CTBUH recently announced the finalist projects from around the world for the inaugural Tall + Urban Innovation Conference, which will take place in Chicago from May 30–31. The two-day event will see owner/developers and design teams for 45 finalist projects compete in front of an international audience and live juries for winning distinctions across eight categories. In addition, the winners in each regional category will be judged for the single title of “2018 Best Tall Building Worldwide.”
Incorporating what was previously known as the CTBUH Annual Awards Event, the CTBUH 2018 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference will explore and celebrate the very best in innovative tall buildings, urban spaces, building technologies, and construction practices from around the world. Following the finalist project presentations, distinguished juries will deliberate and select winners in each category, which will be announced at a ceremony on the second day of the conference.
“The Finalists for the 2018 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference truly represent the pinnacle of excellence in the field of tall buildings,” said Awards Jury Chair Karl Fender, Director at Fender Katsalidis Architects. “Being recognized by the world’s premier authority on tall buildings is a great honor, and the opportunity to showcase these quality projects to a global audience helps drive innovation across all disciplines in our industry.”
The Main Jury is responsible for selecting the Best Tall Building Regional Finalists and Winners, as well as the overall worldwide Winner. The jury is comprised of Awards Jury Chair Karl Fender, Director, Fender Katsalidis; H.E. Mohamed Ali Allabar, Chairman, Emaar Properties; Kamil Merican, Chief Executive Officer, GDP Architects; CTBUH Chairman Steve Watts, Partner, alinea consulting; and CTBUH Executive Director Antony Wood.
“Part of our mission at CTBUH is to investigate and highlight the cutting-edge in sustainable urbanism in order to promote a better urban future, and this year’s finalists exemplify the world’s foremost examples in this regard,” Wood said.
Hosted at the Radisson Blu Aqua, located in the base of the famous Aqua Tower in Chicago – itself a finalist for the Best Tall Building Americas award in 2010 – the conference will include not only an awards ceremony, but also a dinner, a VIP networking reception, and presentations from some of the most distinguished names in the tall building industry.
Registration for the 2018 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference is now open at tallinnovation2018.com, where additional details can be found. See the finalist projects in each awards category below.
Finalists for the Tall + Urban Innovation Conference Awards
Best Tall Building: Americas
- 150 N. Riverside, Chicago
- 35xv, New York City
- American Copper Building, New York City
- Gaia Building, Quito
Best Tall Building: Asia & Australasia
- Chaoyang Park Plaza, Beijing
- Huangshan Mountain Village, Huangshan
- International Towers Sydney, Sydney
- Lotte World Tower, Seoul
- Marina One, Singapore
- Oasia Hotel Downtown, Singapore
- Poly International Plaza, Singapore
- Tencent Seafront Towers, Shenzhen
- Ping An Finance Center, Shenzhen
Best Tall Building: Europe
- Angel Court, London
- Canaletto, London
- The Silo, Copenhagen
- Tribunal de Paris, Paris
- Upper West, Berlin
Best Tall Building: Middle East & Africa
- Azrieli Sarona, Tel Aviv
- Beirut Terraces, Beirut
- Rothschild Tower, Tel Aviv
- Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town
Urban Habitat Award
- Greatwall Complex, Wuhan
- International Towers Sydney, Sydney
- National September 11 Memorial, New York City
- Oasia Hotel Downtown, Singapore
- SOHO Fuxing Plaza, Shanghai
- SkyPark, Hong Kong
Construction Award
- 461 Dean Street, New York City
- Ping An Finance Center, Shenzhen
- 56 Leonard Street, Shenzhen
- The EY Centre, Sydney
- 111 Main, Salt Lake City
Innovation Award
- Hickory Building Systems
- 3D Printed Building
- Tallwood House Timber Construction
- MULTI
- CAST CONNEX High Integrity Blocks
- Hi-Res CFD for Wind Loading Tall Buildings
- Hummingbird – Tuned Damper
- A New Research-based Tower Typology
10 Year Award
- Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai
- Bahrain World Trade Center 1, Bahrain
- Manitoba Hydro Place, Winnipeg
- Hegau Tower, Singen
- San Francisco Federal Building, San Francisco
- Manchester Civil Justice Center, Manchester
- Lumiere, Sydney
- Rose Rayhaan by Rotana, Dubai
Related Stories
| Feb 11, 2011
RS Means Cost Comparison Chart: Office Buildings
This month's RS Means Cost Comparison Chart focuses on office building construction.
| Feb 11, 2011
Sustainable features on the bill for dual-building performing arts center at Soka University of America
The $73 million Soka University of America’s new performing arts center and academic complex recently opened on the school’s Aliso Viejo, Calif., campus. McCarthy Building Companies and Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects collaborated on the two-building project. One is a three-story, 47,836-sf facility with a grand reception lobby, a 1,200-seat auditorium, and supports spaces. The other is a four-story, 48,974-sf facility with 11 classrooms, 29 faculty offices, a 150-seat black box theater, rehearsal/dance studio, and support spaces. The project, which has a green roof, solar panels, operable windows, and sun-shading devices, is going for LEED Silver.
| Feb 11, 2011
BIM-enabled Texas church complex can broadcast services in high-def
After two years of design and construction, members of the Gateway Church in Southland, Texas, were able to attend services in their new 4,000-seat facility in late 2010. Located on a 180-acre site, the 205,000-sf complex has six auditoriums, including a massive 200,000-sf Worship Center, complete with catwalks, top-end audio and video system, and high-definition broadcast capabilities. BIM played a significant role in the building’s design and construction. Balfour Beatty Construction and Beck Architecture formed the nucleus of the Building Team.
| Feb 11, 2011
Kentucky’s first green adaptive reuse project earns Platinum
(FER) studio, Inglewood, Calif., converted a 115-year-old former dry goods store in Louisville, Ky., into a 10,175-sf mixed-use commercial building earned LEED Platinum and holds the distinction of being the state’s first adaptive reuse project to earn any LEED rating. The facility, located in the East Market District, houses a gallery, event space, offices, conference space, and a restaurant. Sustainable elements that helped the building reach its top LEED rating include xeriscaping, a green roof, rainwater collection and reuse, 12 geothermal wells, 81 solar panels, a 1,100-gallon ice storage system (off-grid energy efficiency is 68%) and the reuse and recycling of construction materials. Local firm Peters Construction served as GC.
| Feb 11, 2011
Former Richardson Romanesque hotel now houses books, not beds
The Piqua (Ohio) Public Library was once a late 19th-century hotel that sat vacant and deteriorating for years before a $12.3 million adaptive reuse project revitalized the 1891 building. The design team of PSA-Dewberry, MKC Associates, and historic preservation specialist Jeff Wray Associates collaborated on the restoration of the 80,000-sf Richardson Romanesque building, once known as the Fort Piqua Hotel. The team restored a mezzanine above the lobby and repaired historic windows, skylight, massive fireplace, and other historic details. The basement, with its low ceiling and stacked stone walls, was turned into a castle-like children’s center. The Piqua Historical Museum is also located within the building.
| Feb 11, 2011
Justice center on Fall River harbor serves up daylight, sustainable elements, including eucalyptus millwork
Located on historic South Main Street in Fall River, Mass., the Fall River Justice Center opened last fall to serve as the city’s Superior and District Courts building. The $85 million facility was designed by Boston-based Finegold Alexander + Associates Inc., with Dimeo Construction as CM and Arup as MEP. The 154,000-sf courthouse contains nine courtrooms, a law library, and a detention area. Most of the floors have the same ceiling height, which will makes them easier to reconfigure in the future as space needs change. Designed to achieve LEED Silver, the facility’s elliptical design offers abundant natural daylight and views of the harbor. Renewable eucalyptus millwork is one of the sustainable features.
| Feb 11, 2011
Research facility separates but also connects lab spaces
California State University, Northridge, consolidated its graduate and undergraduate biology and mathematics programs into one 90,000-sf research facility. Architect of record Cannon Design worked on the new Chaparral Hall, creating a four-story facility with two distinct spaces that separate research and teaching areas; these are linked by faculty offices to create collaborative spaces. The building houses wet research, teaching, and computational research labs, a 5,000-sf vivarium, classrooms, and administrative offices. A four-story outdoor lobby and plaza and an outdoor staircase provide orientation. A covered walkway links the new facility with the existing science complex. Saiful/Bouquet served as structural engineer, Bard, Rao + Athanas Consulting Engineers served as MEP, and Research Facilities Design was laboratory consultant.
| Feb 11, 2011
A feast of dining options at University of Colorado community center, but hold the buffalo stew
The University of Colorado, Boulder, cooked up something different with its new $84.4 million Center for Community building, whose 900-seat foodservice area consists of 12 micro-restaurants, each with its own food options and décor. Centerbrook Architects of Connecticut collaborated with Denver’s Davis Partnership Architects and foodservice designer Baker Group of Grand Rapids, Mich., on the 323,000-sf facility, which also includes space for a career center, international education, and counseling and psychological services. Exterior walls of rough-hewn, variegated sandstone and a terra cotta roof help the new facility blend with existing campus buildings. Target: LEED Gold.
| Feb 11, 2011
Chicago high-rise mixes condos with classrooms for Art Institute students
The Legacy at Millennium Park is a 72-story, mixed-use complex that rises high above Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. The glass tower, designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, is mostly residential, but also includes 41,000 sf of classroom space for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and another 7,400 sf of retail space. The building’s 355 one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom condominiums range from 875 sf to 9,300 sf, and there are seven levels of parking. Sky patios on the 15th, 42nd, and 60th floors give owners outdoor access and views of Lake Michigan.
| Feb 11, 2011
Iowa surgery center addresses both inpatient and outpatient care
The 12,000-person community of Carroll, Iowa, has a new $28 million surgery center to provide both inpatient and outpatient care. Minneapolis-based healthcare design firm Horty Elving headed up the four-story, 120,000-sf project for St. Anthony’s Regional Hospital. The center’s layout is based on a circular process flow, and includes four 800-sf operating rooms with poured rubber floors to reduce leg fatigue for surgeons and support staff, two substerile rooms between each pair of operating rooms, and two endoscopy rooms adjacent to the outpatient prep and recovery rooms. Recovery rooms are clustered in groups of four. The large family lounge (left) has expansive windows with views of the countryside, and television monitors that display coded information on patient status so loved ones can follow a patient’s progress.
