Exceptional skyscrapers: the International Highrise Awards
November 3, 2016
Sustainability and quality of life are essential features of modern architecture. The International Highrise Award honors an innovative skyscraper that combines these aspects in an exemplary way.
Image: Bjarke Ingels Group, Nic Lehoux
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The finalists of the International Highrise Award 2016
Sustainability and quality of life are essential features of modern architecture. The International Highrise Award honors an innovative skyscraper that combines these aspects in an exemplary way.
Image: Bjarke Ingels Group, Nic Lehoux
The 2016 winner: VIA 57 West, New York
This "skyscraper" designed by the Danish architect Bjarke Ingels only rises 142 meters (467 feet) and is 35 stories tall, but it was chosen as the world's most innovative tall building. The over 700 apartments this pyramidal structure contains are built around an interior courtyard and enjoy a view on the Hudson River, making the VIA 57 West a charming "courtscraper."
Image: Bjarke Ingels Group, Nic Lehoux
Four World Trade Center, New York
The skyscraper designed by the Pritzker Prize-winner Fumihiko Maki looks like a very minimalist sculpture. Part of the new World Trade Center complex, the office building was the second one to be built to replace the towers destroyed on September 11, 2001. The colorless mirror glass reflects the surrounding buildings, allowing the tower to almost disappear when seen from certain angles.
Image: Maki & Associates, TECTONIC
Sky Habitat, Singapore
This finalist in Singapore also looks like a sculpture. These twin towers designed by the Canadian-Israeli architect and city planner Moshe Safdie house 509 residential units and include rooftop gardens and swimming pools. Peter Cachola Schmal, director of the German Architecture Museum, describes the building as "a new, fascinating concept of the vertical city."
Image: Safdie Architects, Edward Hendricks
432 Park Avenue, New York
Completed in 2015, this high-rise designed by US architect Rafael Viñoly is the second-highest skyscraper in Manhattan and the highest residential building in the world. It is 426 meters high (1,396 feet) and holds 88 stories with 105 apartments. They start at $10 million a piece.
Image: Viñoly, DBOX
SkyVille@Dawson, Singapore
The architects of the firm WOHA aim to develop residential projects that improve the ecological and social conditions of southeast Asian mega-cities. The SkyVille@Dawson is an outstanding example of their interpretation of modern social housing: It includes 960 apartments that are grouped in small "villages" with common areas to reduce the usual stress and anonymity of such buildings.
Image: WOHA Architects, Patrick Bingham-Hall
The 2014 winner: Bosco Verticale
The International Highrise Award is granted every two years in Frankfurt. In 2014, the 50,000-euro prize went to the team that designed the residential building Bosco Vertical in Milan, Italy. Including some 900 trees and bushes, the two towers conceived by Italian architect Stefano Boeri are among the greenest in the world. The prize honors architecture that combine sustainability and design.
Image: Boeri Studio/K. Bucher
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Danish architect Bjarke Ingels' pyramid-like residential building in Manhattan, described as a "courtscraper" on the Hudson river, won the International Highrise Award on Wednesday.
The prize recognizes the world's most innovative tall building and is considered one of the most important architecture awards worldwide.
Every two years since 2004, the International Highrise Award has selected a structure that combines outstanding spatial design and innovative functionality. Buildings need to be at least 100 meters high to be considered for this award and must have been completed within the last 24 months.
The award is jointly organized by the city of Frankfurt, the German Architecture Museum and DekaBank. It includes a 50,000-euro ($55,000) prize.
No European finalists
Thirty structures from 14 countries entered the competition, among which the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. However, only two countries made it into the final round.
The shortlist of five finalists included three buildings in New York - the Four World Trade Center, the 432 Park Avenue and VIA 57 West - along with two skyscrapers from Singapore - the SkyHabitat and the SkyVille@Dawson. The picture gallery above reveals some of the features of these exceptional buildings.
An exhibition with the best structures of the year will be on show at the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt from November 4, 2016, through January 15, 2017.
