CTBUH Award of Excellence Winners in 15 categories have been announced and will be featured at the upcoming Tall + Urban Innovation Conference in Chicago from April 5-7 2020. Categories include Best Tall Buildings, Urban Habitat, various Engineering disciplines, Construction, and more.
Below are the winners of The “Best Tall Building 400 meters and above”. These Super tall Structures have shaken up the industry with innovative feats of construction and engineering. Our much loved glass has taken center stage with building envelopes that prove that glass is still the architects preferred choice when it comes to cladding the world’s tallest buildings; Enjoy:
CITIC Tower ~ Beijing | Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
© KPF
The tower’s gently rising and curving form resembles an ancient Chinese ceremonial vessel, called the “zun.” The design concept is that of a transforming shell that gradually bends to create a dramatic form. This concept is also applied to other key elements of the tower, including the entrances, ground-floor lobby, and observation deck. At the base, the tower thrusts into the ground with massive corner supports, while the exterior shell is gently lifted up and stretched forward at the four sides. The design physically extends the lobby outward, forming dynamic drop-off spaces. At the top, the exterior envelope becomes more transparent at the observation deck and allows more visibility to the inner trumpet-shaped business center, which lights up at night, forming a beacon that will be visible throughout the city.
Compared to a typically straight or tapering supertall tower form, the concave tower profile offers more valuable prime-floor spaces and ample space for window washing, as well as other support systems, at the top of the tower. While the large top poses significant structural challenges, the larger base provides an opportunity for structural balance, formal contrast, and preferred core-to-perimeter distances.
In a city with the highest seismic fortification requirement of the major cities in China, the structural system was particularly sensitive to adjustments in the complex form of the building. Architects and engineers utilized parametric modeling to greatly expedite the design and coordination process to ensure that the design achieved both an iconic form and a solid structural system.
Discover more IGS coverage of CITIC Tower HERE
Lakhta Center ~ St. Petersburg | RMJM
Image courtesy of Josef Gartner GmbH
The Lakhta Center constitutes the epicenter of St. Petersburg’s Primorsky District, employing a wide range of public functions alongside transportation infrastructure in an effort to anchor a sustainable economic zone. Originally planned for the historic center of the city, the project – then named Okhta Centre – garnered widespread media attention as stakeholders contended with the various impacts it would have on the image of the city. Ultimately, the tower was moved to its present location, adopting a new name and a fresh context to inform the master planned development. The tower will provide space for offices, as well as several public resources, including a planetarium, medical center, performance hall, and a bank.
The theme of the tower’s design is that of a lonely spire in a horizontal landscape, with a unique shape informed by concepts of extrusion, torsion, and tension. The building’s designers sought to create an optimal balance between office and public areas, ultimately conceiving a complete community within the building’s walls. Outside of the building, the plan for the surrounding area incorporates greened and landscaped spaces. An open 2,000-seat amphitheater and green promenade with fountains, paths, and benches are all integrated into the design.
Lakhta Center incorporates a number of innovative energy-saving technologies into its design. A double-glazed façade increases the level of thermal insulation, leading to a reduction in heating and air-conditioning costs. Similarly, the premises will be heated using excess heat generated from working technical equipment. To combat the dual effects of extreme height and a harsh winter, an ice formation control system will be implemented to protect the building’s façade and passers-by below from the dangers of falling ice.
Discover more IGS coverage of The Lakhta Center HERE
Suzhou IFS ~ Suzhou | Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Suzhou IFS aims to be a landmark on the city’s skyline in both form and function, drawing upon modern design practices to belay the area’s historical repertoire. Conceived as a mixed-use high-rise, the tower will incorporate a number of disparate programs, embodying a modern 21st century presence that is symbolically tied to the city’s identity.
Suzhou has long been a center of trade in China, and the building’s design pays tribute to this achievement. The tower’s form is reminiscent of a fish, a symbol of prosperity and a nod to the role that water has played in the city’s history and identity—the city is surrounded by lakes and canals, causing it to become known as “Venice of the East.” As such, the tower is designed to interact with the surrounding bodies of water. The tower gestures towards Jinji Lake and opens out towards the water.
Soaring upwards, the curved “tail” of the fish subtly transitions from the scale of the lake and surrounding buildings to the top of the tower. More than an architectural embellishment, the flared base maximizes views of the water for the serviced apartments within and considerably lengthens its street frontage. At night, the tower cladding is articulated with glowing LEDs. These lights activate in a staggered timing that causes the building to shimmer in the evening skyline, much like the nearby lake.
The tower form and orientation, together with the articulation of the west façade, diminishes much of the heat and glare, while bringing more natural daylight to the internal spaces. The tower cladding is a high-performance glazing that significantly mitigates solar loading.
The Exchange 106 ~ Kuala Lumpur | Mulia Group
Designed by the inhouse architects at developer Mulia Group and Architect of Record, Peter Chan, it breaks away from the norm.
The 106-storey building will also offer 92 column-free office floors in Malaysia, including each averaging 34,000 square ft, which will allow for flexible layouts and open plan interior designs by tenants, making it the largest floor plate in Malaysia. The bottom five floors are reserved for retail space, with about 300,000 square ft of retail space available.
The ceiling in the entrance lobby is 15 meters high. It will also have an observation sky lobby on the 57th floor. Apart from 106 floors above ground, there are also six floors underground, providing basement parking that can accommodate more than 2,100 cars.
The top of the Exchange 106 features a 48-metre-high and 12-storey tall crown of triangulated and folded super clear glass at the top of the tower to provide dramatic reflections in daytime and a distinctive glow at night, while LED lights throughout the building change colours to reflect the Malaysian currency’s colours.
Tianjin CTF Finance Centre ~ Tianjin | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Photo © NWD
The Tianjin CTF Finance Centre is located in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area, an outer district of Tianjin, China. The tower serves as an anchor for the larger area development, while housing office space, luxury serviced apartments, and a hotel.
By stacking reducing floor plates, the tower tapers dramatically to minimize the surface area exposed to wind, sun, and moisture. The gently-undulating curves of the façade subtly denote the integration of the three distinct programs within a singular smooth object. Square in plan with rounded corners, the floor plate geometry enables unique interior fit-outs and customization options for occupants. Research by the architect has the shown that lateral forces due to vortex shedding can be controlled by tapering the vertical profile of the tower and softening any sharp corners in plan. The building’s aerodynamic shape greatly reduces this vortex shedding by “confusing the wind” and disrupting the opportunity for any resonating wind forces and loads on the structure.
The softly curving glass skin integrates eight sloping megacolumns that follow a lyrical line connecting the centers and corners of all four elevations. These curving megacolumns increase the structure’s response to seismic concerns and are integral to both the gravity and lateral systems. They are effective in increasing the stiffness of the building’s perimeter frame, consequently attracting a larger portion of the seismic forces in compliance with the Chinese code requirements.
The façade reinforces the curvature of the tower form and creates a shimmering texture over the building’s surface. The crystalline-like curtain wall stretches from the suspended glass canopies at each of the lobbies to the dematerialized, megacolumn-looped crown and presents a bold expression of a comprehensive, integrated design on the Tianjin skyline.
Discover more IGS coverage of the project here: Reinventing the Skyscraper: The world’s eighth-tallest structure is anything but conventional.
Article courtesy of CTBUH
Find the full list of winners in all categories HERE