foster + Partners
Associate Architect: Khatib & Alami; Woods Bagot
Structural Engineer: Halvorson and Partners; BG&E
MEP Engineer: Roger Preston & Partners; WSP
Project Manager: Gerard Evenden
Main Contractor: Brookfield Multiplex

A long but narrow profile houses the mixed residential-over office functions of this tower within a coherent but well articulated form. The floors are supported by four A-frame concrete "fins," revealing the building's structural system and internal organization. The building is oriented to reduce solar gain, and employs a system of sunshades on the exposed south elevation. The building takes a particularly interesting approach at its base, with only its structural fins and cores coming all the way to the ground, while the rest of the space opens up in an open-air shaded atrium with large pools which create a cool micro-climate around the tower's entrances.

"The Index presents a new environmental icon for the Middle East, showcasing important passive strategies of orientation, core placement and shading."
  -  Werner Sobek, Awards Juror, Werner Sobek Stuttgart GmbH & Co., KG

The Index mixed-use tower in Dubai has won the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Award, beating a record number of nominations to be judged the best new high-rise building in the Middle East and Africa.

The 80-storey tower is the first building designed by Foster + Partners to be completed in Dubai and combines 520 luxury apartments with 25 floors of office space. The different functions are separated by a spectacular double-height, glazed sky lobby, with views over the city to the coast. At the tower's base, a landscaped podium creates pedestrian routes through the site and incorporates a range of places to eat, shop and socialise.

Located on a prominent corner site within the Dubai International Finance Centre, the 326 metre-high tower, developed by Union Properties, is unusually offset against the urban grid, oriented east to west to maximise views of the desert and coastline. This orientation also reduces solar gain, as the building's core mass absorbs heat and reduces its reliance on mechanical ventilation. A system of sunshades shelters the interiors on the exposed south elevation.

The tower's distinctive form and slender profile follow a desire to reveal the building's structural system and internal organisation. The floors are supported by four A-frame concrete 'fins' that taper as they rise. This provides flexible, column-free office accommodation, which can be arranged to provide a headquarters for an international corporation or subdivided to support multiple tenancies.

At the base of the scheme is a landscaped plinth, with sculpted pools of water and an underground car park, and the tower is entered through a dramatic four-storey foyer. The main lift cores, which serve the office floors, are located at the eastern and western edges of the tower. A small central lift core, serving 40 levels of apartments, rises to the sky lobby and shops, restaurants, pool and health club; a local lift core then transports residents to individual apartments. The tower is crowned with 12 luxurious duplex and triplex penthouse apartments with spectacular views over Dubai.

Gerard Evenden, a design director at Foster + Partners, commented: "Our design for The Index had to fulfill many different needs: it had to be a great place to work, a great place to live, a landmark for the financial district and, perhaps most significantly, a sustainable high rise building that, despite Dubai's hot climate, would consume less energy than a conventional tower. I'm delighted that the resulting building has been recognised by our peers with this important award."

Source: The Index Dubai images / information from Foster + Partners

2011 Lynn S. Beedle Award Winner

Adrian Smith
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, LLP

Adrian has been a practicing architect for more than 40 years, and is one of a relatively small number of architects who has designed and built a significant number of supertall buildings. He has thus contributed greatly to the development of the typology. Throughout his career he has developed a holistic approach that seeks to integrate a project's form with its structure and building systems. This integrated approach has resulted in an increased understanding of the architectural, structural and mechanical systems of skyscrapers.

"Adrian's body of work includes some of the world tallest and most recognized buildings, yet his designs transcend mere height and have become landmarks because of their graceful design and inherent sensitivity to local context and culture."
  -  Peter Irwin, CTBUH Trustee, Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin Inc.

For more information on Adrian Smith and his work please visit his company website.


2011 Fazlur R. Khan Medal Winner

Dr. Akira Wada
Tokyo Institute of Technology

Since becoming Professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1989, Dr. Wada has been widely acknowledged as a leading expert in structural engineering, especially seismic design, and has held a number of important posts on various committees. He has also been chair of the CTBUH Japan Chapter since its formation in 2010 and was recently named the new president of the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) in June 2011.

"Few men have contributed so greatly to the understanding and development of tall building structures in seismically active regions, and his recent election as the new president of the AIJ is a testament to the significant influence of his career."  -  Prof. Sang Dae Kim, CTBUH Chairman, Korea University


CTBUH 10th Annual Awards Symposium, Ceremony & Dinner

Thursday, November 3^rd, 2011
Hermann Hall Auditorium & S.R. Crown Hall - Illinois Institute of Technology - Chicago, Illinois

The CTBUH 2011 award winners will be recognized and awards conferred at the CTBUH 10th Annual Awards Ceremony & Dinner. All of the winning projects and finalists will be celebrated at this gala event. Additionally from the four regional best tall building winners, one "Worldwide" winner will be chosen and announced to close out the Dinner event.

The Ceremony & Dinner will be preceded by a free afternoon Symposium which will feature presentations from all the 2011 winners. (+ pdf file for download)


Alexios Vandoros,
CTBUH Country Representative for Greece
http://www.ctbuh.org/People/AlexVandoros/tabid/523/Default.aspx

Sources: CTBUH Journal | 2011 Issue 3, www.ctbuh.org