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Best tall buildings 2018: Metal rises up

Metal architecture has reached new heights with the reveal of this year’s 2018 Best Tall Buildings award winners, which include an aluminium mesh tower of living plants and a pair of bent copper-clad buildings.

Covering 28 countries, The Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) was seeking the best global skyscrapers that rise above the rest for their architectural design and urban sustainability.

Australian projects were high-fliers in the awards, with Sydney’s EY Tower winning the top Construction prize for its unique closed-cavity timber façade, whilst two other Sydney projects also made shortlists: International Towers in Barangaroo and the Lumiere residential tower.

Take a look at some of our favourite winners and finalists which feature metal from this year’s awards:

Oasia Hotel Downtown, Singapore – Best Tall Buildings Worldwide winner

You can’t miss this brightly-coloured green beacon in Singapore’s downtown CBD. The winner of the best tall building Worldwide prize, the Oasia Hotel by WOHA Architects is 60 storeys of living green wall. Achieved through the use of a striking red aluminium mesh facade, over 21 species of climbing plants creep up the 190m tower, bringing much-needed biodiversity to a dense and grey urban area. The mesh also allows for cross ventilation, with natural airflow keeping residents cool in communal areas.

Images sourced from WOHA Architects

American Copper Buildings, NYC – Best Tall Buildings Americas winner

Architecture firm SHoP proved it’s perfectly possible to bend a skyscraper with their ambitious design for the American Copper Buildings in NYC. Clad in over four million pounds of raw copper, which will naturally age over time from shiny and bright to rich russet brown and then green, these leaning towers are connected by a 30-metre long skybridge that’s suspended 300 feet in the air.

Images sourced from SHoP

The Silo, Copenhagen – Best Tall Buildings Europe winner

What a difference a metal façade makes! This amazing angular 17-storey tower was formerly a concrete grain silo in an industrial harbour in Copenhagen. Architects COBE opted to restore the original structure not only for environmental sustainability but for its cultural heritage. Openings were carved into the concrete for windows and balconies before the addition of a new, contemporary galvanised steel cladding that has transformed the silo into an urban landmark and focal point for the area’s redevelopment.

Images sourced from COBE

Lumiere, Sydney – Finalist, 10 Year Award

The sleek glass and metal towers of Lumiere are an illuminating way to overcome the challenges of building in Sydney’s CBD on a sensitive architectural site. Located near St Andrew’s Cathedral and the Town Hall, Lumiere’s sandstone base fits neatly into the important surrounding architecture. What’s unusual about Lumiere is its lack of balconies. Instead of spaces which would typically collect and show resident’s clutter, architects Foster + Partners created individual winter gardens, which maintain a clean and tidy façade.

Image sourced from Foster + Partners

International Towers, Barangaroo, Sydney – Finalist, Best Tall Buildings Asia & Australasia

This sibling trio of towers by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners may look related but each have their own unique shading system, enabling each building to cleverly respond to its own environmental, geographic and solar path location for maximum sustainability and performance. The north tower features red glass sunshades, the central tower has grey aluminium rods which fan out and the southern tower has yellow perforated metal sunshades which roll and curve along the façade.

Images sourced from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

Arrow Metal: Metal architecture design and inspiration

For more inspiring metal architecture, browse Arrow Metal’s completed project gallery featuring unique metal facades and perforated metal, or visit our Pinterest page. If you’d like to know more about how we can elevate your building project, talk to our team on (02) 9748 2200 or contact us online.