The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) named Linked Hybrid (by Steven Holl Architects) as the Best Tall Building Overall for 2009.
With its rich palette, appropriate scale, and consistency in architectural language, Linked Hybrid adds a level of high-quality architecture to Beijing. Working well above the level of purely sculptural architecture, the project embodies, on an urbanistic scale, where the future of tall buildings and urban cities is heading, creating architecture that connects on the ground level and in the sky. This creates a unique ground floor that acts as an oasis in the density of Beijing, and a real multi-use zone of connected urbanism in the sky.
The project incorporates numerous sustainable design features, but goes far beyond geothermal and water recycling to take on the much broader issue of social-urban sustainability. Its mix of residential and retail, cinemas and kindergartens, hotels and art galleries, swimming pools and parks – all within a single complex – is remarkable. The idea to weave these facilities into the complex – not only at the ground level, but also throughout the section of the building – is fantastic. As described by CTBUH Executive Director Antony Wood, “It’s only in the intensification of our cities and the inclusion of mixed urban-public facilities in the sky that the true, vibrant, dense cities of the future can be realized. The Linked Hybrid building, perhaps more than any other built project, really does point the way to that future.”
The Council issues Best Tall Building Awards annually to give recognition to projects that have made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment, and that achieve sustainability at the highest and broadest level.
The Council announced its four 2009 regional winners earlier this year: Manitoba Hydro Place for Americas, Linked Hybrid for Asia & Australasia, The Broadgate Tower for Europe, and Tornado Tower for Middle East & Africa. Linked Hybrid was chosen from these four regional winners and announced as the Best Tall Building Overall for 2009.
