International High-Rise Award 2024/25

The finalists of this year's International High-Rise Award (IHA) have been determined.

The jury selected five buildings from Asia, Europe and South America from a total of 31 nominated high-rise buildings from 13 countries. Alongside the wealth of aesthetic and technical ideas, the jury also based its assessment of the respective project on its social value as a “good neighbor”, its sustainable characteristics, and whether it featured a good design with a strong future. The jury members concurred that the central challenges facing high-rise construction stem from the need for greening, for greater densities, and for maximum use of existing buildings. The task that architects and urban planners must in the future tackle is to combine all three aspects. Against this background, chaired by Kim Herforth Nielsen the jury selected a shortlist of five finalists from among the 31 longlisted projects.

The IHA is considered the world's most important architecture award for high-rise buildings. The winner will be honored on November 12th in Frankfurt's Paulskirche. In addition, the event will be broadcast via live stream. The IHA is presented by the City of Frankfurt am Main together with Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) and DekaBank and is endowed with a statuette of the internationally renowned artist Thomas Demand and prize money of EUR 50,000.

The IHA 2024/25 finalists at a glance:

CapitaSpring, Singapore
Architecture: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, Copenhagen, Denmark & CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, Turin, Italy / New York, USA
IQON Residences, Quito, Ecuador
Architecture: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, Copenhagen, Denmark / New York, USA
Shenzhen Women & Children's Center, Shenzhen, China
Architecture: MVRDV, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Valley, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Architecture: MVRDV, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Bunker Tower, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Architecture: Powerhouse Company, Rotterdam, Netherlands

A corporate headquarters with greened public zones

CapitaSpring in Singapore, designed by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group (Copenhagen & New York) and Carlo Ratti Associati (Turin) is not just the new headquarters of the CapitaLand property company. For the building also and by no means least provides space for open gardens that straddle several stories and are accessible to the general public free of charge.

The jury found the building was remarkably elegant and were also taken by the aspect of urban greening and the inclusion of local culture along with adaptation to the Singaporean climate.

After jointly winning an international competition in 2018, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and CRA – Carlo Ratti Associati have completed Singapore’s second tallest high-rise in the heart of the densely built-up CBD (Central Business District). The building, constructed on the site of an obsolete parking garage, is accessed via covered walkways that lead to the 18-meter-high, open lobby, known as the City Room. From there, people reach the actual entrance halls leading to the various uses, as well as the Market Street Hawker Centre located in the base of the building, a type of public food court that was also previously located here. At 56 stalls, typical Singaporean street food is offered to both the building’s users and visitors.

On the lower floors of CapitaSpring, above the parking garage, there are partly two-story serviced apartments available primarily for business guests from the upper office floors but also for tourists. This offer is complemented by a wide range of amenities such as a swimming pool, running track, fitness rooms, communal kitchen, and barbecue areas, as well as the restaurants located in the building.
Above the residential floors is the green heart of the building, the so-called Green Oasis. Here, the vertical façade elements are pulled apart like light curtains, offering glimpses of a green landscape spanning four floors that invites people to linger, take a walk, and even do sports. Together with the also public green space on the rooftop, a total of 80,000 plants create a pleasant microclimate in the midst of the densely built-up environment.
The floors accommodating the building’s actual main use, the offices for the headquarters of CapitaLand, an international real estate company that is also the project’s developer, extend above the serviced residences. At the top of the high-rise, the façade opens up again, similar as it does at the height of the Green Oasis. The roof garden located there offers its visitors unique views over the city and the harbor out to the sea. In addition, well over 100 types of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers are grown here to supply the building’s restaurants.

In total, 8,300 square meters of green spaces have been integrated into CapitaSpring, which corresponds to 140 percent of the actual site area. Thus, the high-rise, with its offices, apartments featuring extensive amenities, restaurants, food market, and green spaces including recreational facilities, incorporates almost all the functions of a complete neighborhood.

Architecture: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Copenhagen, Denmark / New York, USA; CRA – Carlo Ratti Associati, Turin, Italy / New York, USA
Client: CapitaLand; Mitsubishi Estate
Main use: Offices, residential, gastronomy
Height: 280 m
Completion: September 2022
Location: Singapore

The jury of the International High-Rise Award 2024/25

The international jury is made up of experts from architecture and engineering practice, education and the partners of the IHA, namely DekaBank, the City of Frankfurt, and Deutsches Architekturmuseum.

Kim Herforth Nielsen, Founding partner 3XN, Copenhagen – jury chairman
Yasmin Al-Ani Spence, Direktorin WilkinsonEyre, London Roland Bechmann, Partner Werner Sobek, Stuttgart
Jürgen Heinzel, Associate Design Director UN Studio, Amsterdam
Christopher Lee, Managing founding partner Serie Architects, London
Mari Randsborg, CEO Cobe Architect, Copenhagen
Dr. Ina Hartwig, Deputy Mayor in Charge of Culture and Science City of Frankfurt / Main,
Peter Cachola Schmal, Director Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM), Frankfurt/Main
Victor Stoltenburg, Managing Director Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH, Frankfurt/Main

Deputy jury members:

Andrea Jürges, Deputy Director Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM), Frankfurt am Main
Horst R. Muth, Head of Real Estate Project Management, Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH, Frankfurt am Main

IHP 2024/25 jury meeting; Photos: Kirsten Bucher

Committed to architecture since 2004

The IHA is the top prize for highrise buildings worldwide. Since 2004, it has been awarded every two years by the City of Frankfurt am Main at a ceremony in the Paulskirche. The award is promoted, curated and organised in cooperative partnership with the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM, German Architecture Museum) and Deka. Since its launch at the beginning of the millennium, it has accompanied the ongoing global boom in high-rise construction, a prime architectural discipline.
The goal of the IHA is to create public awareness of the importance of architecture. Responsible planning and a design that prioritises social and environmental sustainability criteria are important factors for the IHA. As co-founder of the award, Deka therefore supports the role of the winning buildings as models for construction in the future.

The International High-Rise Award is considered one of the word´s most important architecture awards for high-rises. In cooperation with our partners, Deka proudly present the award for 20 years to exceptional buildings that combine sustainability, external design, and internal use of space. The award also holds significant value for the participating firms due to its external impacts.

Victor Stoltenburg Managing Director at Deka Immobilien

The first high-rise award worldwide

The IHA is awarded every two years for a high-rise building that combines exemplary sustainability, external design and internal spatial qualities as well as social and urban planning aspects to create an exemplary design. Further criteria are innovative construction technology and economic efficiency. The IHA is recognised as one of the world's most important architecture awards for high-rise buildings. It is aimed at architects and clients whose buildings are at least 100 metres high and have been completed in the last two years.

The prize is awarded jointly to the architect and the client. They receive a sculpture by the renowned artist Thomas Demand and prize money totalling 50,000 euros, which the winners donate to institutions in the field of architecture and urban development.

Previous recipients of the International High-Rise Award:

2020: Norra Tornen, Stockholm, Sweden, Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)
2018: „Torre Reforma“ in Mexiko City (Mexico), BR&A Arquitectos as architects and developer.
2016: „VIA 57 West“ in New York City (USA), BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and The Durst Organization as the developer.
2014: „Bosco Verticale“ in Milan (Italy), Boeri Studio and Hines Italia as the developer.
2012: “1 Blight Street” in Sydney (Australia), a cooperation between ingenhoven architects in Düsseldorf and Architectus in Sydney with DEXUS Property Group; DEXUS Wholesale Property Fund, Cbus Property as the developers.
2010: “The Met” in Bangkok (Thailand), WOHA in Singapore and Pebble Bay, Thailand as the developer.
2008: “Hearst Building” in New York (USA), Foster + Partners and Hearst Corporation as the developer.
2006: “Torre Agbar” in Barcelona (Spain), Ateliers Jean Nouvel and Layetana as the developer.
2004: “De Hoftoren” in The Hague (The Netherlands), Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (International) PA, London and ING Vastgoed as the developer.