This
1,713-foot-tall tower in Beijing was developed by CITIC HEYE Investment
Co., Ltd, and designed by TFP Farrells and Kohn Pedersen Fox. It
is known as the CITIC Tower and its simple gracefulness makes it one of
the world's most beautiful skyscrapers.
The council's book provides the following commentary:
"Its gently rising and curving form embodies the capital's
gracefulness, and resembles an ancient Chinese ceremonial vessel,
called the zun....The
articulation techniques of the zun is distilled and applied throughout
the design of the tower form, envelope, canopy, entrance portals,
ground floor lobby, and observation hall interiors....At the bottom,
tower thrusts into the ground with massive corner supports, while the
exterior shell is lifted up and stretched forward along each side."
Morpheus
Hotel in Macao by Zaha Hadid
Zaha
Hadid is represented in the survey with three major projects.
The most spectacular is the Morpheus Hotel, a 505-foot-tall tower in
Macao, China, with three major holes, each with a different spaital
configuration, and a dizzying exoskeleton. The asymmetric
composition is one of the architect's most startling and
dramatic. It was developed by Melco Resorts &
Entertertainment. The hotel was commissioned in 2012 atop
foundations for a condominium tower that did not progress.
The council's book notes that
the building's exterior has hardly any horizontal lines "which would
have made for a visually prosaic elevation pattern.
The Opus in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates by Zaha Hadid
The
Opus is a 21-story building that is 308 feet tall in Dubai, the United
Arab Emirates. It was developed by Omniyat and designed by Zaha
Hadid Architects.
The council's book provides the following commentary:
"The free-formed fluidity of the eight-story void contrasts with the
orthogonal geometry of the surrounding cube....Ther 6,000-square-meter
dark blue facade of the Opus' free-form central void is composed of
4,300 separate glazing units, a majority of which are
irregularly-shaped, curved, double-glazed and custom-made insulating
glass panels. The lower section of the void is bordered by the
free-formed glass roof over the hotel atrium."
Jumeirah
Nanjing Hotel & International Youth Cultural Centre in China by
Hadid
The
third design in the book by Zaha Hadid Architects is the Jumeirah
Nanjing Hotel & International Youth Cultural Centre in China that
was developed by Hexi New Town Planning Council.
The complex consists of five buildings including a 1,033-foot-tall
office and hotel tower and a 837-foot-tall cultural centre. The
towers are similar with a dark glass towers with uneven tops and
light-colored central spines rising over angled and highly patterned
bases whose fenestration geometrically is stylized after the large
fenestration patterns of the angled and illuminated low-rise buildings
clustered about a sunken plaza. The complex exudes beaucoup de
verve.
La Marsellaise in Marseille by Atelier Jean Nouvel
The
very colorful and startling, 31-story La Marsellaise is a 443-foot-tall
tower in Marseille that was built by Constructa Urban Systems and
designed by Atelier Jean Nouvel.
The facade has 30 colors.
The council's book provides the following commentary:
"La Marsellaise is part of the Quai d'Arence development within
Euromediterranee, an urban renewal project on a former industrial
wasteland on the Marseille harbor. It houses the
Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis governing body, as well as nine
market-leading commercial firms....La Marseillaise rests on pilotis,
bringing an atmosphere of lightness to the whole complex...It stands
tall as a totem of the new business district under construction....The
aesthetic of the tower is intended to capture and epitomize Marseilles,
without locking viewers iuto a single interpretation. Operating
in the tradition of impressionism and Op Art, it thus uses a spray of
color that plays both on the light and on a grid frame that reads
differently based on orientation and time of day.
Detail of La Marseillaise
"It
plays on the red roofs tiles of the local roofs, the white of clouds,
and the blue of the sky and the sea, occasionally dematerializing into
the surrounding elements. The building itself is designed to look
unfinished, to looke like a sketch, with lines missing....The
industrial look and color palette also reflects the local built
environment, from the nearby ferries to the bascule bridge in the
harbor."
The Central Bank
of Kuwait New Headquarters Building in Kuwait City
This
782-foot-high tower is the Central Bank of Kuwait New Headquarters
Building in Kuwait City. It was designed by HOK
A truncated pyramid, the tower's base has several angled
protusions in light-colored stone beneath its blue-glass cross-hatched
facade with a centered indentation.
Other
side of the Central Bank of Kuwait New Headquarters Building
The
southeast and southwest elevations are clad in limestone and are
mostly opaque. The council's book notes that "these solid facades
are
a contemporary reflection of Kuwaiti vernacular buildings, and this
purposeful monumentality expresses permanence and dignity."
Salesforce
tower in San Francisco by Pelli
The
Salesforce Tower in San Francisco is 1,070 feet tall and was
developed by Hines Interests and Boston Properties. It was
designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.
The council's book provides the following commentary:
"The building has the simple, timeless form of an obelisk, giving it a
slender, tapering silhouette. The walls are composed of clear
glass with pearlescent metal accents. These horizontal and
vertical accents gradually taper in depth to accentuate the curved
glass corners....The walls rise just past the top floor to form a
transparent crown that appears to dissolve into the sky; at night it
features 11,000 LED lights that project a lighting artist's rendition
of moving images from photos taken around the city. Carved into
the tower top is a vertical facet, also lit at night."
Harbour Plaza in Toronto
This
mixed-use comple in Toronto is known as Harbour Plaza. Its two
residential towers, one 764 feet tall and the other 735 feet tall, and
one office building, which is 514 feet tall, rise above a four-story
podium with about 19,000 square feet of retail space. Menkes
Development was the developer of the residential towers and Oxford
Properties Group built the office tower. Alliance designed the
residential towers and Sweeny & Co., designed the office tower.
The council's book provides the following commentary:
"The Harbour Plaza Residences are an iconic pair of slender towers,
cast in a stark white 'woven' skin of pierced aluminum, the first use
of this material in a Toronto residential development. combining ease
of maintenance, visual impact, and an innovative use of recycled
construction material."
China Resources
Headquarters in Shenzhen, China, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox
The
1,288-foot-high tower that houses the China Resources Headguarters in
Shenzhen, China, was desinged by Kohn Pedersen Fox. At
its base, the tower is connected to a small glass pavilion with retail
space, museum, a perofrmance hall and auditiorium.
The book provides the following commentary:
"Inapired by the organic form of the bamboo shoot, the building's 56
stainless-steel clad exo-columns converge into 28 pillars at the top
and bottom, creating a diagrid system and further emphasizing the
tower's verticality and tapered composition."
888 Boylston Street in
Boston
This
very handsome, 325-foot-tall building at 888 Boylston Street in Boston
is notable for its use of wind turbines. It was developed by
Boston Properties and designed by FXCollaborative.
The book provides the following commentary:
"888 Boylston Street fills the last site of the Prudential Center
complex and creates a new front door for one of the world's most
successful urban developments. Crowned by photovoltaics and wind
turbines, the building is also a compellting symbole of sustainabilitiy
on the skyline, and a welcome conclusion to an important urban
ensemble."
Rooftop
Wind Turbines at Boyleston
The
14 wind turbines are quite fancy and conjure Chinese calligraphy and
the base's four-story V-shaped angled piers are thematically repeated,
albeit with a variation, beneath the protruding photovoltaic "cornice."
Arte
S in Penang, Malaysia
Arte
S is a two-tower residential complex in Penang, Malaysia developed by
Nusmetro and designed by Spark Architects. Tower 1 is 610 feet
tall and Tower 2 is 4`0 and both siit atop a kiwrise podium Tower
1 has two "pod"-like. "peeble-form" recreational clubs for the
residents and each is several stories tall but contained within the
tower's undulating floor-plates that ripple up and down the towers with
slightly setback glass balcony railings. The "pods" are about
three-quarters up the taller tower and face the smaller tower. At
night, the pods "glow" creating a beacon visible across the island of
Penang.
The voluptuous forms of the towers can induce "Saturday Night Fever"
for fans of John Travolta and others.
All units are column- and beam-free and are naturally ventilated and
skylit.
Le
Architecture in Taipei, Taiwan, designed by Aedas
This
235-foot-high project in Taipei, Taiwan was designed for the Earnest
Development and Construction Corporation by Aedas for a site adjacent
to the Jilong River. It is known as Le Architecture and is an
office building. Its design, according to the council's book,
"draws inspiration from the shape of river pebbles, developing the
unique aesthetic that simulaneously conveys ideas of elegance and
softness, as well as strength and character."
"The building's egg-like shape casts it as an incubator of knowledge
and a metaphor for intellectual revival, which integrates well with the
dynamics of the revitalizing Nangang district. On the south side,
a minature version of the pebble-shaped tower contains a retail banking
brnach....Due to the desired organically shaped form, the team explored
using curved glass, but as this would have covered 27 percent it deemed
too expensive."
Forma
Itaim in Sao Paulo
This
very colorful, 279-foot-high residential tower in Sao Paulo is known as
Forma Itaim and was developed by Huma Desemvolvimento Imobilario and
designed by b720 Fermin Vazquez Arqitectos.
The council's book notes that the project seeks to "highlight itself as
a 'singularity of good manners," without stridency, across the
monotonous sea of undifferentiated skyscrapers of Sao Paolo....The main
part of the facade is composed of color-coated terracotta cladding,
creating a mostly opaque ventilated facade that is open to the
balconies, which are made from coated aluminum extrusions and glass
balustrades....The tower podium is elevated above street level..."
Wish Signature @
Midtown Siam in Bangkok
Wish
Signature @ Midtown Siam in Bangkok is a very elegant 47-story tower
that is 504 feet tall and was developed by Siamnuwat Co. Ltd., and
designed by Tandem Architects (2001). The tower has two 10-story
wings and it resembles a high-backed chair.
The tower has a outdoor swimming pool that is cantilevered at the 37th
floor.
Crystal
Laputa Towers in Chengdu, China
Thismulti-tower
residential complex in Chengdu, China, is known as Crystal Laputa
Towers and was developed by Wide Horizon and designed by 5 +
Design. Its tallest tower is 368 feet tall.
Rising from white-roofed bases, the towers have protruding and receding
two-story high elements faced with light-blue glass and dark grey
balconies connecting separate sections of each tower, two of which are
slightly angled with one another. The balconies are not on every
floor, giving the center of each major tower a substantial
"see-through" window that combined with the "push-pull" of most of the
unit spaces creates a very rigorous and rugged appearance that is more
inviting than ominous. In the high-rise towers, three units "stem
outward from the core, connected by sky terraces, and share one
infinity pool between them.....Portions of each unit cantilever
outwards from the building, providing sweeping 270-degree views on
three sides, two balconies per unit, and in some unit, a spiral
staircase in the living room."
King
Power MahaNakhon in Bangkok
This
1,030-foot-high, mixed-use tower was developed by PACE Development
Corporation PTC and designed by the Office of Metropolitan
Architecture. It has 200 apartments, 150 hotel rooms, a rooftop
Sky Bar and a link to the Skytrain.
The council's book provides the following commentary:
"The design of the project dismantles the typical tower and podium
typology, creating a skyscraper that merges with the city by gradually
'dissolving' as it flows downward to meet the ground....The tower has
been carefully carved to introduce a three-dimensional ribbon of
architectural pixels that coil up the tower's full height to reveal the
inner life of the building...."
Duo
in Singapore
The
two towers of the Duo Project in Singapore was developed by M + S Pte
Ltd and designed by Buro Ole Scheeren.
The council's book provides the following commentary:
"Vertical facades rise skywards along the adjoining roads, while a
net-like hexagonal pattern of sunshades across the skin of the towers
forms intricate honeycomb texture that not only hints at the hive-like
activity of the surroundings, but also serves as a functional element
in the building's environmental strategy."
The towers have some concave stides and cantilevered sections and rise
from a raised podium, One of the towers contains offices and the
other a hotel and residential units.
The project's aesthetic is
dizzying but intriguing.
Baidu
Headquarters in Shengzhen, China
This
striking, 43-story, 621-foot-high tower is the headquarters of the
Baidu Group, one of China's leading technology companies. Located
in Shengzhen, China, it was designed by CCDI Group.
The glass tower is divided
into two wings separated by a ladder-like central space whose box-like
open spaces alternatiely shift a bit from side to side and contain
angled and railed staircases in their lower sections.
The angled staircases provide the tower with a very strong dynamic.
