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International Highrise Award 2020 goes to OMA's Norra Tornen in Stockholm

By Alexander Walter|

Thursday, Oct 29, 2020

Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

The biennial International Highrise Award just announced this year's grand prize winner: Norra Tornen, a new two-tower residential development in the center of Stockholm. 

Standing 110 meters (32 floors) and 125 meter (36 floors) tall respectively, the prominent concrete structure with its facetted facade is currently the highest residential building in the city's center and the first realized project in Sweden for its architects, Rotterdam-based OMA. 

The design emerged as the winning entry from this 2013 competition.

Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

"For me, the award came somewhat unexpectedly because I never considered the Norra Tornen towers to be high-rise buildings," Reinier de Graaf, OMA Partner in Charge of the project, said in response to today's announcement. "They are very different from the conventional idea of a skyscraper. They are not monumental but homely, and their aesthetics are informal. At the same time, they embody diversity and not repetition. We are delighted to be getting more and more requests from other countries that want similar projects, and this award will certainly help to raise the profile of Norra Tornen even further.”

Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

Peter Cahorla Schmal, Director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) which organizes the International Highrise Award in conjunction with the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, said: "Norra Tornen is a refreshing entrance to the city, recalling structuralist models of brutalism from the 1960s such as the Habitat from Expo67 in Montreal, skillfully transforming them and enriching the city with a new urban dominant, with apartments for all."

Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

Norra Tornen was chosen from a field of 31 nominated projects and ultimately beat out four finalist rivals: Omniturm in Frankfurt am Main, Germany by BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group, Eden in Singapore by Heatherwick Studio, The Stratford in London, UK by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and Leeza SOHO in Beijing, China by Zaha Hadid Architects.

Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

This is OMA's first International Highrise Award win after having been nominated before for two of its prominent high-rise buildings: TVCC in Beijing in 2008 and De Rotterdam in Rotterdam in 2014.

RELATED NEWS New details on OMA's Norra Tornen twin towers in Stockholm
RELATED NEWS Take a look at the 2020 eVolo Skyscraper Competition winners
RELATED NEWS The top new skyscrapers, engineering feats, and urban habitats recognized with CTBUH's 2020 Awards of Excellence

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competition ● oma ● skyscraper ● europe ● reinier de graaf ● norra tornen ● stockholm ● sweden ● scandinavia ● international highrise award ● high-rise ● tower ● tors torn
OMA (The Office for Metropolitan Architecture)
OMA (The Office for Metropolitan Architecture) Hiring!

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    5 Comments

  • Thomas Dingbat ·  Oct 30, 20 12:48 AM

    zaha project is clearly better

  • randomised
    randomised

    randomised ·  Oct 30, 20 10:11 AM

    well deserved winner, much better from an urban point of view than any of the other ones listed here (big, zaha, som, heatherwick)

  • Chemex
    Chemex

    Chemex ·  Nov 02, 20 8:46 PM

    The trend seems to be neo-structuralism but without the spatial experience of Kahn and without any community elements like a grand lobby, garden, or dynamic in between spaces a la Habitat. Do like the Rudolph style fluted concrete.

  • CC Chiang ·  Nov 02, 20 9:15 PM

    These are developer driven projects, with the financiers and businessmen setting the agenda, marketing firms branding the building, and the architects working within strict economic confines. Neither program nor budget are in the architect's control.

  • Chemex
    Chemex

    Chemex ·  Nov 03, 20 2:48 PM

    Developers, of projects like these and “affordable” housing need to rediscover essential interior social spaces like hallways, grand lobbies, and other things instead of exterior formal dynamics 

  • Comment as :

International Highrise Award 2020 goes to OMA's Norra Tornen in Stockholm

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International Highrise Award 2020 goes to OMA's Norra Tornen in Stockholm

By Alexander Walter|

Thursday, Oct 29, 2020

Share

Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

Related

competition ● oma ● skyscraper ● europe ● reinier de graaf ● norra tornen ● stockholm ● sweden ● scandinavia ● international highrise award ● high-rise ● tower ● tors torn
OMA (The Office for Metropolitan Architecture)
OMA (The Office for Metropolitan Architecture) Hiring!

The biennial International Highrise Award just announced this year's grand prize winner: Norra Tornen, a new two-tower residential development in the center of Stockholm. 

Standing 110 meters (32 floors) and 125 meter (36 floors) tall respectively, the prominent concrete structure with its facetted facade is currently the highest residential building in the city's center and the first realized project in Sweden for its architects, Rotterdam-based OMA. 

The design emerged as the winning entry from this 2013 competition.

Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

"For me, the award came somewhat unexpectedly because I never considered the Norra Tornen towers to be high-rise buildings," Reinier de Graaf, OMA Partner in Charge of the project, said in response to today's announcement. "They are very different from the conventional idea of a skyscraper. They are not monumental but homely, and their aesthetics are informal. At the same time, they embody diversity and not repetition. We are delighted to be getting more and more requests from other countries that want similar projects, and this award will certainly help to raise the profile of Norra Tornen even further.”

Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

Peter Cahorla Schmal, Director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) which organizes the International Highrise Award in conjunction with the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, said: "Norra Tornen is a refreshing entrance to the city, recalling structuralist models of brutalism from the 1960s such as the Habitat from Expo67 in Montreal, skillfully transforming them and enriching the city with a new urban dominant, with apartments for all."

Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

Norra Tornen was chosen from a field of 31 nominated projects and ultimately beat out four finalist rivals: Omniturm in Frankfurt am Main, Germany by BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group, Eden in Singapore by Heatherwick Studio, The Stratford in London, UK by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and Leeza SOHO in Beijing, China by Zaha Hadid Architects.

Photograph by Laurian Ghinitoiu, Courtesy of OMA

This is OMA's first International Highrise Award win after having been nominated before for two of its prominent high-rise buildings: TVCC in Beijing in 2008 and De Rotterdam in Rotterdam in 2014.

RELATED NEWS New details on OMA's Norra Tornen twin towers in Stockholm
RELATED NEWS Take a look at the 2020 eVolo Skyscraper Competition winners
RELATED NEWS The top new skyscrapers, engineering feats, and urban habitats recognized with CTBUH's 2020 Awards of Excellence

Share

  • Follow

    5 Comments

  • Thomas Dingbat ·  Oct 30, 20 12:48 AM

    zaha project is clearly better

  • randomised

    randomised ·  Oct 30, 20 10:11 AM

    well deserved winner, much better from an urban point of view than any of the other ones listed here (big, zaha, som, heatherwick)

  • Chemex

    Chemex ·  Nov 02, 20 8:46 PM

    The trend seems to be neo-structuralism but without the spatial experience of Kahn and without any community elements like a grand lobby, garden, or dynamic in between spaces a la Habitat. Do like the Rudolph style fluted concrete.

  • CC Chiang ·  Nov 02, 20 9:15 PM

    These are developer driven projects, with the financiers and businessmen setting the agenda, marketing firms branding the building, and the architects working within strict economic confines. Neither program nor budget are in the architect's control.

  • Chemex

    Chemex ·  Nov 03, 20 2:48 PM

    Developers, of projects like these and “affordable” housing need to rediscover essential interior social spaces like hallways, grand lobbies, and other things instead of exterior formal dynamics 

  • Comment as :

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