The CapitaSpring tower wins the International High-Rise Award 2024/25

The final winner of the International High-Rise Award (IHA) 2024/25 has now been chosen: The mixed-use CapitaSpring tower in Singapore, masterminded by architectural practices BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and Carlo Ratti Associati has come out tops in the competition for the world’s most innovative high-rise. The prize is EUR 50,000 and a statuette created by internationally renowned artist Thomas Demand.

On behalf of the architects, Brian Yang of BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group as well as Gregory Chua on behalf of the developers CapitaLand were present to take receipt of the award at the formal ceremony in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche, where it was bestowed by Mike Josef (Lord Mayor of the City of Frankfurt/Main), Dr. Matthias Danne (Deputy Chair of the Board of DekaBank) and Peter Cachola Schmal (Director of Deutsches Architekturmuseum).

When the jury convened for the 11th International High-Rise Award, it was against the backdrop of the huge global challenges facing the built environment. The jury discussed at length the issue of what should define high-rises going forward, the role they have to play in urban society post-pandemic and in the midst of massive increases in urban populations – all within the context of the specific typology of tall buildings as the fastest growing architectural form. They agreed that the challenges can be summed up as the need to greenify, the need to densify, and the need to use what’s already in place to the greatest possible extent. Combining all three needs is the task facing architects and urban planners alike from now on, and it was in light of this that jury chair Kim Herforth Nielsen set out the main criteria the jury would apply when assessing the total of 31 projects. Over and above beauty and technical ingenuity, the jury’s assessment was thus based specifically on the social value of each project as a ‘good neighbor’, its sustainable character, how innovative it is in solving local issues, and whether it offered a good, future-proof design. After careful consideration of these criteria, the jury unanimously selected CapitaSpring in Singapore as the winner of the International High-Rise Award 2024/25.

CapitaSpring, the jury concluded, is “the best high-rise building in the world at the moment”. The jurors chose it because it combines the best of two worlds, balancing the city’s interests with those of private developers in an ideal architectural solution. CapitaSpring stands 280 meters tall on a site that for many years was wasteland used as a parking lot and a street-food market. Now, the high-rise incorporates both within its walls, symbolizing its strong ability to connect between the public and the private, between the office world up above and the two-floor hawker centre down below, where everyone meets for lunch. In-between is a breezy, naturally ventilated green zone straddling the 17th to 20th floors just below the tower’s serviced residential section, again publicly accessible, as are the sky gardens on the roof.

In the process, by virtue of remaining inclusive, CapitaSpring belongs to the city. The jury agreed that CapitaSpring is essentially successful as it is “co-designed” – because the city has a great planning regime and because the developer had a certain vision to make a private real estate office into a vertical public space. In this way, CapitaSpring moves the tall-building typology a crucial step forward – for the future of the city. While some of its open façades are specific to the local tropical climate, the general underlying idea of an open city-within-the-city, encouraged by cooperation between regulators and developers, can be transferred worldwide. As the jury concluded: “We are honoring the city for giving the developer the right incentives, and the developer for seizing the initiative, and the architects for finding an innovative solution to it all. All of this is reflected in the quality of the architecture. CapitaSpring could simply not have been built elsewhere at present. Other cities can definitely learn from this.”

During the awards ceremony, the four other short-listed projects were also honored. From over 1,000 high-rises that were completed worldwide over the last two years, Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) nominated 31 outstanding buildings from 13 different countries. An international jury of experts from architecture and engineering practice and the partners of the IHA, namely DekaBank, the City of Frankfurt, and Deutsches Architekturmuseum – chaired by Kim Herforth Nielsen (Architekt 3XN, Copenhagen) – gathered to select the final five for the shortlist and subsequently the winner.

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 jury meeting 2024. 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 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. 
Thomas Demand is a reputed international artist and was brought on board by DekaBank to design the award statuette. Since 2004, the symbol of the International High-Rise Award is made anew every two years and bestowed on the respective winner. For the tenth award, the artist has designed a new version of the statuette. The work implements the further development and refinement of the technologies used. The statuette, based on a high-resolution scan of a model, consists of striking wafer-thin layers of titanium made using an electron-ray melting technology (EBM) which means they can be layered. The process, which is otherwise mainly used to manufacture medical implants and in the aerospace and automotive industries, is currently considered the most innovative method of rapid manufacturing.

Previous recipients of the International High-Rise Award:

• 2022: Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney, Australien (2022), Architekturbüro 3XN aus Kopenhagen
• 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.