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 mixed-usage high-rise in the form of a landscape

The Valley mixed-use complex in Amsterdam stands in a neighborhood hitherto dominated by classical office buildings. In the shape of a rocky mountain landscape, its three eccentric residential towers with their changing footprints rise up from a geometrical podium. The latter houses additional usages such as offices and restaurants as well as a footpath through the Valley.

The jury feels the Valley is a project that “plays with the contrast of a strict outer façade and the essentially random inner structure to create a vertical village well worth living in. A project that breathes life into the otherwise cold business district and makes it more human.” Parts of the building were deliberately defined as open to the public in order to offer visitors a view of the surroundings that is otherwise the privilege of the inhabitants.

Amsterdam’s Zuidas neighborhood is to be transformed from a pure office environment into a mixed-use district. Surrounded by highways and previously developed in an architecturally rather stereotypical manner, Valley stands out as a solitaire, impressively embodying the desired transformation. Externally, the building blends unobtrusively into the office environment with its mirrored glass façade. Internally, the mixed-use high-rise reveals its namesake appearance: rising from a common base are three rock-like towers with a deep valley winding between them. The contrast to the smooth exterior façade could not be greater – warm natural stone, abundant greenery, and spectacular projections and recesses characterize the interior view.

Two external stone staircases make the valley accessible to everyone directly from the street level up to the 5th and 6th floors. Like a hiking trail, the public path meanders through the rugged “landscape” of the Valley. At its bottom are two small water pools that – doubling as skylights – allow daylight to enter the lobby below, the so-called Grotto. It is also clad in natural stone and connects restaurants, shops, cultural areas, and the offices located on the floors above.
Around 200 apartments, all differing in size, layout, and view, are distributed from the 8th floor upwards. Almost all of them feature a balcony or terrace, while in the remaining flats, floor-to-ceiling folding glass walls create a connection to the outside. On the top two floors, a panoramic bar affords a sweeping view over Amsterdam. Parametric design tools were used to optimize factors such as privacy, thermal insulation, structure, daylighting, and wind protection for the complex building. These tools also enabled the determination of the seemingly random pattern of over 40,000 stone tiles of different dimensions.

Furthermore, a matrix was used to select the right plants for each location in the building, taking into account criteria such as wind, sunlight, temperature, and maintenance. The trees and plants on the terraces are maintained by an automatic irrigation system and by “façade gardeners”. Nesting boxes for birds and bats as well as bee and insect hotels promote biodiversity all year round. The landscaping developed specifically for the high-rise is intended to have a positive impact on the well-being of the people living and working in the Valley.

Architecture: MVRDV, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Client: EDGE
Main use: Residential, offices
Height: 100 m
Completion: October 2022
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands

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.