BIG's VIA 57 West wins latest Emporis Skyscraper Award

Another cycle of the Emporis Skyscraper Awards has come to an end. This year 700 eligible skyscrapers worldwide, which were completed in 2016 and are at least 100 meters tall, vied to win the top prize for best new skyscraper of the year. In the end, the jury picked Bjarke Ingels Group's pyramid-shaped VIA 57 West in New York City as the overall winner.

In recent years, the top prize went to the Shanghai Tower,  Zaha Hadid's Wangjing SOHO, Renzo Piano's The Shard in London, the Absolute World Towers in Mississauga, and Frank Gehry's 8 Spruce Street in New York City. 

Other top-ten winning towers this year include the Torre Reforma in Mexico City, Mexico, the WOHA-designed Oasia Hotel Downtown in Singapore, the Elbphilharmonie concert hall by Herzog & de Meuron, to name a few. Scroll down for a look at the top ten winners.

1. VIA 57 West
Height: 467 feet
Floors: 34 
Location: New York City
Architects: Bjarke Ingels Group, Schuman, Lichtenstein, Claman & Efron

Designed as a courtscraper, a combination of a skyscraper and a courtyard building, VIA 57 West features a sloped facade on the south side with terraces that look toward the Hudson River. As BIG’s first completed residential building in North America, the building also offers 36 affordable apartments among its otherwise ultraluxe residences. VIA 57 West is a hybrid between an European perimeter block and a classic American skyscraper.

2. Torre Reforma
Height: 804 ft
Floors: 57
Location: Mexico City
Architect: LBR Arquitectos

Currently Mexico City's tallest building and the world's tallest exposed concrete structure, Torre Reforma is composed of two exposed concrete walls and one main glass façade. The concrete walls protect the interior from direct sunlight and reduces the cooling load. Mexico City is known for its high seismic activity. For this reason, Torre Reforma has a triangular footprint and combined with the latest engineering knowledge, it is supposed to withstand heavy winds and earthquakes for the next 2,500 years.

3. Oasia Hotel Downtown
Height: 624 ft
Floors: 27
Location: Singapore
Architect: WOHA Architects Pte. Ltd.

The project stands out with a remarkable red façade and 21 different species of plants in 1,793 planter boxes turning into an urban oasis. The facade is overgrown with different vines to ensure the building's facade is always lush and resilient during different weather conditions. Moreover, the tower offers four open sky gardens which allows wind to pass through the building for good ventilation.

4. MahaNakhon
Height: 1,031 ft
Floors: 77
Location: Bangkok
Architect: Büro Ole Scheeren

MahaNakhon, which is Thailand’s tallest building, is also known as the Pixel Tower because of its ‘pixelated’ cutaway that wraps around the exterior. The building features 209 apartments and 155 hotel rooms.

5. Elbphilharmonie
Height: 361 ft
Floors: 25
Location: Hamburg
Architect: Kallmorgen & Partner, Herzog & de Meuron

Elbphilharmonie replaced the Kaiserspeicher building, while leaving the existing former storage facility. The warehouse structure at the base of the new building was originally designed by Kallmorgen & Partner and completed in 1966. The structure includes an observation plaza below the glassy superstructure that is open to the general public. 

6. 56 Leonard Street
Height: 821 ft
Floors: 57
Location: New York City
Architect: Herzog & de Meuron

Foundation work on this tower began in 2008, but was shut down before the end of the year when the project was put on hold. After nearly four years, construction finally resumed in October of 2012.

7. CTF Finance Centre
Height: 1,739 ft
Floors: 111
Location: Guangzhou
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Upon its completion in 2016, the building will feature the world's fastest elevators at a maximum speed of 72 kph (approx. 45 mph).

8. The L Tower
Height: 673 ft
Floors: 59
Location: Toronto
Architect: Studio Daniel Libeskind

The tower is part of the redevelopment of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, and it serves as a bridge between the buildings of the financial district and the historic St. Lawrence cultural neighborhood. The form of the Tower ensures that it doesn’t cast shadows on Berczy Park towards the north.

9. Beijing Greenland Dawangjing Tower
Height: 853 ft
Floors: 55
Location: Beijing
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

Located in the Dawangjing business district, the tower features a trapezoid-clad exterior with glass panels. The building has a self-shading facade to enhance the building’s environmental performance.

10. Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower
Height: 757 ft
Floors: 43
Location: Tokyo
Architect: Nikken Sekkei Ltd.

The tower, which functions as the headquarters of television station TV Tokio, is located in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, adjacent to the Izumi Garden Tower. It features the largest passenger-type elevators in Japan.