World's best tall buildings honored at the CTBUH 2025 Award of Excellence

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has unveiled the winners of its 2025 Award of Excellence. The annual award series seeks to honor built and unbuilt tall buildings that “respond to current global challenges and demonstrate the vital role of tall buildings in the 21st century.” 

The 2025 winners span 20 countries and 20 categories. According to the organizers, the 2025 projects “exemplify creative and technical leadership across the gamut of sustainable vertical urbanism.” 

“This year’s cohort demonstrates not only technical sophistication and design ingenuity but also an ability to respond to the circumstances shaping the world right now—from regional issues and economic challenges to the accelerating climate crisis,” according to Javier Quintana de Uña, CEO of CTBUH. “These projects prove that tall buildings and the vertical urbanism they engender can instigate better quality of life, ecological resilience and urban equity simultaneously. That’s the direction our industry must move in.” 

The projects will now be presented at the CTBUH 2025 International Conference taking place from 6-9 October in Toronto, where the ‘best in category’ awards will be announced. In the meantime, the 2025 winners are as follows:

Best Tall Building, by Height, Under 100 meters

• Eden, Frankfurt am Main, Germany by JAHN
• One River North, Denver, United States by MAD Architects 
• Populus, Denver, United States by Studio Gang
• Sirius, Sydney, Australia by BVN Architecture
• Sun Tower, Yantai, China by OPEN Architecture
• T3 Bayside, Toronto, Canada by 3XN

Best Tall Building, by Height, 100 to 199 meters

• Alberni by Kengo Kuma, Vancouver, Canada by Kengo Kuma and Associates
• EDGE East Side Berlin, Berlin, Germany by BIG
• Graduate Tower at Site 4, Cambridge, United States by NADAAA
• Habitat Qinhuangdao, Qinhuangdao, China by Safdie Architects
• Shanghai Poly Pukai Financial Center, Shanghai, China by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF)
• The Henderson, Hong Kong, China by Zaha Hadid Architects
• ZIN in No(o)rd, Brussels, Belgium by Jaspers-Eyers Architects

Best Tall Building, by Height, 200 to 299 meters

• CITIC International Building, Shenzhen, China by von Gerkan, Marg + Partners (gmp)
• Karlatornet, Göteborg, Sweden by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
• Queen’s Wharf, Brisbane, Australia by Cottee Parker Architects 
• The Axiom, Shanghai, China by Büro Ole Scheeren

Best Tall Building, by Height, 300 meters and above

• Ciel Tower, Dubai, UAE by NORR Group Consultants International Limited 
• CITMARK CENTRE, Shenzhen, China by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates 
• Merdeka 118, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Fender Katsalidis Architects 
• Ping An Financial Center, Jinan, China by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates 
• Zhangjiang Science Gate Twin Towers, Shanghai, China by Gensler 

Best Tall Building, by Region, Americas

• 1900 Lawrence, Denver, United States by Goettsch Partners
• 64 University Place, New York City, United States by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates 
• Alberni by Kengo Kuma, Vancouver, Canada by Kengo Kuma and Associates
• Five Park, Miami Beach, United States by Arquitectonica
• Graduate Tower at Site 4, Cambridge, United States by NADAAA
• One Madison Avenue, New York City, United States by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates 
• One River North, Denver, United States by MAD Architects 
• Ontario Court of Justice – Toronto, Toronto, Canada by Renzo Piano Building Workshop 
• Populus, Denver, United States by Studio Gang 
• T3 Bayside, Toronto, Canada by 3XN by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture 
• TD Terrace, Toronto, Canada by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
• The Eight, Bellevue, United States by Pickard Chilton
• Winthrop Center, Boston, United States by Handel Architects

Best Tall Building, by Region, Asia

• CITYMARK CENTRE, Shenzhen, China by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates 
• Habitat Qinhuangdao, Qinhuangdao, China by Safdie Architects 
• Merdeka 118, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by Fender Katsalidis Architects 
• Shanghai Poly Pukai Financial Center, Shanghai, China by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
• Shenzhen Transsion Holding Headquarters, Shenzhen, China by Aedas 
• The Henderson, Hong Kong, China by Zaha Hadid Architects 

Best Tall Building, by Region, Europe

• EDGE East Side Berlin, Berlin, Germany by Bjarke Ingels Group 
• Karlatornet, Göteborg, Sweden by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
• ZIN in No(o)rd, Brussels, Belgium by Jaspers-Eyers Architects

Best Tall Building, by Region, Middle East & Africa

• Act One Act Two, Dubai, UAE by Perkins Eastman and Archgroup Consultants
• Azrieli Center Modi’in, Modi’in-Maccabim-Re’ut, Israel by Kimmel Eshkolot Architects
• Ciel Tower, Dubai, UAE by NORR Group Consultants International Limited 
• Landmark TLV Tower A, Tel Aviv, Israel by Yashar Architects
• Sabah Al Salem University City – Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Best Tall Building, by Region, Oceania

• 1 Elizabeth, Sydney, Australia by Johnson Pilton Walker
• 39 Martin Place, Sydney, Australia by Tzannes
• Indi Sydney, Sydney, Australia by Bates Smart 
• Queen’s Wharf, Brisbane, Australia by Cottee Parker Architects 
• Sirius, Sydney, Australia by BVN Architecture 

Urban Habitat Award

• CIBC Square 1, Toronto, Canada
• Dongguan Central Park, Dongguan, China
• Galtaport Istanbul, Istanbul, Türkiye
• St. John’s Terminal, New York City, United States
• Tamachi Tower, Tokyo, Japan
• The Well, Toronto, Canada

Future Project Award

• 63 St. Mary Axe, London, UK
• Dubai Edition Hotel: Vertical Oasis, Dubai, UAE
• False Creek Mass Timber Community, Vancouver, Canada
• Forbes International Tower, Cairo, Egypt
• Lawrence East – TOC (Transit-Oriented Community), Toronto, Canada
• Philadelphia TOD, Philadelphia, United States
• Regenerative Tree, Tokyo, Japan
• Tencent Helix, Shenzhen, China
• Vertical Landscapes, Tokyo, Japan

10 Year Award

• Al Marya Tower, Abu Dhabi, UAE by Goettsch Partners
• BBVA México Tower, Mexico City, Mexico by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners 
• Grogan | Dove Federal Office Building, Miramar, United States by Krueck Sexton Partners
• Shanghai Tower, Shanghai, China by Gensler
• Sky Habitat, Singapore by Safdie Architects

Construction Award

• 8 Phillip Street, Parramatta, Australia
• CCFED Science and Innovation Building, Guangzhou, China
• Central Bank of Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq
• Construction Logistics at Varso Tower, Warsaw, Poland
• Istanbul Finance Center, Istanbul, Türkiye
• One Bloor West, Toronto, Canada
• Southbank Place, London, UK
• Wasl Tower, Dubai, UAE

Repositioning Award

• JingIN International Center, Beijing, China
• PENN 2, New York City, United States
• Tribune Tower, Chicago, United States 
• ZIN in No(o)rd, Brussels, Belgium

Innovation Award

• (Re)Euston – Towards Concrete Reuse at Scale
• Cast Steel Solution for CIBC Tower II, Toronto, Canada
• In-situ Monitoring of Hybrid Pile/Raft Foundation System, London, UK
• Innovative Lateral Stability Solution for Repurposing a Partly-Built Supertall Tower into a Modern Sustainable Asset, Dubai, UAE
• Leafy: Artificial Gardens of Kinetic Leaves that Help Shape Actual Parks
• LIFTbuild
• MMC in High-Rise Residential Buildings (Mace’s HRS System), London, UK
• Silva: Next-Generation Mass Timber Urbanism, Vancouver, Canada
• Solar Chimney in Super High-Rise Building, Robotics in Construction, Guangzhou, China

Structure Award

• One Bloor West, Toronto, Canada
• One Pearl Bank, Singapore
• Sydney Metro Martin Place Integrated Station Development (SMMPISD), Sydney, Australia
• Tree of Life, Xi’an, China

Façade Award

• China Merchants Bank Global Headquarters, Shenzhen, China
• Guohua Financial Center, Shanghai, China
• TD Terrace, Toronto, Canada
• The Henderson, Hong Kong, China
• Wasl Tower, Dubai, UAE

Systems Award

• 40 Leadenhall London, London, UK
• CCFED Science and Innovation Building, Guangzhou, China
• Kurita Innovation Hub, Tokyo, Japan
• Metro Martin Place Disappearing Access Machines and Transformer Crane, Sydney, Australia
• Punggol Digital District, Singapore

Space Within Award

• Booking.com City Campus, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• COFCO Qianhai Innovation Center, Shenzhen, China
• Landmark TLV Tower A, Tel Aviv, Israel
• Scotiabank North Flagship, Toronto, Canada
• The Henderson, Hong Kong, China

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Award

• 495 Eleventh Avenue, New York City, United States
• Employee Resource Groups Support Belonging
• Sabah Al Salem University City – Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait