_{Students from the M.TBVU Spring 2025 studio with the studio instructors and invited critics to the final reviews at IIT in Crown Hall Center Core.}

The M.TBVU Spring 2025 design studio program at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), led by Dr. Antony Wood, Director of M.TBVU and Dr. Yohan Kim, Associate Director of M.TBVU, explored alternative design approaches to create high-rise buildings that are inspired by the cultural, physical, and environmental aspects of place. The site for this project is a real site, “Dusit Central Park” being developed by Dusit Thani in the center of Bangkok, Thailand. Students were asked to undertake an urban study of the area to determine an appropriate response for both the program and design of a tall building, relative to the site.

With the generous support of Dusit Thani, the studio began with an extensive field trip to Bangkok to engage with the real issues of the site, city, and culture, and gain a deeper understanding of the city’s evolving urban and architectural landscape. During the trip, students developed compelling design agendas, which they later integrated into their design proposals. Each project required students to devise innovative design solutions that respond to local conditions and address both current and emerging challenges. The six final projects from the studio include:

• Breathing Tower

• High Rise Water Reservoir

• Knotted Commune

• Net Zero Tower

• Skybound Shophouses

• Village in the City

See the Final Outputs from Spring 2025  

_{Students of the Masters of Tall Buildings and Vertical Urbanism (MTBVU) program, alongside Dr. Antony Wood, Director of MTBVU Program,
gather at the rooftop of King Power MahaNakhon — Bangkok’s tallest tower — as part of the MTBVU field trip to Bangkok.}

In Spring 2025, M.TBVU students engaged in a series of remarkable learning experiences. In February, they constructed a 12-foot-tall tower entirely out of ice during subzero temperatures, using balloon-shaped molds and a snow-water mortar—an innovative, hands-on exercise that received widespread media coverage on major Chicago TV news channels. In early March, students visited Studio Gang’s Chicago office, where they learned about the firm’s internationally acclaimed high-rise work and the integration of intricate geometries into tall building design. Later that month, the group traveled to Milwaukee for an exclusive, top-to-bottom tour of Ascent—the world’s tallest timber-concrete hybrid building—along with visits to other notable projects. In early April, the students were also privileged to tour several of Chicago’s prominent recent developments, including One Chicago and 920 N. Wells. 

_{Left: In February 2025, M.TBVU students, led by Dr. Antony Wood, spent several days constructing a vertical tower made entirely of ice;
Right: M.TBVU students had the unique opportunity to visit Studio Gang’s Chicago office in March 2025, where they gained insights into the firm’s high-rise design work.}

On Thursday, 1 May 2025, in Crown Hall at IIT, the final presentations for the design studio occurred in front of the instructors and invited reviewers which included David Lillie, Principal, Goettsch Partners; Jason Fisher, Senior Associate Principal, SOM; Jorge Rovira, Senior Associate Principal, SOM; Juan Betancur, Director, AS+GG; and Kristina Eldrenkamp, Project Leader, Studio Gang. Students presented impressive and inspiring proposals for high-rise buildings as integral components of the urban fabric—moving beyond the typical extruded form to reflect the unique characteristics of the city. Each project incorporated “skyspaces,” designed as open-air and/or enclosed communal areas that enhance human experience while responding thoughtfully to the local climate. 

_{Left: Each student presentation began with a project introduction using storyboards alongside the site model, presented to invited critics and peers;
Right: Jyot Mankad and Jayraj Mistry explains their design titled “Knotted Commune” for the MTBVU Spring 2025 studio final reviews.}

Throughout the semester, students in the M.TBVU program also participated in two seminar courses that complemented the design studio. The first, Talking Tall II, examined the physical, environmental, and social sustainability aspects of urban density and tall buildings at human, architectural, and urban scales. Taught by Dr. Antony Wood, the course included a series of lectures on diverse topics, as well as several enriching activities and field experiences, as shown above. 

The second seminar course, Tall Building Technologies II, taught by Dr. Yohan Kim, focused on the environmental analysis of tall buildings through computational simulation. Students learned various techniques, including outdoor and indoor airflow analysis and convective heat transfer modeling. More importantly, the course emphasized how to integrate simulation results into the design process, helping students develop the ability to make informed design decisions based on their own interpretations and evaluation criteria. 

Examples of student work from the Tall Building Technologies II course, including analysis of airflow behavior around tall buildings (left) and pedestrian wind comfort across different design configurations.

On Friday 9 May, 2025, the IIT College of Architecture’s 2025 Open House, titled “Change in Plot,” began at 5:00 PM in Crown Hall. This year-end exhibition showcased student work from the 2024–25 academic year, including projects from the M.TBVU studios: "Artificial Intelligence (AI) in High-Rise Design," led by SOM in Fall 2024, and "High-Rise Design in Bangkok," led by Dr. Antony Wood and Dr. Yohan Kim in Spring 2025. Visitors not only explored the student projects but also learned more about recent developments in the M.TBVU program, featured along the west walls of Crown Hall’s Center Core. 

_{Left: An overview of the M.TBVU section at the IIT College of Architecture’s 2025 Open House;
Right: Numerous visitors explore student projects and activities from the M.TBVU program, highlighting work from the 2024–25 academic year.}

A New Student Organization at IIT, led by M.TBVU Students

The CTBUH-Skyline Architects Society (SAS), composed of M.TBVU students, successfully organized a series of events throughout Spring 2025 following its official launch earlier in the semester. Supported by CTBUH and IIT, an information session was held in March 2025 at Crown Hall to promote both the M.TBVU program and CTBUH-SAS to IIT architecture students. In April, Jorge Rovira, Senior Associate Principal at SOM, delivered an incredible presentation on the design and engineering of the Nanjing Tower to an audience of students and invited professionals. In addition to these events, CTBUH-SAS members participated in office tours, site visits, and portfolio reviews with industry professionals, further enriching their academic and professional development.

_{Left: With the support of CTBUH and IIT, the CTBUH-SAS Info Session—open to all students interested in tall buildings—was held in March 2025;
Right: Jorge Rovira, Senior Associate Principal at SOM, delivered a presentation on the design and engineering of the Nanjing Tower as part of the CTBUH-SAS event in April 2025.}

The M.TBVU program is the world’s first multidisciplinary advanced degree focused specifically on the high-rise, and the role of urban density in future cities. In an age of rapid urbanization, the tall building—more so than any other building type—holds the key to sustainable existence for humanity on this planet. This new design- and research-based program brings together students and professionals from architecture, real estate, engineering, urban design, construction management, business, finance, and other backgrounds, in a unique learning environment built to foster interdisciplinary research and experience.

Learn more about MTBVU