Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award
Helmut Jahn: Archi-neering Tall
Helmut Jahn, Founding Principal, Murphy/Jahn

Never predictable, never simplistic, Helmut Jahn has developed a complex portfolio of iconic buildings around the world. Standout projects include the Sony Center in Berlin, Xerox Center in Chicago, Liberty Place in Philadelphia and the new MGM Veer Towers in Las Vegas. Once defined as a modernist, he broke away from rigid labels to create his own blends of efficient structures, paving the way for a new era of sustainable buildings.

Best Tall Building Featured Finalist
Al Hamra Firdous Tower: The Sculpted Tower
Aybars Asci, Director, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Mark Sarkisian, Director of Structural Engineering, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

The Al Hamra Firdous Tower was intended to stand as an icon to symbolize national pride, while also providing highly leasable office space. To successfully create the delicate form of the tower and the unique spaces within, extensive structural considerations were made.  The tower has curved east, north, and west façades that are clad in vision glass, providing clear views of the surrounding city and Kuwait Bay while also optimizing the spaces against glare and heat gain.

Best Tall Building Featured Finalist
Complesso Garibaldi Tower 2
Gianni Bardazzi, Vice President, Maire Tecnimont S.p.A
Massimo Roj, Design Architect, Progetto CMR

Complesso Garibaldi Tower 2, originally constructed in the 1980s, represents a fresh interpretation of an aging building. It is commended for its adaptive reuse of an existing structure, preserving the embodied energy of that structure. In addition, the façade design in both aesthetic and energy terms is exemplary.

Tall Building Innovation Award
Al Bahar: Innovating the Intelligent Skin
Peter Oborn, Deputy Chairman, Aedas Architects Ltd
Peter Chipchase, Associate Director, Arup

The Al Bahar Tower’s innovative dynamic façade opens and closes in response to the movement of the sun, reducing solar gain by more than 50 percent, creating a more comfortable internal environment for occupants and producing a distinctive external aesthetic which helps to define the building as a gateway to the UAE capital. The façade is a contemporary interpretation of the traditional Islamic “mashrabiya” and used as a device for achieving privacy while reducing glare and solar gain.

Best Tall Building Americas
Absolute Towers: Anthropomorphic Iconography
Joe Cordiano, Partner, Cityzen Development
Ma Yansong, Founding Principal, MAD Architects

Dubbed the “Marilyn Monroe” building, due to its sexy curves, Absolute Towers has added a new landmark to the skyline of Mississauga, a fast-growing suburb of Toronto. The architects sought to add something “naturalistic, delicate and human in contrast to the backdrop of listless, boxy buildings.” The design features smooth, unbroken balconies that wrap each floor of the building. The torsional form of the towers is underpinned with a surprisingly simple structural solution.

Best Tall Building Asia & Australasia
1 Bligh Street: Engaging the Environment
Bruce McDonald, Managing Director, DEXUS Properties
Christoph Ingenhoven, Founder, ingenhoven architects

A difficult site in Sydney’s central business district was transformed by 1 Bligh Street’s elliptical tower, which offers tenants several ground-breaking technological advances. The centerpiece is Australia’s tallest naturally ventilated skylit atrium, trimmed in glass and aluminum, which soars the full height of the building. Other innovations include a double-skin, naturally-ventilated glass façade and a hybrid system using gas and solar energy to generate cooling, heating and electricity for the building.

Best Tall Building Europe
Palazzo Lombardia: Urban Integration
Roberto Formigoni, President, Regione Lombardia
Henry Cobb, Founding Partner, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

Palazzo Lombardia, the first CTBUH award winner from Italy, turns a government office complex into a new public space for Milan. The project, anchored by a 160-meter-tall tower, offers a variety of open spaces that enliven the neighborhood. Sustainability measures include green roofs and active climate walls with vertical blades that rotate to provide shade. The central piazza is covered by a curved, clear ETFE roof, recalling Milan’s famous Galleria.

Best Tall Building Middle East & Africa
Doha Tower: Reflecting Culture
Hassan Al Duhaimi, CEO, HBS Company
Hafid Rakem, Architect Partner, Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Fazlur R. Khan Lifetime Achievement Medal
Charles Thornton & Richard Tomasetti:  A Lifetime’s Engineering Collaboration
Charles Thornton & Richard Tomasetti, Founding Principals, Thornton Tomasetti