CTBUH Awards 2013, Best Tall Buildings News, Tours, New Skyscraper Designs

CTBUH Events – Best Tall Building Awards

Best Tall Building Awards + World Conference – Architecture Information

Nov 13, 2013

One World Trade Center’s Height Ratified at 1,776 Feet

CTBUH events news – The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat convened its Height Committee on November 8th in Chicago to evaluate its criteria for determining the official height of buildings, and to rule on the official height of One World Trade Center in New York.

CTBUH Height Ratification News

The Height Committee has reached a consensus that One World Trade Center’s height to its architectural top is 1,776 feet (541.3 meters).

Height of One World Trade Center compared to other skyscrapers in the world:

image from CTBUH

Note, because One World Trade Center is still unfinished and has not received its certificate of occupancy, it cannot yet enter CTBUH rankings as a “completed building,” but its height is no longer in dispute.

This determination was made through examination of design and construction drawings, and continued through dialogue among the Height Committee’s 25 members.

“We were very satisfied with the detailed information presented by the team, in particular, that which affirmed that the structure on top of the building is meant as a permanent architectural feature, not a piece of functional-technical equipment,” said Timothy Johnson, Chairman of CTBUH and Design Partner at NBBJ.

“The design of One World Trade Center, as explained to us, reinforces its role as a symbol of resurgence on this important site,” said CTBUH Executive Director Antony Wood. “In particular, the spire which holds the beacon light, shining out at the symbolic height of 1,776 feet, is especially poignant – echoing the similarly symbolic beacon atop the Statue of Liberty across the water.”

One World Trade Center Height Ratification images / information from CTBUH

Nov 11, 2013

CTBUH Events – US Press Conference

CTBUH Press Conference, Chicago + New York City, USA

Nov 12

Ruling on Height of One World Trade Center

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) will hold a press conference to announce the determination of its Height Committee with respect to the architectural height of One World Trade Center, New York.

CTBUH events in 2013:

picture from Wright Style

Two conferences will take place simultaneously on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 10:00 a.m. (Central) in Chicago and 11:00 a.m. (Eastern) and New York.

Illinois Institute of Technology Tower, 10 W. 35th St., 19th Floor, Chicago, IL, 60616
+
New York: NBBJ Inc., 2 Rector Street, 25th Floor, New York, NY, 10006

About the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
Founded in 1969, the Council’s mission is to disseminate multi-disciplinary information on tall buildings and sustainable urban environments, to maximize the international interaction of professionals involved in creating the built environment, and to make the latest knowledge available to professionals in a useful form.

The Council is an international not-for-profit organization supported by architecture, engineering, planning, development and construction professionals. The CTBUH is the world’s leading body in the field of tall buildings and the recognized source of information on tall buildings internationally. It is the arbiter of the criteria upon which tall building height is measured, and thus the title of “The World’s Tallest Building” determined.

About the CTBUH Height Committee
The CTBUH Height Committee was created to establish and, when necessary, refine the official tall building Height Criteria. As such, the Height Committee meets on an annual basis to discuss the latest developments in the tall building industry and possible additions or revisions to the Height Criteria text.

21 Aug 2013

CTBUH 2013 Awards Symposium

CTBUH Events in 2013

CTBUH 2013 Awards Symposium Speakers Announced

• Rem Koolhaas, OMA: architect of CCTV, Beijing
• Henry Cobb, Pei Cobb Freed: lifetime achievement award
• Clyde Baker, AECOM: lifetime achievement award
• Zhang Yue, China BROAD Group: Innovation award

CTBUH Awards – one of a series of CTBUH Events covered in this post

CHICAGO, August 21 — The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has announced a captivating line-up of speakers at the Symposium preceding the 12th Annual Awards Ceremony and Dinner. On November 7, the CTBUH will host presentations by all 2013 award winners and select finalists from around the world at the Symposium.

Sowwah Square:

photo © Lester Alio

Hosted by awards jury chair Jeanne Gang, Principal, Studio Gang Architects, confirmed speakers include:

• Clyde Baker, recipient, Fazlur R. Khan Lifetime Achievement Award;
• Henry Cobb, recipient, Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award;
• Nigel Dancey, Foster + Partners, architect of The Bow, the 2013 Best Tall Building Americas;
• James Goettsch, architect of Sowwah Square, the 2013 Best Tall Building Middle East & Africa;
• Rem Koolhaas, architect of CCTV Beijing, the 2013 Best Tall Building Asia;
• Gurjit Singh, owner of Gate Towers, a 2013 Best Tall Building Featured Finalist;
• Zhang Yue, Chairman and President of China BROAD Group, the 2013 Innovation Award co-winner, for the pre-fabricated construction system used to construct a 30-story tower in 15 days;
• The owners of The Gherkin, London – winner of the inaugural 10 Year Award;
• Colleagues from KONE, The Shard, and MVSA Architects

Rem Koolhaas architect:

image copyright Dominik Gigler

At the symposium, an overall winner for the “Best Tall Building Worldwide” will be named from the four regional winners, based on the presentations given earlier in the day. The four regional Best Tall Building winners are: The Bow in Calgary, Canada (Americas); CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, China (Asia & Australia); The Shard, London (Europe); and Sowwah Square, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Middle East & Africa).

The full program of the Awards Symposium is available at: http://www.ctbuh.org/Awards/AwardsSymposiums/Awards2013Symposium/Program/tabid/4657/language/en-US/Default.aspx

All awards will be conferred at the CTBUH 12th Annual Awards Ceremony and Dinner in the iconic Crown Hall, Illinois Institute of Technology, designed by Mies van der Rohe.
The CTBUH Best Tall Building Awards are an independent review of new projects, judged by a panel of industry executives. Projects are recognized for making an extraordinary contribution to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and for achieving sustainability at the broadest level.
Winners and finalists are featured in the annual CTBUH Awards Book, which is published in conjunction with a major global publisher and distributed internationally each year.

CTBUH Awards 2013

14 Sep 2012

Council on Tall Buildings World Congress

CTBUH 9th World Congress

19-21 September
Grand Hyatt Jin Mao
Shanghai, China

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s 9th World Congress is gathering the leading developers, architects and builders of tall buildings to discuss the present and future of tall building development around the world. The Congress has sold out, reflecting the level of interest in tall building development in Asia, as well as the quality of the program.

photo : SOM, architects

A few of the hot topics:

• China will lead global tall building development for the next decade
• Why tall? Is taller always better?
• Can tall buildings become sustainable?
• Leaders of the past, current and future tallest buildings to speak.

More than 800 top tall building experts will be in attendance. Confirmed speakers include:
• Adrian Smith, designer of Burj Khalifa and Kingdom Tower
• Jian Ping Gu, President, Shanghai Tower
• Jack Portman, CEO, Portman & Associates
• Rafael Vinoly, principal, Rafael Vinoly & Associates
• Richard Tomasetti, co-founder, Thornton Tomasetti

22 Aug 2012

CTBUH Events – Council on Tall Buildings Shanghai Congress

CTBUH Shanghai Congress Adds Tour of China Broad Group

Go Behind the Scenes at China’s Pre-Fabrication Specialist!

The CTBUH 9th World Congress is pleased to announce the addition of a tour of the Changsha headquarters of the China Broad Group, the company which made international headlines for its plan to build an 838-meter tower in nine months. China Broad’s Broad Sustainable Systems is also famous for its YouTube video showing construction of the T30; a 30-story hotel tower completed on site in just 15 days, which has attracted more than 4.8 million views.

image from architect

Stay in the T30 hotel for free and tour the China Broad facilities, as a guest of the China Broad Group, to see how they do it!

CTBUH Executive Director Antony Wood recently toured the facility and filed this report.

The tour of the Broad Group facility is one of several regional tours offered for Free to fully-registered delegates after the Congress, the weekend of 22-23 September.*

The other regional tours, led by CTBUH members, include two-day itineraries to:

• Beijing
• Chongqing
• Hong Kong & Shenzhen
• Nanjing

The remaining spots in the CTBUH Congress are filling up fast.

To express an interest or to register for one of these tours, please contact Carissa Devereux at cdevereux@ctbuh.org.

* Delegates are responsible for their travel, accommodations and food, but the events are free

16 Jul 2012

CTBUH Events – Shanghai Congress News

CTBUH Shanghai Congress Draws China’s Tall Building Leaders

CTBUH2012 Congress, Grand Hyatt Jin Mao, Shanghai, China

Sep 19-21

Free Regional Tours Offered with CTBUH Shanghai Congress

Interested in experiencing the Nanjing Zifeng Tower? Hong Kong’s IFC2? Or the Olympic facilities in Beijing? Fancy rubbing shoulders with some of China’s major developers who are supporting these tours? Then extend your stay in China beyond the Shanghai Congress to see more of what China is about – for free!

There will be four regional city tours on the weekend of 22-23 September, directly after the completion of the formal Congress program. Destinations include Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong/Shenzhen and Nanjing. Delegates are responsible for their own travel, accommodation and subsistence, but the two days of events in and around the cities are free. In some cases local transport, networking functions, dinners and activities such as an evening boat trip are complimentary. Supporting developers include Chongqing Jiangbeizui Office Development, the Greenland Group, Nanjing Hexi, and Swire Properties.

The post-Congress regional tours are only for the benefit of fully-registered Shanghai Congress delegates.

Please note e-architect run architecture walking tours in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. Please contact isabellle@e-architect.com if you are interested.

• Topics for CTBUH2012 include sustainability, the future of vertical cities and the explosion of supertall construction in Asia
• Creators of the most dramatic skyscraper projects around the world confirmed as speakers
• Early bird registration deadline is April 30

Several of China’s leading developers, architects and engineers are confirmed as speakers for the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat’s 9th World Congress, the premier global event for professionals involved in the development of tall buildings. The theme of the CTBUH2012 Congress – Sept. 19-21, at the Grand Hyatt Jin Mao in Shanghai – is “Asia Ascending: Age of the Sustainable Skyscraper City.”

Confirmed speakers from within China include:

• Jian Ping Gu, president of the Shanghai Tower Development Group
• Harace Lin, chief executive of Taipei Financial Center Corporation (Taipei 101)
• Zhang Junjie, chairman of the East China Architectural Design Institute (ECADI)
• Jiemin Ding, chief executive of Tongji Architectural Design Group (TJAD)
• Xue Yi Fu, chief engineer, China Construction Design International (CCDI)

In addition, representatives from the Greenland Group, the Shanghai Institute of Architectural Design & Research (SIADR), Shanghai Construction Group, Yuanda Aluminium, Tongji University and the China Academy of Building Research will be speaking.
This roster of regional leaders will be complemented by some of the most significant experts in tall building design and construction internationally, including:

• Richard Tomasetti, founding principal of Thornton Tomasetti Structural Engineers
• Adrian Smith of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
• William Baker of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
• Chris Wilkinson of Wilkinson Eyre Architects
• John C. Portman III of Portman Holdings
• Ole Scheeren of Buro Ole Scheeren
• James Goettsch of Goettsch Partners
• and many more…..

There will be 93 speakers overall, across three keynote sessions and four simultaneous tracks. Other international firms represented on the speaker rostrum include Arquitectonica, Arup, AECOM, ArcStudio, Buro Happold, Gensler, Kohn Pedersen Fox, KONE Elevators, Magnusson Klemencic Engineers, Meinhardt, Rolf Jensen Associates, Moshe Safdie Associates and Schindler Elevators.

The Congress will spotlight the creators of many of the most dramatic skyscrapers in the world, with an emphasis on the massive increase in tall building development underway in Asia. Ten of the 20 tallest buildings in the world will be in China by 2020, according to The Skyscraper Center, CTBUH’s tall building database.
Presentations and panel discussions will also focus on the latest techniques and issues surrounding sustainable tower design.

“This will undoubtedly be the most significant conference we have held in recent history,” said Timothy Johnson, chairman of the CTBUH. “Asia is at the forefront of all the questions facing tall building construction. How do you make skyscrapers a sustainable building type? What is the full impact on a city of developing vertically?” The Conference will also offer technical tours of many of Shanghai’s landmark buildings, including Shanghai Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center and the Jin Mao Building. Tall building-focused regional tours will also be available to Beijing, Hong Kong, Shenzen, Guangzhou and Tianjin.

Attendance is limited to 800 delegates for CTBUH 2012. Early bird registration for the Congress ends April 30.
Register now and find the latest Congress developments at www.ctbuh2012.com.

CTBUH Shanghai Congress information from CTBUH

China World Trade Tower, Beijing
Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM)

photo : SOM, architects

CITIC Headquarters Tower, Hangzhou
Foster + Partners

image © Foster + Partners

Z15 Tower, Beijing
TFP Farrells, BIAD, ARUP and MVA

picture from architect

China Investment Corporation, Beijing
Keppie

picture from architects

CTBUH – Articles

“9/11 – Ten Years On : CTBUH Reflections”

In the week that we mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 events and the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has commissioned a number of articles from industry leaders, reflecting on how the world of tall buildings has changed since then.

What has been the direct impact of 9/11 on the typology? How has that impact varied with geography and culture around the world? What has become of the predictions of the end of the skyscraper typology which immediately followed the event? Has too much changed, or too little?

9/11 – Ten Years On : CTBUH Reflections

Tenth anniversary of collapse of the World Trade Center

image : Foster + Partners

Contributors include Leslie Robertson, William Baker, Eugene Kohn, Paul Goldberger, Gene Corley and others.

CTBUH Awards 2011

22 Jun 2011

CTBUH Conference 2011

2011 Seoul World Conference Early Registration Deadline: 10 July, 2011

The deadline for early bird conference registration, July 10th, is quickly approaching, register today and receive the best possible conference rates! With over 200 high-quality abstracts submitted from around the world, the conference promises to contain an impressive array of speakers and subjects. Additionally, a large number of significant technical tours have now been confirmed, including Korea’s future tallest building, the now under construction Lotte Super Tower.

15 Jun 2011

CTBUH Best Tall Buildings 2011

Four Skyscrapers Named Regional “Best Tall Buildings” for 2011 by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

Best Tall Building “Worldwide” to be announced at October Awards Ceremony; “Lifetime Achievement” winners Adrian Smith and Akira Wada also to be recognized.

The awards ceremony will take place in conjunction with an afternoon Symposium which will be focused on the four regional best tall buildings, and the two lifetime achievement award winners. This Symposium will take place at the Illinois Institute of Technology close to the awards dinner venue, during the afternoon prior to the dinner.

CTBUH Awards Regional Best Tall Buildings

Best Tall Building Americas

Eight Spruce Street

image © dbox

CTBUH Best Tall Building Americas – 2011 : Eight Spruce Street

Best Tall Building Asia & Australasia

Guangzhou International Finance Center

Best Tall Building Europe

KfW Westarkade

CTBUH Best Tall Building Europe – 2011 : KfW Westarkade Building

Best Tall Building Middle East & Africa

The Index

CTBUH Best Tall Building Middle East & Africa – 2011 : The Index

Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award

Adrian Smith, AS + GG Architecture

CTBUH Awards 2010

CTBUH Awards 2010 – ‘Best Tall Buildings’ for 2010

Burj Khalifa honored as first recipient of CTBUH’s new Tall Building “Global Icon” Award

Chicago – October 25, 2010. In a surprise move, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) bestowed a new award on the Burj Khalifa Tower at its annual “Best Tall Buildings Awards Ceremony” on Thursday evening, 21st October. The new “Global Icon” award recognizes those very special tall buildings that make a profound impact, not only on the local/regional context, but on the genre of tall buildings globally. Innovative in planning, design and execution, the building must have influenced and re-shaped the field of tall building architecture, engineering, and urban planning.

It is intended that the award will only be conferred on an occasional basis, when merited by an exceptional project – perhaps every 10 or 15 years. As explained by CTBUH Awards Chair Gordon Gill, of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture: “There was discussion amongst members of the jury that the existing ‘Best Tall Building of the Year’ award wasn’t really appropriate for the Burj. We are talking about a building here that has changed the landscape of what is possible in architecture – a building that became internationally recognized as an icon long before it was even completed. ‘Building of the Century’ was thought a more apt title for it.”

image from Emaar

CTBUH Best Tall Building Overall – 2010 : Burj Khalifa Tower

CTBUH “Best Tall Building Overall – 2009”

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has named Linked Hybrid by Steven Holl Architects as the “Best Tall Building Overall” for 2009.

CTBUH Best Tall Building Overall – 2009 : Linked Hybrid complex, Beijing

The Council issues Best Tall Building Awards annually to give recognition to projects that have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and that achieve sustainability at the highest and broadest level. It issues four regional awards each year (Americas, Asia & Australasia, Europe and Middle East & Africa). In addition, from the four regional awards, one project is awarded the honor of Best Tall Building Overall.

About the CTBUH

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, based at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, is an international organization sponsored by architecture, engineering, planning, and construction professionals, designed to facilitate exchanges among those involved in all aspects of the planning, design, construction and operation of tall buildings.

The CTBUH is the world’s leading body in the field of tall buildings, and the recognized source of information on tall buildings internationally. It is the arbiter of tall building height, determiner of the title of ‘The World’s Tallest Building’ and maintains a significant database of built, under construction and proposed tall building. For more information on the Council contact: info@ctbuh.org

CTBUH Awards : Chicago Dinner / Ceremony / Symposium

CTBUH Symposium Chicago

More CTBUH events online soon

Location: Chicago, IL, USA