Shard Wins Emporis Skyscraper Award

The Shard has been awarded this year's Emporis Skyscraper Award, bringing the award back to Europe after two consecutive wins in North America - by Absolute Towers in 2013 and New York by Gehry in 2012. Each year, the award honours the world's best new building over 100m tall.

The award's jury praised the Shard's "unique glass fragment-shaped form and its sophisticated architectural implementation", resulting in "a skyscraper that is recognized immediately and which is already considered London's new emblem."

Read on to find out the remaining 10 buildings to take home awards

Shard Wins Emporis Skyscraper Award - More Images+ 15

1. The Shard / Renzo Piano

The Shard / Renzo Piano. Image © Malcolm Chapman

The jury singled out the Shard not only for its eye-catching shape, but also for the circumstances overcome to achieve it: "Construction of The Shard was complicated by the particularly tight site and therefore needed innovative planning. This makes the result all the more impressive," they said.

2. DC Tower 1 / Dominique Perrault Architecture

DC Tower 1 / Dominique Perrault Architecture. Image © Michael Nagl

In Dominique Perrault's 250m tower in Vienna, the jury praised the commitment to sustainability and the building's form, saying "three mirror-smooth sides are broken by a craggy, jagged fourth that gives the building a strength of expression and sense of solidity, despite its slim stature."

DC Tower 1 / Dominique Perrault Architecture. Image © DPA

3. Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort / MAD Architects

Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort / MAD Architects. Image © Xiazhi

The third place award may go to the shortest building on the list, but that doesn't make it any less striking. The 102m ring-shaped tower was described as "daring design" by the jury.

Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort / MAD Architects. Image © Xiazhi

4. Cayan Tower / SOM

Cayan Tower / SOM. Image © Tim Griffith / SOM
Cayan Tower / SOM. Image © Tim Griffith / SOM

5. One Central Park (East Tower) / Ateliers Jean Nouvel

One Central Park (East Tower) / Ateliers Jean Nouvel. Image © Simon Wood Photography

6. Flame Towers / HOK

Flame Towers / HOK. Image © Birgitte Riber Hald
Flame Towers / HOK. Image Courtesy of HOK

7. Mercury City / Frank Williams & Partners

Mercury City / Frank Williams & Partners. Image © Mercury Development
Mercury City / Frank Williams & Partners. Image © Igor Butyrskii

8. Ardmore Residence / UNStudio

Ardmore Residence / UNStudio. Image © Pontiac Land Group

9. AZ Tower / Architektonická kancelář Burian-Křivinka

AZ Tower / Architektonická kancelář Burian-Křivinka. Image © Petr Skoupý
AZ Tower / Architektonická kancelář Burian-Křivinka. Image © Wayne Hopkins

10 (Tied). Tour Carpe Diem / Robert AM Stern

Tour Carpe Diem / Robert AM Stern. Image Courtesy of Robert A.M. Stern Architects
Tour Carpe Diem / Robert AM Stern. Image Courtesy of Robert A.M. Stern Architects

10 (Tied). Nanfung Commercial, Hospitality and Exhibition Complex / Aedas

Nanfung Commercial, Hospitality and Exhibition Complex / Aedas. Image © Langham Place, Guangzhou
Nanfung Commercial, Hospitality and Exhibition Complex / Aedas. Image © Paul Warchol
About this author
Cite: Rory Stott. "Shard Wins Emporis Skyscraper Award" 20 May 2014. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/508505/shard-wins-emporis-skyscraper-award> ISSN 0719-8884

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