'The Met', a high-rise apartment building in Bangkok, Thailand, has won the prize for the world's most innovative high-rise. Wong Mun Summ, co-owner of the architecture firm WOHA in Singapore, accepted the symbolic prize statuette at an official ceremony in Frankfurt's Paulskirche. The award was presented by the Mayor of the City of Frankfurt/Main, Dr. h. c. Petra Roth and Dr. Matthias Danne, the member of the DekaBank Management Board responsible for real estate. Burj Khalifa in Dubai by SOM, currently the tallest high-rise in the world, and one of the finalists for the IHA 2010, was honored with a special commendation for technological innovation.
At a height of 230 meters, 'The Met' (design planning: WOHA, Singapore, associated architects: Tandem Architects, Bangkok) strikes an innovative green note at the heart of Sathorn, a tightly-packed inner-city district of Bangkok. "The idea is to open up a high-rise building so that it almost literally breathes, right in the middle of a mega-city," was the verdict of the jury, which was chaired by Spencer de Grey, Head of Design at Foster + Partners, London, winners of the IHA 2008. Boasting balconies covered in greenery on the outside of the building and free areas cut crosswise into the body of the building, this high-rise stands out for its great transparency. All 370 apartments enjoy light and air from all sides, allowing for particularly sustainable living conditions in this tropical region without recourse to air conditioning. Extremely efficient both ecologically and in economic terms, the jury expects this structure "to prove ground-breaking on a global scale in the search for innovative local approaches to design."
The International Highrise Award is being bestowed every two years on a world-wide basis of nominations for a completed building that stands out for it special aesthetics, pioneering design, integration into its urban context, sustainability, innovative technology and cost efficiency.
The International Highrise Award is bestowed jointly on the developer and the planner in the form of a certificate, accompanied by a monetary award of EUR 50,000 and a sculpture by renowned artist Thomas Demand. The prize money is not to be divided. The International Highrise Award is open to planners, planning groups and other legal entities directed by architects or engineers.
The exhibition "BEST HIGHRISES – The International Highrise Award 2010," which, on account of conversion work at its own premises, Deutsches Architekturmuseum will be staging from 6 November 2010 through 16 January 2011 in a neighboring museum, Museum fu¨r Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt, honors the prize-winner along with the other four finalists, and presents the broad spectrum of the total of 27 nominated projects.
The finalists 2010:
Aqua Tower, Chicago, USA
Architects: Studio Gang Architects, Chicago
Client: Magellan Development Group, Chicago
Height: 262 m
Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP, Chicago
Client: EMAAR Properties PJSC, Dubai
Height: 828 m
Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower, Tokyo, Japan
Architects: Tange Associates, Tokyo
Client: Mode Gakuen, Tokyo
Height: 203 m
Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai, China
Architects: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, New York
Client: Mori Building Company, Tokyo
Height: 492 m
The Met, Bangkok, Thailand
Architect: WOHA, Singapore
Client: Pebble Bay Thailand Co. Ltd., Singapore
Height: 230 m
The International Highrise Award prize-giving ceremony will be held on 5 November in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt. In conjunction with the awards ceremony, an exhibition will be held from 6 November at DAM. A publication will also be produced coinciding with the exhibition.
The 27 nominated projects 2010:
235 West Van Buren, Chicago, USA
Aqua Tower, Chicago, USA
Breezé Tower Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Comcast Center, Philadelphia, USA
Court of Justice of the European Union, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Hauptverwaltung Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich, Germany
Highrise Palais Quartier, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
International Commerce Centre, West Kowloon, Hong Kong
Landmark East, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong
Maastoren, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Manitoba Hydro Place, Winnipeg, Canada
ME Barcelona Hotel, Barcelona, Spain
OpernTurm, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
O-14, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Santos Place, Brisbane, Australia
Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai, China
S-trenue: Bundle Matrix, Seoul, South Korea
T1 Tower, Paris, France
The Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park, New York, USA
The Broadgate Tower, London, United Kingdom
The Met, Bangkok, Thailand
The Red Apple, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
The Tornado Tower, Doha, Qatar
Mode Gakuen Cocoon Building, Tokyo, Japan
Las Torres de Hércules, Los Barrios, Spain
Trump International Hotel and Tower, Chicago, USA
The office of the International Highrise Award is:
DAM Deutsches Architekturmuseum
Hedderichstr. 104-108
60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 69-212-31326
Facsimile: +49 (0) 69-212-36386
Contacts:
Deutsches Architekturmuseum
Coordination of The International Highrise Award, Curator of the exhibition:
Michaela Busenkell
F +49 (0) 69-212-36386
michaela.busenkell@stadt-frankfurt.de
Press + Public Relations:
Brita Köhler
P +49 (0)69-212-36318 \ F +49 (0)69-212-36386
brita.koehler@stadt-frankfurt.de
DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale
Project Management \ Social Engagement:
Silke Schuster-Müller
P +49 (0) 69-7147-3414 \ F +49-(0)69-7147-2718
silke.schuster-mueller@deka.de
External Communikation:
Miriam Breh
T +49 (0)69-7147-5286
miriam.breh@deka.de