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

An elegant residential tower with a seemingly brutalist appearance

Another BIG project was shortlisted, namely the IQON Residences in Quito. It is the highest building in Ecuador’s capital and the jury was won over by its especially striking architecture and strong greenery thanks to which a pleasant residential ambient climate is created without elaborate air conditioning.

The residential tower convinced the jury in several respects. Its elegant, curved shape ensures the building enjoys surprising spatial qualities, such that the form strengthens the function. The curvature aligns the apartments optimally to the outside world: Each unit on both the building’s main axes have optimal views.

Since the relocation of the international airport to an outlying district a good ten years ago, Quito, which was originally characterized by low-rise and sprawling buildings, has been growing upwards. With the brutalist-looking IQON Residences, the skyline of the burgeoning Ecuadorian capital gains a residential and office high-rise full of character set against the spectacular backdrop of the surrounding Andes. Situated on the edge of La Carolina park, a city forest with expansive parklands in Quito’s business district, the city’s
tallest high-rise offers unobstructed views of the park and the Pichincha volcano.

The building’s form follows the geometric contours of the site, which is shaped like a mirror-inverted “L.” At the corner, the façade fans out on both sides, creating a curve from which the individual stacked apartments with their terraces protrude like pixels. Each terrace is planted with greenery and a tree, whose planter extends into the apartment below as a funnel-shaped sculpture. Once the native trees and plants outgrow their planters, they can be relocated to green spaces throughout the city and replaced with new
greenery cultivated on site. Ideally, IQON Residences will thus become not only a vertical extension of La Carolina park but also part of a city-wide green cycle.

Quito’s temperate, perpetually spring-like climate – the city is located around 20 kilometers south of the equator – makes it possible to operate the highrise building without insulation, air conditioning or heating systems. The raw exposed concrete characterizes the building’s lively look, while serving as a structural framework. In addition, the concrete provides thermal regulation by retaining heat at night and cooling during the day. Each floor is made up of apartments extending across the entire depth of the building, thus featuring terraces on both the north and south façades – naturally facilitating crossventilation.

The 215 residential units are composed of three contemporary apartment types of varying sizes, complemented by communal leisure facilities such as a spa and squash court. The ground floor, which includes a public plaza, retail spaces, and artworks, connects the park to the rest of the neighborhood via a new pathway. Inside, marble, green shades, and blackened steel set subtle accents in combination with the dominant exposed concrete.

Architecture: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Copenhagen, Denmark / New York, USA
Client: Uribe Schwarzkopf
Main use: Residential
Height: 130 m
Completion: December 2022
Location: Quito, Equador

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.