Asia and Australia’s best skyscrapers at the 2018 CTBUH Awards

After Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East, our voyage among the skyscrapers nominated for the 2018 CTBUH Awards concludes in Asia and Australia, in discovery of the buildings nominated for Best Tall Building Asia & Australasia.
The area has more nominees than any other, a total of 9 skyscrapers selected by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) and completed in 2017 in the Asia-Australia macro-region.
The winner of the title of Best Tall Building Asia & Australasia will compete against the top ranking buildings in the other areas for the honour of "2018 Best Tall Building Worldwide", due to be proclaimed and presented with the award in Chicago on May 31 at the conclusion of the first annual Tall + Urban Innovation conference.
The first two skyscrapers we will look at in this overview, Chaoyang Park Plaza in Beijing and Huangshan Mountain Village in Huangshan, were designed by the same studio: MAD Architects, founded by Chinese architect Ma Yansong. The first skyscraper stands near Beijing’s biggest public park; the architects draw their inspiration from Chinese shan shui landscape painting to give the buildings a sculptural shape recalling natural elements on an urban scale. Huangshan Mountain Village is located in Huangshan, in eastern China, an area famous for its green landscapes and granitic hills. Inspired by these natural surroundings, the architects designed skyscrapers composed of smaller volumes, artificial mountains that seem to be born out of the soil.

The International Towers in Sydney designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners are triple towers creating a new gateway to the city from the sea, in Barangaroo, the city’s biggest urban regeneration project.

Lotte World Tower in Seoul by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates is one of the world’s ten tallest buildings and a pioneering example of a "vertical village" combining a great variety of functions in a single building. Completed in 2017, it has become an important presence on the Seoul skyline. Its vertical development with a curved line pays homage to traditional Celadon vases, so that the skyscraper looks like an icon of the country’s achievements in art and technology.

Two skyscrapers in Singapore were selected: Marina One by Ingenhoven Architects and Oasia Hotel Downtown by Woha Architects. The former is a building complex of organic shape, composed for four towers, two for offices and two residential. The space between the towers encloses a biodiversity garden inspired by the terraces of Asian rice paddies. The Oasia Hotel Downtown project by Woha in Singapore’s Central Business District is a "living" skyscraper incorporating the plants typical of the local tropical vegetation into its metal façade.

Ping An Finance Center by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates is an important landmark on the Shenzhen skyline. Despite its size, the building is on a human scale at street level, thanks to a succession of architectural elements such as arches and big cantilevers that ensure that its 600 m height does not tower imposingly over people.

Another project in Shenzhen was nominated for the award: Tencent Seafront Towers, designed by NBBJ. The two towers are connected by "links" consisting of three horizontal levels, an ideal representation of the perennially connected world of Tencent, a telecommunications company.

Back in Beijing, we close this rapid overview with a look at the Poly International Plaza designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP: an innovative building with advanced environmental performance. The construction grid visible on the building’s façade offers a perfect example of integration of architecture and structure.

(Agnese Bifulco)

CTBUH: www.ctbuh.org
2018 Tall + Urban Innovation conference: tallinnovation2018.com

Chaoyang Park Plaza
Architects: MAD Architects
City: Beijing, China
Images courtesy of CTBUH photo by Hufton+Crow

Huangshan Mountain Village
Architects: MAD Architects
City: Huangshan, China
Images courtesy of CTBUH photo by Hufton+Crow

International Towers
Architects: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
City: Sydney, Australia
Images courtesy of CTBUH photo by Brett Boardman Photography

Lotte World Tower
Architects: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
City: Seoul, South Korea
Images courtesy of CTBUH photo (c) Lotte Property & Development

Marina One
Architects: ingenhoven architects
City: Singapore
Images courtesy of CTBUH photo by HG Esch

Oasia Hotel Downtown
Architects: WOHA Architects
City: Singapore
Images courtesy of CTBUH photo by Patrick Bingham-Hall

Ping An Finance Center
Architects: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
City: Shenzen, China
Images courtesy of CTBUH photo (c) Ping An Financial Center Construction & Development

Poly International Plaza
Architects: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
City: Beijing, China
Images courtesy of CTBUH photo by Bruce Damonte

Tencent Seafront Towers
Architects: NBBJ
City: Shenzen, China
Images courtesy of CTBUH photo (c) Tongji Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd.

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