Skyscrapers of the Year
Annually, every summer the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH ) names the Best Tall Buildings of the year. June 19 in Chicago four buildings from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates were named as the best tall buildings in the world for 2014.
Many presented projects shown strong sustainability commitment, including greenery at height, and older buildings re-energized by thoughtful renovations. Eccentric shapes, new programs and uses challenge traditional perceptions of tall buildings. An overall winner for the “Best Tall Building Worldwide”, as well as the awardees in categories of Urban Habitat, 10-Year, Innovation, Lifetime Achievement and Worldwide awards will be named from the four regional winners, following presentations from the owners and architects of each building, at the CTBUH 13th Annual Awards Symposium, which will take place at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, on November 6. The Council received 88 entries from around the world for the Best Tall Building awards. The largest number of entries was from Asia, with a significant number also from Europe.
This year’s group of entries was remarkable in that it contained a number of fantastic renovation projects (including Winner, The Edith Green- Wendell Wyatt Federal Building, Portland; and Finalist, United Nations Secretariat Building, New York), projects that incorporated vertical greenery in new and exciting ways (including Winner, One Central Park, Sydney; and Finalists, Abeno Harukas, Osaka and Ideo Morph 38, Bangkok), and a variety of programs and uses that have historically not been accommodated in buildings, such as higher education (including Finalist, The Jockey Club Innovation Tower, Hong Kong). New horizons in form were pushed aggressively, yielding towers in “wheel” or “doughnut” shape and playing off proximity to water (see Finalist, Sheraton Tai Lake Resort, Huzhou), a twisting helix (see Winner, Cayan Tower, Dubai), and towers that curve in all dimensions (see Finalist the Point, Guayaquil, Ecuador).
“The submissions this year reflect the incredible diversity of tall buildings being built around the world,” said Jeanne Gang, awards jury chair and founding principal of Studio Gang Architects. “Even more so, they reflect the dawning of a global recognition that tall buildings have a critical role to play in a rapidly changing climate and urban environment.”
The CTBUH Best Tall Building Awards are an independent review of new projects, judged by a panel of industry experts. Projects are recognized for making an extraordinary contribution to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and for achieving sustainability at the broadest level. Winners and finalists are featured in the annual CTBUH Awards Book, which is published in conjunction with a major global publisher and distributed internationally each year.
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