CTBUH announces 2015 Best Tall Buildings regional winners

It's that time of year again when the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat announces the regional winners for Best Tall Buildings. Every year, a jury of industry experts acknowledge new projects that have contributed significantly to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment. Achieving exemplary sustainability is also recognized.

Compared to 88 entries last year, 2015 brought in 123 submissions. Out of the nominated projects, one winner was selected in the four regional categories:

• Americas: One World Trade Center, New York, USA
• Asia & Australia: CapitaGreen, Singapore
• Europe: Bosco Verticale, Milan, Italy
• Middle East & Africa: Burj Mohammed Bin Rashid Tower, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Out of the regional winners, one overall winner for the “Best Tall Building Worldwide” will be officially announced at the CTBUH 14th Annual Awards Symposium dinner at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago on November 12. The Symposium will also feature a presentation series from the owners and architects of each building.

Check out the winners below.

AMERICAS Winner: One World Trade Center

"One World Trade Center is a new landmark for New York City rising from the northwest corner of the 16-acre (six-hectare) World Trade Center site. The building’s podium has a square plan that matches the dimensions of the first World Trade Center towers, while its roof and parapet heights also symbolically reference the heights of the original buildings. The tower’s eight stainless-steel edges also recall the reflective corners of the first twin towers. Its four corners slope gently from the first office level inward until, at the roof, the floor plan again forms a square but rotated 45 degrees from the base quadrangle, and with a reduced dimension. Depending on the viewer’s perspective and angle of light, in turn, One World Trade Center appears as a rectangular solid or a tapering obelisk. 

A luminous glass curtain wall sheaths the tower on all sides from the 20th floor to the observatory, which contributes to the tower’s crystalline elegance.. Designers worked with industry experts to develop glass of unprecedented scale, capable of withstanding the wind loads of supertall construction while meeting stringent security requirements. Insulated glass units span the full floor-to-floor height of each story with no intermediate mullions – a first in skyscraper construction."

ASIA & AUSTRALIA Winner - Capita Green

"CapitaGreen is located within Singapore’s central business district and in close proximity to the extended downtown Marina Bay. Greeting those entering the structure is an expansive lobby that has a triple-height ceiling and handcrafted Kakiotoshi (earth plaster) walls. Along with its ornate design, the building is unique in that it became the first in Singapore to use Supercrete, an ultra-high-strength concrete which significantly reduced the amount of concrete needed, resulting in a savings of energy and manpower.

The building is designed like a plant growing towards the sky. Green living vegetation covers 55 percent of the perimeter of its façade, giving the landmark its iconic appearance. Its innovative double-skin façade features an outer layer of frameless glass and an inner envelope of double-glazed floor-to-ceiling glass that reduces solar heat gain by up to 26 percent. At the top of the tower, a petal-like structure serves as a wind scoop to draw in the cooler, cleaner air from above and channel it though a cool void that penetrates all 34 stories of the building delivering fresh air to tenants."

EUROPE Winner - Bosco Verticale

"Bosco Verticale, literally 'Vertical Forest,' is one of the most intensive living green façades ever realized. It utilizes an architectural concept that replaces traditional cladding materials with screens of vegetation creating a distinct microclimate that works to improve the sustainability of the structure. This type of design creates an urban ecosystem that encourages interaction between the flora, fauna, and the apartments’ residents. The tower is home to 480 big and medium size trees, 250 small size trees, 11,000 groundcover plants and 5,000 shrubs, which is equivalent to an entire hectare of forest cover.  Along with creating a beautiful façade, the incorporation of vegetation into the structure adds a number of sustainable design elements. The foliage acts to improve air quality by filtering out dust and sequestering carbon, while also mitigating the urban heat island effect and reducing noise pollution. As a whole, the living green façade concurrently stimulates interaction with the surrounding environment while also protecting against it."

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA Winner - Burj Mohammed Bin Rashid Tower

"The Burj Mohammed Bin Rashid Tower is located in the heart of Abu Dhabi at the site of the old Central Market, a traditional crossroads and meeting point in the city. A souk extends the marketplace into the building, facilitating a gentle transition between public and private spaces. A smooth, sleek, and reflective façade is designed to require minimal amounts of maintenance in such a dusty environment. Meanwhile, layers of internal shading control glare and unwanted heat gain. The exterior envelope of the tower undulates in waves as it wraps around the core. This glass cladding creates a mirage effect that alludes to its geographic context.

The billowing design of the tower generates unique floor plans that deviate widely from those found in a typical tall building, resulting in an assortment of multiform spaces. Apartment layouts maximize living space at the corners of the structure, emphasizing its curvature and providing dual-aspect views. Shared services are controlled by a centralized automated system in order to optimize energy performance and local building materials were used wherever possible during construction to reduce the economic and environmental costs of transporting imported materials."

Check out each region's finalists in the thumbnail gallery below.