MTBVU News & Reports
MTBVU Building Tour: Ascent
On March 31, 2025, MTBVU students, accompanied by Dr. Antony Wood, Director of the MTBVU program, enjoyed an inspiring day in Milwaukee. Their first stop was Ascent, the world’s tallest timber-concrete hybrid building, where they had the rare opportunity to receive a personal, top-to-bottom tour. The group also visited several other notable architectural sites, including the Milwaukee Art Museum designed by Santiago Calatrava, as well as the S.C. Johnson Research Tower and Wingspread, both designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Studio Gang Office Visit
MTBVU students had a great opportunity to visit Studio Gang's Chicago office, on 3 March 2025. This visit was organized by Dr. Antony Wood, Director of the MTBVU program, and was kindly supported by Studio Gang. For the past twenty years, Studio Gang has been actively involved in numerous Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) activities, including chairing the Best Tall Building Awards jury and speaking at our conferences. Their high-rise work is regarded as among the best internationally.
Ice Tower Igloo: A Vertical Ice Experiment
With temperatures plunging as low as -5°F in February 2025, MTBVU students and Dr. Antony Wood, spent several days building a vertical tower out of ice. This process started with creating blocks using balloons as molds – filled with water and food coloring and left outside to freeze – then using snow with water to form a mortar mush, freezing the blocks together, row-by-row, in place. The finished 12-foot high tower was quite spectacular and featured in every major TV news channel in Chicago.
IIT's MTBVU Travels to Bangkok
The M.TBVU program at IIT in collaboration with CTBUH, embarked on an extensive exploration of Bangkok’s evolving urban and architectural landscape in January 2025 as part of their semester curriculum. This immersive experience, kindly sponsored by Dusit International, took students through developments such as Dusit Central Park, MahaNakhon Tower, and One Bangkok, where they engaged directly with industry leaders, architects, and developers.
Overview of MTBVU 2024 Fall Program
The M.TBVU Fall 2024 design studio was led by three senior colleagues from Skidmore, Owings & Merril (SOM), who also previously taught the Spring 2024 design studio—marking their second consecutive academic year of involvement. Themed "The Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Design of Tall Buildings," this studio challenged students to think beyond conventional architectural practices by integrating AI-driven processes in the design, construction, and management of tall buildings.
Overview of MTBVU 2024 Spring Program
The M.TBVU Spring 2024 design studio program was under the instruction of three senior colleagues at SOM (who also previously led the Fall 2023 design studio): Scott Duncan, Design Partner; Jorge Rovira, Senior Associate Principal & Studio Head; and Jason Fisher, Associate Principal & Studio Head. Themed "Nova Pro Forma Adapt," this studio looked at the downtowns of New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco, and the existing tall buildings that don’t fulfill their original intended potential due to socio-economic shifts and the COVID pandemic.
IIT's MTBVU and CTBUH Take Educational Travel to Dubai and Abu Dhabi
With the support of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), a group of students participating in the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT) Masters of Tall Buildings and Vertical Urbanism (MTBVU) program traveled to Dubai and Abu Dhabi from 10-16 March 2024. Led by Dr. Yohan Kim, Assistant Director of the MTBVU program, students in the Spring 2024 semester Talking Tall II class had the opportunity to travel and experience a wide range of building and office tours, conversations with industry-leading experts, and urban cultural excursions in both cities.
Overview of MTBVU 2023 Fall Program
The M.TBVU Fall 2023 design studio program was under the instruction of three senior colleagues at SOM: Scott Duncan, Design Partner; Jorge Rovira, Associate Principal & Studio Head; and Jason Fisher, Associate Principal & Studio Head, and was themed "Nova Pro Forma." The goal for the students was to reimagine the tall building as the embodiment of emerging and entirely new uses that speak to new modes of working and the ecological imperatives we are experiencing today.
Overview of MTBVU 2022-23 Academic Year
Under the instruction of Dr. Antony Wood, CTBUH President and Director of the MTBVU program at IIT and Dr. Yohan Kim, CTBUH Academic Coordinator and Assistant Director of the MTBVU program at IIT, students were tasked to design a future city of 10 million inhabitants, built out of timber to the greatest extent possible, as a response to contemporary and future pressures of climate change, rapid population growth and massive urbanization.
CTBUH and IIT Studio Travel to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur
Through the generosity of a sponsorship by Ramboll Group, an extraordinary opportunity was provided to the first intake class of the Masters of Tall Buildings and Vertical Urbanism (MTBVU) program at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), led by Antony Wood, PhD, CTBUH President and Director of the new MTBVU at IIT. In support of the design studio “Sustainable Vertical Urbanism: Towards 2070 – Future Timber City,” seven MTBVU students accompanied Wood and CTBUH Research Director Daniel Safarik to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur from 6 – 19 February 2023.
Involvement of Multidisciplinary MTBVU Advisory and Teaching Panel
The multidisciplinary MTBVU advisory and teaching panel, consisting of prominent and distinguished experts in the industry, interacted with MTBVU students throughout the 2022-23 academic year. One of the panel members, William Baker, Consulting Partner, SOM gave the comprehensive presentation, “Tall Building Structural Engineering Principles” as part of the MTBVU “Tall Building Technologies” course.
IIT and CTBUH launch new tall-buildings degree programs
The degree emphasizes design and research and are organized around design studios, technology, research methodology, and seminars that address the cultural, historical, design, and built context of tall buildings. Altogether, it’s the first multidisciplinary advanced degree program focused specifically on the high-rise. Research topics for students to address include materials like mass timber, structural technologies, the integration of vegetation, sky bridges, and new finance models.
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