Newton Suites shortlisted for International Highrise Award

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Published July 24, 2008

Newton Suites shortlisted for International Highrise Award

By ARTHUR SIM


UOL's Newton Suites has been selected as one of the five contenders for the International Highrise Award (IHA).

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Green living: Newton Suites features cantilevered skygardens and a 30-storey wall of creepers

Having made the shortlist, Newton Suites, which is designed by award-winning Singapore architectural firm, WOHA, has been elevated to the same league of buildings designed by Foster and Partners (Hearst Tower, New York), Renzo Piano Building Workshop (New York Times Building) and OMA (Television Cultural Centre, Beijing).

An international jury of architects, engineers, real-estate specialists and architecture critics in Frankfurt/Main were responsible for the selection of the five buildings.

On Newton Suites, the Jury citation reads: 'In this residential tower, the feeling of living in the tropics both indoors and outdoors is transferred to a vertical dimension. It represents a development for life in the vertical in densely developed metropolises and can be seen as a pioneering model for other tropical cities.'

UOL Group COO Liam Wee Sin said that being on the shortlist with the likes of Hearst Tower and New York Times Building, 'is a step closer towards building an exciting living environment for Singapore, and having a development good enough to be selected among entries from around the world'.

'For UOL, the recognition will inspire us to continue to push the frontier of good design and sustainable city living in Singapore,' he added.

Newton Suites is a 36-storey apartment building, clad in metal mesh sunshading. It features cantilevered skygardens and a 30-storey wall of creepers.

The green areas of the building exceed the original site area, demonstrating how cities in the future can become much greener without loss of density or quality of living.

WOHA director Wong Mun Summ added: 'The integration of the environmental features such as sunshading and hanging gardens into the design shows how tropical highrise can be different from temperate climate models.'

http://www.straitstimes.com/Life%252...ry_261273.html

July 26, 2008

Newton Suites up for award

Home-grown firm Woha's 36-storey tower is up for the prestigious International Highrise Award

By Janice Tai


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'Being in the top five is already as good as winning for us. If we win, it would be an added bonus'
Woha director Richard Hassel on the nomination of its project, Newton Suites


THAT slim and stylish Newton Suites building that you have been passing on the way to Newton Food Centre is among the world's top five highrise buildings.

Designed by Singapore architecture firm Woha, it has been shortlisted for the International Highrise Award.

The other four contenders are New York's Hearst Tower (New York) by Foster and Partners, New York Times Building by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Seoul's Missing Matrix Building by Mass Studies and Beijing's Television Cultural Centre by Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

The prestigious award is the equivalent of the Oscars in the architecture world for highrise buildings, and one of only two global highrise awards. The other one is The Emporis Skyscraper Awards.

For the International Highrise Award, an international jury of architects, engineers, real-estate specialists and architecture critics selected the five finalists from 26 nominated projects from 11 countries.

The winner will get a prize money of 50,000 euros (S$106,700) at the award ceremony to be held on Nov 14 at Frankfurt Paulskirche, a church in Frankfurt.

The award is offered every two years by the City of Frankfurt, and is jointly curated by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum DAM, an architecture museum in Frankfurt, and Dekabank, the German's Savings Bank Finance Group's central asset manager.

In selecting the winner, the jury is looking for a building that stands out in its appearance, design, urban integration, sustainability, technology and cost-effectiveness.

Being shortlisted is a huge achievement for Woha, said its director Wong Mun Summ. 'Three of the selected projects are by Pritzker Prize-winning architects and the other is Korea's most prominent architect. While we hope we will win, being selected alongside these people is a huge achievement for Singapore.'

The Pritzker Prize is the equivalent of the Nobel prize in architecture. Past winners include British Norman Foster from Foster and Partners, Italian Renzo Piano from Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Dutch Rem Koolhaas from Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

This piece of good news comes after its noteworthy silver award win in the other global highrise award, The Emporis Skyscraper Awards, presented by Emporis, the world's largest free-to-use website about buildings.

In the eighth annual Emporis awards earlier this year, Newton Suites took second place out of a worldwide pool of 634 eligible skyscrapers.

It was not Woha which nominated the building for the award.

'The competition's organisers told us that the project had been nominated and asked us to submit information. We never found out who nominated it,' said Mr Richard Hassel, another Woha director. 'We suspect it was due to the attention Newton Suites got from the silver award given by Emporis.'

For the jury, Newton Suites stood out as a model for eco-friendly living in the tropics. Clad in metal mesh sunshading, the 36-storey tower features sky gardens and a 30-storey wall of creepers.

The jury citation noted that it is a 'pioneering model for other tropical cities'.

Pit against these giants, what does Woha think of its chances of winning?

Mr Hassel said: 'All the five buildings are very good and are different in terms of use, climate and urban conditions, so it is quite hard to compare them. Just being in the top five is already as good as winning for us.

'If we win, it would be an added bonus.'

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The other finalists

Here are the remaining contenders for The International Highrise Award

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TELEVISION CULTURAL CENTRE, BEIJING: One of three buildings of the China Central Television project, this one has a characteristic roof that houses TV studios and hotel rooms. Designed by the office for Metropolitan Architecture, it was completed this year. -- PHOTO: OFFICE FOR METROPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE

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HEARST TOWER, NEW YORK: Apart from glass, the 46-story office building's distinctive triangular facade is made of stainless steel, which contains recycled material. It was designed by Foster and Partners and completed in 2006. -- PHOTO: FOSTER AND PARTNERS

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NEW YORK TIMES BUILDING, NEW YORK: A glazed outer skin allows maximum transparency for the tower and offers a look into the daily workings at the head office of the newspaper of the same time. Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, it was completed last year. -- PHOTO: RENZO PIANO BUILDING WORKSHOP

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MISSING MATRIX BUILDING, SEOUL: Gaps, or 'missing matrices' in the residential levels of this 27-storey building provide open green spaces and natural ventilation for the apartments. Designed by Mass Studies, it was completed this year. -- PHOTO: MASS STUDIES