Latest news with #CouncilonTallBuildingsandUrbanHabitat
Business Upturn
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Upturn
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Announces 2025 Award of Excellence Winners, Recognizes Projects Driving the Future of Vertical Urbanism in an Unpredictable Climate
Chicago, May 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has announced the winners of its 2025 Award of Excellence competition, a robust slate of built and unbuilt projects from around the world that respond to current global challenges and demonstrate the vital role of tall buildings in the 21st century. (View the full list of winning projects here.) Spanning 20 countries and more than 20 categories, this year's winners exemplify creative and technical leadership across the gamut of sustainable vertical urbanism. From carbon-negative towers to adaptive reuse strategies that extend the life of existing structures by decades, the 2025 awardees are unified by an evolution of values: growth as well as stewardship, height and impact. 'This year's cohort demonstrates not only technical sophistication and design ingenuity but also an ability to respond to the circumstances shaping the world right now—from regional issues and economic challenges to the accelerating climate crisis,' according to Javier Quintana de Uña, CEO of CTBUH. 'These projects prove that tall buildings and the vertical urbanism they engender can instigate better quality of life, ecological resilience and urban equity simultaneously. That's the direction our industry must move in.' In categories such as Best Tall Building, Innovation and Urban Habitat, this year's winners emphasize reuse, low-carbon materials, equitable housing and integrated infrastructure. Submitting companies were also asked to share data on the carbon and material usage in their projects—part of the CTBUH 2025 Awards Carbon Pilot Program—which attempts to consolidate embodied carbon data from across the globe and serve as a benchmark for sustainable development practices. Several projects introduce hybrid programmatic models, blurring the line between public and private realms and prioritizing circularity from the outset. 'Vertical urbanism isn't just about going taller—it's about rethinking how height intersects with livability, connectivity and the relationship of tall buildings with the street,' said James Parakh, Urban Design Manager at the City of Toronto Planning Division and a juror in the Urban Habitat category. 'This year's submissions illustrate how tall buildings can do more than dominate skylines—they can animate streets, enliven their contexts and shape cohesive, healthy neighborhoods. The most compelling projects treat the base, the tower and the spaces between towers as a continuous urban experience. That kind of holistic thinking can benefit cities, improve livability and create vibrant places where people thrive.' CTBUH's call for entries drew its broadest global participation yet, with submissions from firms working in cities as diverse as Brisbane, Göteborg, New Cairo, Tokyo and Toronto, among many others. Each submission was evaluated by multidisciplinary juries comprising leaders in architecture, engineering, planning, construction and real estate development. The selection criteria prioritized performance—environmental, cultural and operational—over prestige or aesthetics alone. Awardees will present their work during the CTBUH 2025 International Conference, themed From the Ground Up: Tall Buildings and City-Making, taking place 6–9 October in Toronto, where they'll vie for 'best in category' recognition. Results will be announced during the conference's prestigious award ceremony and dinner. Now in its 22nd year, the CTBUH awards program can enhance the reputation and marketability of the companies responsible for selected projects. 'Receiving the CTBUH Award of Excellence for One Za'abeel has been a defining moment—both personally and for our entire team,' expressed Dr. Mohamed Hegazy, Director of Property & Buildings Construction Supervision in the Middle East at WSP. The project was named overall winner in the Best Tall Building, Middle East & Africa category in the 2024 competition. 'As professionals leading complex projects, we navigate diverse challenges while aligning stakeholder interests. We're proud of the industry-leading engineering that made this achievement possible—advancing standards and integrating it seamlessly with the community—which marks a meaningful evolution in the architectural landscape,' continued Hegazy. 'The award showcased our work on the global stage, inspiring new conversations about what's possible when visionary thinking, purposeful execution and ambition converge to raise the bar and pave the way for the next generation of transformative structures.' 'Our awards have always spotlighted excellence, but in 2025 excellence looks different,' added Quintana de Uña. 'We're now measuring success not by spectacle but by a building's capacity to support life—human and otherwise—for generations to come.' For more information on the CTBUH awards program, including jury members by category and all prior Award of Excellence winners, please visit Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to smarter, more sustainable cities and a more viable future for global populations. Specifically, CTBUH focuses on the critical role of density in addressing climate change. CTBUH is headquartered in Chicago and has offices in Shanghai, China, and Venice, Italy. CTBUH's worldwide membership network includes companies from fields such as real estate development, architecture, engineering, cost consulting, building management and construction, among others. In addition to hosting leading industry events, CTBUH produces research and reports on issues of significant consequence to its membership. Its most utilized asset is the database, a comprehensive compendium of detailed figures, images and technical information on more than 40,000 tall buildings throughout the world. CTBUH is best known to the public for developing international standards for measuring tall building height and is recognized as the arbiter of the 'World's Tallest Building' designation. For more information, please visit Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Neighbors mixed on proposed Evanston tower that would rival suburbs' tallest buildings
An Evanston developer is facing community pushback after proposing a 31-story, 333 foot tall apartment building that would rank third tallest in suburban Chicagoland. The proposed residential tower would have the same number of floors as suburban Chicago's tallest building, Oakbrook Terrace Tower in DuPage County, though that building rises 418 feet, according to information from Shawn Ursini of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The proposed highrise, which aligns with Mayor Daniel Biss' goal to increase housing density in Evanston, is also notable becuse it includes dramatically fewer parking spaces than is typical for the suburbs. There would be 80 on-site spaces for 445 apartments. The developer suggested using an estimated 120 parking spots in nearby city-owned garages, but so far that remains only a suggestion. Representatives from Chicago based co-developers Vermilion Development and Campbell Coyle shared with neighbors proposals of their 605 Davis Street high rise, at the northwest corner of Davis Street and Chicago Avenue, at a ward meeting on April 29. The developers anticipate the development, on two currently vacant lots, will also help the city's goal of raising property tax revenue for the land parcels by millions of dollars. The proposed building's height would put it under the suburbs' second-tallest building, Two Pierce Plaza in Itasca, at 395 feet, but much taller than Evanston's existing tallest buildings: Orrington Plaza at 277 feet, Sherman Plaza at 276 feet, Optima Views at 265 feet and One Rotary Center at 237 feet tall, per information from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The community meeting, hosted by Councilmembers Clare Kelly (1st) and Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th), was attended by about 50 residents at the main branch of the Evanston Public Library. The majority of residents offered a mix of reasons as to why the project should not move forward, including parking troubles, traffic troubles and a potential 'wind tunnel' effect that could strengthen winds, making downtown harder for pedestrians to walk. The project had some support at the meeting from Evanston's commercial partners. 'We should be welcoming this type of development. We should be working with them,' said Andy Vick, the executive director of the Downtown Evanston Merchants Organization. Evanston resident Tina Paden said the development will not benefit most Evanstonians, particularly Black families. 'Let's be real, that this building is for Northwestern students,' she said. 'I live down the street from (housing developments) E2 and The Link. I do not see Black families with three or four children walking out of the building. They are Northwestern students. You are coming here for opportunity to make big, giant dollars from Northwestern students. You do not care about Evanston residents.' As proposed by developers, the building's 445 residential units will mostly be studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, according to Dickson. The development is proposed to have 20%, or 89, of them marketed as affordable units, which is 5% more than the city's inclusionary housing ordinance requires. Plans call for the development to have three storefronts. Luay Aboona, principal at traffic consulting firm KLOA, Inc., said the development is not likely to increase traffic in a significant way in the immediate area of the development. Kerry Dickson, managing director of Vermilion Development, said the developers hope to negotiate a lease with city-owned parking lots on Church Street and Davis Street for residents to park their vehicles there. The city could net an additional $172,000 in renting out parking spaces needed by the development's residents, he said, estimating that an additional 120 vehicles will need parking. Dickson said the site at 605-609 Davis Street now houses two vacant lots and is in blighted condition. The Davis Street development isn't the only high rise project in the works in Evanston. Last September, two developers proposed a 27-story apartment building also in the downtown area at the current Church Street Plaza. That development is anticipated to have 358 units, and is also asking the city for variances in its zoning code to have a lower number of parking spaces. Property tax breaks Jonathan Perman of Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications, a spokesperson hired to represent the development, said that because the 605 Davis Street development offers 20% of its units to be rented at an affordable rate, a state statute makes discounts available in the developer's property tax bill. Called Affordable Illinois when it was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2021, the state law makes housing developments in certain areas of Cook County eligible for a significant property tax break, in the form of lowered assessments, available for 30 years, as long as they also provide 20% of their housing units to be rented at affordable rates, among other requirements. For the first 12 years after the development is complete, the building owner will pay 60% or less of the building's assessed property tax value. For the 18 years after that, they will pay 80% of the assessed value. After that time period is over, the property tax bill must be paid in its entirety. At the meeting, Councilmember Kelly said the 30 years of property tax discounts would essentially be a forfeiture from the city to the developer. Perman took a different emphasis, characterizing the property tax bill the developers will be paying, stating that after 12 years, the city of Evanston would be reaping an estimated $2.7 million instead of the $21,450 it is getting now for the undeveloped property. .
Chicago Tribune
14-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Neighbors mixed on proposed Evanston tower that would rival suburbs' tallest buildings
An Evanston developer is facing community pushback after proposing a 31-story, 333 foot tall apartment building that would rank third tallest in suburban Chicagoland. The proposed residential tower would have the same number of floors as suburban Chicago's tallest building, Oakbrook Terrace Tower in DuPage County, though that building rises 418 feet, according to information from Shawn Ursini of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The proposed highrise, which aligns with Mayor Daniel Biss' goal to increase housing density in Evanston, is also notable becuse it includes dramatically fewer parking spaces than is typical for the suburbs. There would be 80 on-site spaces for 445 apartments. The developer suggested using an estimated 120 parking spots in nearby city-owned garages, but so far that remains only a suggestion. Representatives from Chicago based co-developers Vermilion Development and Campbell Coyle shared with neighbors proposals of their 605 Davis Street high rise, at the northwest corner of Davis Street and Chicago Avenue, at a ward meeting on April 29. The developers anticipate the development, on two currently vacant lots, will also help the city's goal of raising property tax revenue for the land parcels by millions of dollars. The proposed building's height would put it under the suburbs' second-tallest building, Two Pierce Plaza in Itasca, at 395 feet, but much taller than Evanston's existing tallest buildings: Orrington Plaza at 277 feet, Sherman Plaza at 276 feet, Optima Views at 265 feet and One Rotary Center at 237 feet tall, per information from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. The community meeting, hosted by Councilmembers Clare Kelly (1st) and Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th), was attended by about 50 residents at the main branch of the Evanston Public Library. The majority of residents offered a mix of reasons as to why the project should not move forward, including parking troubles, traffic troubles and a potential 'wind tunnel' effect that could strengthen winds, making downtown harder for pedestrians to walk. The project had some support at the meeting from Evanston's commercial partners. 'We should be welcoming this type of development. We should be working with them,' said Andy Vick, the executive director of the Downtown Evanston Merchants Organization. Evanston resident Tina Paden said the development will not benefit most Evanstonians, particularly Black families. 'Let's be real, that this building is for Northwestern students,' she said. 'I live down the street from (housing developments) E2 and The Link. I do not see Black families with three or four children walking out of the building. They are Northwestern students. You are coming here for opportunity to make big, giant dollars from Northwestern students. You do not care about Evanston residents.' As proposed by developers, the building's 445 residential units will mostly be studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, according to Dickson. The development is proposed to have 20%, or 89, of them marketed as affordable units, which is 5% more than the city's inclusionary housing ordinance requires. Plans call for the development to have three storefronts. Luay Aboona, principal at traffic consulting firm KLOA, Inc., said the development is not likely to increase traffic in a significant way in the immediate area of the development. Kerry Dickson, managing director of Vermilion Development, said the developers hope to negotiate a lease with city-owned parking lots on Church Street and Davis Street for residents to park their vehicles there. The city could net an additional $172,000 in renting out parking spaces needed by the development's residents, he said, estimating that an additional 120 vehicles will need parking. Dickson said the site at 605-609 Davis Street now houses two vacant lots and is in blighted condition. The Davis Street development isn't the only high rise project in the works in Evanston. Last September, two developers proposed a 27-story apartment building also in the downtown area at the current Church Street Plaza. That development is anticipated to have 358 units, and is also asking the city for variances in its zoning code to have a lower number of parking spaces. Property tax breaks Jonathan Perman of Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications, a spokesperson hired to represent the development, said that because the 605 Davis Street development offers 20% of its units to be rented at an affordable rate, a state statute makes discounts available in the developer's property tax bill. Called Affordable Illinois when it was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2021, the state law makes housing developments in certain areas of Cook County eligible for a significant property tax break, in the form of lowered assessments, available for 30 years, as long as they also provide 20% of their housing units to be rented at affordable rates, among other requirements. For the first 12 years after the development is complete, the building owner will pay 60% or less of the building's assessed property tax value. For the 18 years after that, they will pay 80% of the assessed value. After that time period is over, the property tax bill must be paid in its entirety. At the meeting, Councilmember Kelly said the 30 years of property tax discounts would essentially be a forfeiture from the city to the developer. Perman took a different emphasis, characterizing the property tax bill the developers will be paying, stating that after 12 years, the city of Evanston would be reaping an estimated $2.7 million instead of the $21,450 it is getting now for the undeveloped property. .
Toronto Star
03-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Condo towers with indoor gardens? Here are four ideas on highrise living Toronto should steal
Toronto's not like other cities. For decades, it has experienced rapid population growth and, even as the real estate market slows, is constantly changing with new towers rising to house our growing population. But all things considered, experts say the city is doing quite well at managing housing density in a thoughtful way. Unlike other growing places like Montreal or New York, Toronto is mostly a postwar city, which means it has to accommodate new density around a design that previously centred single-family homes and suburbanization, said Paul Hess, a professor and associate chair of University of Toronto's department of geography and planning. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'To transform those into highly dense places that have some of the kind of small grain character that we like is really hard, and there are not a lot of places that have figured out how to do that,' Hess said. Out of 40 urban areas around the globe, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat ranks Toronto-Hamilton as second at managing density and livability, only behind Hong Kong. Its 'vertical urbanism index' considers livability through social, economic, and environmental factors. Will condos ever create cool neighbourhoods? Why one developer sees a future that's more Tokyo than Toronto 'Livability is your life expectancy, accessibility to transport, schools, health; all that combination,' said Javier Quintana de Uña, the CEO of the Chicago-based non-profit. 'You guys score incredibly high.' Still, the city has faced challenges as new developments have led small businesses — and residents — to be priced out of communities, and some of the charm that once defined certain neighbourhoods has faded. When determining how best to incorporate social services and shared spaces into new developments, the answer is complicated by the fact that the city is home to people from so many different cultures and backgrounds who may have different needs, noted Meg Holden, a professor of urban studies and resources and environmental management at Simon Fraser University. 'Canada certainly has benefited from high rates of growth historically, but it's not comparable to European cities in that way; it's more comparable to cities like Singapore or Hong Kong … but it's still not comparable because Canadian cities like Toronto and Vancouver and Montreal have such a high rate of social demographic mixing,' she said, referring to the Canadian cities' cultural diversity and growing wealth gap. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Still, these experts say there are ideas Toronto can borrow from other Canadian and global cities that could make our increasingly vertical lives better. Singapore: Allocate public space in highrises People walk through the Green Oasis botanical promenade at the CapitaSpring's skyscraper in Singapore. David Goldman/AP While towers in the 1970s and '80s used to be more like silos, perceptions have changed. Developments are highly regarded 'if they succeed in creating community, mixing themselves with infrastructure that are accessible, physically and financially,' said Quintana de Uña. Singapore has been a pioneer in this, he said, and mandates developers provide public space residential towers. One development that broke the traditional mould in 2021 was CapitaSpring, a 51-storey tower combining residential and office spaces, as well as four storeys of open-air garden and a cycling path as part of the development. In England, another example is the London Sky Garden, which Quintana de Uña calls 'revolutionary.' The public garden — which also has restaurants and other attractions — is at the top of a tower that is more narrow at the base. The challenge with mandating public space in towers is that it could lead to smaller, less affordable residential units, Quintana de Uña said. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Vancouver: Consider the open-air courtyard A development in Vancouver is looking to add indoor courtyards. Darryl Dyck/ The Canadian Press file photo Holden has conducted extensive research into 'neighbourliness' — social connections among neighbours in high-density areas. According to research she co-authored, outdoor amenity spaces are an aspect of design affecting quality of life. Courtyards, in particular, have the potential to improve residents' social lives, providing seating and inviting people to linger. Vienna House, a social housing, near-zero-emissions project in the works in Vancouver, is garnering attention for its design. (The development is named after the city, which is collaborating with the province's public housing provider, and where about a quarter of residents live in social housing). It will have 123 rental units upon completion — including 56 family units — around an open-air courtyard. 'That courtyard provides a sense of intimacy,' Holden said. 'If you've got a balcony and you're on the fifth floor, then you can let your children play below, but you can still stay upstairs and do the laundry or whatever you're doing, and so your kids are more likely to have some independence, to make their own relationships, a single parent is more likely to be able to have sanity in their life, et cetera.' San Francisco: Create a Legacy Business Program San Francisco's Legacy Business Program launched in 2015 in an effort to support small businesses with historical and cultural significance to the city. Anadolu Anadolu via Getty Images One potential way to support small businesses struggling in the face of new developments is to create something like San Francisco's Legacy Business Program, Hess said. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW San Francisco launched the program in 2015 in an effort to support small businesses with historical and cultural significance to the city. Eligible businesses — which have to have been operating there for more than 30 years — receive marketing, assistance and specialized grants. Hess said Toronto has had one-off instances of helping business negotiate with landlords, but a more standardized approach could present another way forward. Montreal: Pedestrianize public spaces Montreal has 11 pedestrianized streets in the summer. Robert Skinner/La Presse Montreal has been working on programs to improve public space and pedestrianize streets in the summer, Hess said, to 'strengthen' older streets and 'keep them vibrant.' The city has 11 pedestrianized streets in summer, which Montreal says enhances pedestrian safety and comfort, improving quality of life and the city's vitality while boosting local retailers. A 'tiny example' of this in Toronto is Market Street next to the St. Lawrence Market, which becomes like a plaza in the summer, Hess said. Currently, Toronto is examining how to increase pedestrian space along Yonge Street between College/Carleton streets and Queen Street. It's also gearing up to start construction in Kensington Market to 'prioritize pedestrians while accommodating slow speed vehicle access for local residents.'
South China Morning Post
17-02-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
From ‘Ghost Tower' to ‘Hotel of Doom': Asia's abandoned skyscrapers
Asia housing and property Published: 2:32pm, 17 Feb 2025 Updated: 2:33pm, 17 Feb 2025 Towering skyscrapers often create a city's iconic skyline, yet sometimes its tallest buildings can fall into disrepair or remain unfinished. While abandoned structures can become symbolic of a location's financial or social struggles, cities still have to decide what to do with them. Some are left to rust, others are demolished – and a few become revitalised. 'A lot of these buildings can still have a lot of life left in them,' said Shawn Ursini, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's senior building database manager. 'We just maybe need to get a bit more creative as to what their purpose is going forward.' Here are some of the skyscrapers around Asia that now sit empty or uncompleted – and how they ended up that way. Unattached toilets sit in an open room in the empty Sathorn Unique building in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2017. Photo: AP Sathorn Unique, Bangkok Popularly known as Thailand 's 'Ghost Tower', this looming structure dates back to 1990. The 47-floor building was only 80 per cent finished when the 1997 Asian financial crisis hit.
