by Brianna Crandall — December 6, 2013—The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has announced the winner of its Best Tall Building Worldwide: CCTV Headquarters, Beijing, China. As part of a nearly year-long juried selection process across more than 60 entries, the Awards Jury first selected a Best Tall Building in four regions, as well as other related awards:
- Americas: The Bow in Calgary, Canada
- Middle East and Africa: Sowwah Square in Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Europe: The Shard, London, U.K.
- Asia and Australasia: CCTV in Beijing, China
- Tall Building Innovation Award: Broad Sustainable Building (BSB) Prefabricated Construction Process, KONE UltraRope
- 10 Year Award: 30 St Mary Axe (“The Gherkin”), London, U.K.
- Lifetime Achievement / Lynn S. Beedle Award: Henry Cobb, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, New York City, USA
- Lifetime Achievement / Fazlur R. Khan Medal: Clyde Baker, AECOM, retired, Chicago, USA
- CTBUH Fellows: Ahmad K. Abdelrazaq, Samsung C&T Corporation, South Korea; and Felino Palafox, Jr., Palafox Associates, Philippines
The worldwide winner was announced at the CTBUH Awards Symposium in November at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois, after four rounds of close voting. Rem Koolhaas, Founding Partner, Office for Metropolitan Architecture, delivered the winning presentation, entitled “A New Typology for the Skyscraper: CCTV Headquarters, Beijing,” and accepted the award for CCTV. Koolhaas explained that he has been campaigning against uninspired skyscrapers, and was moved and grateful to be part of a community that is trying to make skyscrapers more interesting.
According to the jurors, the CCTV headquarters is an unusual take on the skyscraper typology. Instead of competing in the race for ultimate height and style through a traditional two-dimensional tower soaring skyward, CCTV’s loop poses a truly three-dimensional experience, culminating in a 75-meter cantilever. The building has reportedly paved the way from the height-obsessed, set-back skyscraper of the past to the sculptural and spatial skyscraper of the present, at the scale of the urban skyline.
The building’s stunning form, which appears both powerful and conflicted, symbolizes the multiple functions of the program and the dynamic positioning of its nation on the world stage, add the jurors. As a piece of structural engineering, CCTV is also seen as an object lesson for those who wish to push the preconceived boundaries of skyscraper design.
The CCTV project was led by OMA/Rem Koolhaas, former OMA partner, Ole Scheeren (until 2010), OMA partner David Gianotten, and project manager Dongmei Yao, in close collaboration with partners Shohei Shigematsu, Ellen van Loon, and Victor van der Chijs.
(See also “CTBUH names best tall buildings worldwide for 2013” on FMLink for a list of the finalists in each region.)
