The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat named the winners and finalists of its annual Performance and Innovation Awards
Based on judgment by a prestigious panel of experts, Chiefly Tower in Sydney, Australia snagged this year’s Performance Award, while the Innovation Award went to Spanish manufacturer Holedeck.
Take a look at a more in-depth profile of the winning innovations, as well as a list of the finalists:
Performance Winner
Chiefly Tower, Sydney, Australia
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (Architects)
WSP Flack + Kurtz (SE)
The 801-foot tower in downtown Sydney was originally completed in 1992, with 1980s technology. An overhaul was commenced in 2008, where the tower’s key building systems and services were updated to achieve a 4.5 star NABERS Energy Rating.
The CTBUH reports that the project realized a savings of 55 percent in electricity consumption, and reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent as well.
Because of all these changes, it was given the Performance Award, which recognizes buildings “that have the least environment impact on the urban realm using measured data,” the CTBUH says, adding that “it is increasingly being recognized that the industry needs to focus on actual ‘performance’ rather than ‘best intentions.’”
“The Technical Awards Jury applauded the efforts to update the energy efficiency of this aging building, both to keep the building competitive with newer structures, as well as addressing critical issues surrounding climate change,” CTBUH says in a statement.
“In a sense, the project gave a ‘new and better life’ to an old asset that was growing less competitive in the market place,” added Ashok Raiji, CTBUH Technical Awards juror and Principal and Mechanical Engineer at Arup.
Innovation Award
HOLEDECK
Photo courtesy Holedeck via Vimeo
The system of voided concrete slabs by the eponymous Spanish manufacturer can be pierced through their thickness by electrical and plumbing systems, which drastically reduces the vertical space needed to house these components.
Reducing the necessary height of each floor also means fewer materials are required to achieve the same floor area as a typical high rise building.
As a result, the system was recognized with the Innovation Award, which focuses on “one special area of innovation within the design construction, or operation of the project, not the building overall,” CTBUH says in a statement.
“Holedeck is a simple and elegant way of creating coffer slabs, with holes in the webs. It overcomes one of the main obstacles to the use of coffer slabs, which is that all services usually have to run below the slab rather than in it. It appears to be particularly suitable for light weight long-span floors or where architects and engineers are interested in making better use of the thermal mass of a concrete coffer slab,” noted Technical Awards Jury Chair and Director, Engineering Excellence Group of Laing O’Rourke David Scott. “The jury felt that some of the best innovations come from simple ideas and HOLEDECK could re-energize this form of construction.”
Finalists
Other projects and products that made it to the final round of judging were:
• Façade Access Equipment by Lee Herzog Façade Access Constulting for its work on the Burj Khalifa
Related Stories
| May 1, 2013
World’s tallest children’s hospital pushes BIM to the extreme
The Building Team for the 23-story Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago implements an integrated BIM/VDC workflow to execute a complex vertical program.
| Apr 19, 2013
7 hip high-rise developments on the drawing board
Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill's whimsical Dancing Dragons tower in Seoul is among the compelling high-rise projects in the works across the globe.
| Mar 29, 2013
Top industry professionals to receive awards at NASCC: The Steel Conference
On April 17, Michael F. Engestrom, Dann H. Hall, Michael A. West, Stephen A. Mahin, Wallace W. Sanders, Jr., Mark V. Holland, Steven C. Ball, Rafael Sabelli, Judy Liu and William J. Wright will be recognized by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) for their exceptional contributions to the advancement of the structural steel design and construction industry.
| Mar 29, 2013
Shenzhen projects halted as Chinese officials find substandard concrete
Construction on multiple projects in Guangdong Province—including the 660-m Ping'an Finance Center—has been halted after inspectors in Shenzhen, China, have found at least 15 local plants producing concrete with unprocessed sea sand, which undermines building stabity.
| Mar 14, 2013
25 cities with the most Energy Star certified buildings
Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago top EPA's list of the U.S. cities with the greatest number of Energy Star certified buildings in 2012.
| Feb 28, 2013
Lend Lease builds world's tallest timber apartment building
Construction giant Lend Lease recently put the finishing touches on Forté, a 10-story apartment complex in Melbourne, Australia's Victoria Harbour that was built entirely with cross laminated timber (CTL) technology.
| Feb 21, 2013
AIA College of Fellows awards 2013 Latrobe Prize for 'The City of 7 Billion'
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) College of Fellows has awarded the 2013 Latrobe Prize of $100,000 for the proposal, “The City of 7 Billion.”
| Feb 21, 2013
Holl videos discuss design features of Chengdu ' Porosity Block' project
Architect Steven Holl has released two short films describing the development of Sliced Porosity Block in Chengdu, China.
| Feb 21, 2013
Construction team chosen for world's tallest building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Construction team chosen for world's tallest building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
| Feb 17, 2013
Pakistan to get world's tallest tower in $45 billion deal
Newly signed mega deal will fund construction of several massive developments in Karachi, including a mixed-use tower that will dwarf the Burj Khalifa.
