The International Highrise Award has existed since 2003 as a partnership between the German Museum of Architecture and DekaBank with the support of the Frankfurt am Main authorities. Every two years, the museum staff selects nominees from over a thousand completed buildings over 100 m in height during this time; this year there were 31 of 14 countries, a third - in China, Europe and the United States - in parity, Latin America has intensified after winning the 2018 skyscraper in Mexico City. An international jury then selects five finalists from among them and, as a result, the winner. The prize is 50,000 euros and a commemorative sculpture by Thomas Demand.
The Grand Prix-winning Norra tornen towers are designed as the gateway between Stockholm proper and the adjoining municipality, the fastest growing area in the metropolitan area. They flank a busy highway and are visible from afar due to their different heights from the surroundings - 110 and 125 meters. The towers have been criticized for their lack of context, although OMA partner Rainier de Graaf, in charge of the project, on the other hand, says he is surprised by the victory, since he did not consider his creation to be high-rise buildings, these towers are "cozy".
At the same time, he himself came up with the nickname "Panel house for the rich" (Plattenbau for the rich): this is a game with the history of architecture, from the 1960s with their brutalism (this direction determined the color and texture of Norra tornen concrete - with grooves and multi-colored stones) and the social agenda, which de Graaf is, in principle, very interested in, he likes the panel houses of that time, he himself grew up in this in the Netherlands. In Stockholm, he built exactly a modular, prefabricated house - which accelerated and reduced the cost of construction, made it possible to conduct it at a temperature of about zero - for an expensive developer in one of the most prestigious places in the city (the authorities held a competition for this site among developers), and OMA services are not cheap. Now de Graaf is clearly already regretting his words and in an official interview with the director of the German Museum of Architecture, given in connection with the award, says that he came up with that name with irony, and he “does not like to think of Norra tornen as an elite project. He likes to think of it as a residential project."
However, resembling
Habitat'67, another experimental project with very wealthy residents, the Norra tornen residential complex was noted for its innovation, striking contrast with context, sculptural volume, high quality materials and their processing, as well as the idea of glazed loggias that make up its external surfaces. …
His rivals in the final were also more elite buildings. We publish them below.
Omniturm - BIG project
Frankfurt am Main
Program: offices and apartments
190 m
EDEN - Heatherwick Studio project
Singapore
Program: residential complex
105 m
The Stratford - Skidmore Owings & Merrill Project
London
Program: Design Hotel and Design Accommodation
143 m
Leeza Soho - Zaha Hadid Architects
Beijing
Program: Offices
200 m
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