On November 3, 2011, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat celebrated the best new tall buildings and honored the careers of an outstanding architect and engineer during its 10th annual Awards Ceremony & Dinner.  The award winning projects and individuals made presentations on their work during the Awards Symposium, held in the afternoon prior to the awards dinner.

CTBUH Chairman Timothy Johnson opening the Awards Symposium		Delegates in attendance

Over 600 tall building professionals from around the world and students of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) gathered in IIT's Herman Hall to attend the presentations of the regional award winners. Eight Spruce Street (New York, USA), Guangzhou International Finance Center (Guangzhou, China), KfW Westarkade (Frankfurt, Germany) and The Index (Dubai, UAE) represented the regional winners of the Americas, Asia & Australasia, Europe and Middle East & Africa respectively. Also present were Adrian Smith, partner of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill architecture as the recipient of the Lynn Beedle Award, and Dr. Akira Wada of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, who was awarded the Fazlur R. Khan Medal.

Adrian Smith, 2011 Lynn S. Beedle Award Winner		Burj Khalifa

First to present during the event was Adrian Smith. Being involved in the design of many of the world's tallest buildings, Mr. Smith did not require an introduction in the tall building world. Many would likely agree that he is a very deserving  winner of the award, which recognized an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall building and the urban environment during his or her professional career. Mr. Smith presented on a  significant number of tall buildings in which he was involved in as an architect. Some may have been surprised to hear that one of the first buildings that he worked on was the John Hancock Center in Chicago. Mr. Smith singled out contextualism as an important design criterion during his career, a focus that was later joined by sustainable and supertall building design.  Mr. Smith's firm is currently very much focused on the implementation of sustainable strategies and supertall buildings. During his career, Mr. Smith has also been developing the structural idea of multi-winged towers. Mr. Smith got the inspiration for this idea from Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's design for a tower on Berlin's Friedrichstraße in 1921. Almost 100 years later, this idea will culminate in his upcoming one kilometer tall Kingdom Tower project in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Joseph A. Rechichi of Forest City Ratner Companies		John Bowers of Gehry Partners		Eight Spruce Street

The first regional award winner that was honored was Eight Spruce Street in New York City. Developer Joseph A. Rechichi of Forest City Ratner Companies and architect John Bowers of Gehry Partners presented the project as a great example of a building which represents the current emerging trend of three-dimensional facades. As their symposium presentation showed, the draping fabric-like quality is made possible by innovative and tight-knit computer technologies which controlled the process through design, fabrication, and installation. It was fascinating to see how information technology helped to translate the initial design sketches into something that takes a buildable shape without losing the creative intention. It's also equally impressive to see how all of the companies involved had to cooperate to make these complicated shapes possible.

Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre Architects		Michael Kwok of Arup		Guangzhou International Finance Center

To present on the winner for the best tall building in Asia & Australasia were architect Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre Architects and engineer Michael Kwok of Arup. The Guangzhou International Finance Center was commended for the elegant simplicity of its form, but Wilkonson and Kwok's presentation revealed that when looking deeper into the project, it is much more complex than it may appear. Large ambitions required extremely fast schemes for the design and the construction of theproject, as the completion of this landmark was tied to the opening of the Asian Games in 2010. Mr. Wilkinson also openly spoke of the ambitions that he didn't get to realize, such as a double skin facade.  With a height of 440 meters (1,444 feet) the building became the ninth tallest in the world at the time of its completion. The presentations showed that the design of the tower utilizes the world’s tallest constructed diagrad structure, which does not require the use of outriggers. Because the structure has been made visible through the use of transparent glass, the visibility of this structure adds a layer of depth, strength and character to the building.

Axel Hinterthan of KfW Bankengruppe		Matthias Sauerbruch of Sauerbruch Hutton		KfW Westarkade, Frankfurt

Sustainability has been an important focus within the current tall building world, and the winner of the award for the best tall building in Europe was another great example of what sustainable ambitions can translate into when thinking tall. The holistic approach to sustainability, with which the extension of the KfW Westarkade complex in Frankfurt was designed, makes it one of the most energy-efficient office buildings in the world. Axel Hinterthan  commissioner of KfW Bankengruppe and Matthias Sauerbruch & Louisa Hutton of the architectural practice of Sauerbruch Hutton presented on the project. The height of the building allows for a facade with operable windows, making naturally ventilated spaces possible. The expected return on investment of roughly 20 years is a testament to the dedication of the commissioner, which being a banking corporation appreciates long term investments. As the symposium’s Q&A session outlined these strategies are not only about bringing the energy costs down, but it also allows for higher staff productivity resulting from a more pleasant working environment, and as such creating a large indirect return on investment.

Thomas Wiegand of Union Properties		Toby Blunt of Foster + Partners		The Index, Dubai

The award winner for the best tall building in the Middle East & Africa was another example of sustainable design, but in a very different context. Thomas Wiegand of investor Union Properties and Toby Blunt of architecture firm Foster + Partners explained that more than implementing instrumental strategies, The Index in Dubai incorporates many passive design strategies given its climatic environment. The multi-purpose building is oriented to reduce solar gain and employs a system of sunshades on the exposed south elevation. A series of pools create a cool micro-climate around the tower’s base and entry. 

Dr. Akira Wada, 2011 Fazlur R. Khan Medal Winner		1995 Kobe Earthquake

The Fazlur R. Khan Lifetime Achievement Medal winner Dr. Akira Wada concluded the symposium with a presentation that aimed at creating awareness for the dangers of seismic activity. Dr. Wada has contributed greatly to the understanding and development of tall building structures in seismically active regions. Many people take the risk of an earthquake occurrence for granted and often time criticize engineers and others when structures are compromised. Wada impressed the audience with a long line of named historic earthquakes and the damage which they produced (as the Japanese tend to name earthquakes), to distinguish one from another. Dr. Wada also presented some footage taken inside a testing facility, which depicted the damage done to an unsupported structure and one that was strengthened by a damping device he helped to develop. This created an awareness of the dramatic impact the forces of an earthquake can have on a structure, and how important it is to design structures to withstand these dramatic events.

Q&A session		Question from the audience

In summation this year's winners demonstrated that height still matters, but also that leading by example when it comes to implementing sustainable strategies, technical advancement and contemporary design may matter even more.

Visit the report of the evening's Awards Ceremony & Dinner to see which of the regional Best Tall Building winners took the Overall Best Tall Building Worldwide Award.

The CTBUH wishes to thank all speakers for their inspiring presentations, the Illinois Institute of Technology for hosting the symposium, and all sponsors for making this free event possible.