Winners of 2021 Emporis Skyscraper Award Announced

Out of a pool of more than 600 eligible skyscrapers, Emporis, the Germany-based provider of building and construction data, has announced 10 honorees for its 22nd annual Emporis Skyscraper Award, recognizing projects completed in the last calendar year. The top prize goes to Valley, a mixed-use project designed by MVRDV in Amsterdam, Netherlands, that impressed judges with its “extraordinary and innovative design.” The 100-m tall, 26-story building boasts three peaks that “seamlessly switch between a sheer glass façade and protruding stone-clad windows and balconies resembling a rocky mountain surface.” The atrium has three elevator shafts that connect office floors to the atrium. Two elevators per elevator shaft are reserved for access to office floors. Coming in second is 111 West 57th Street, a tower designed by SHoP Architects in NYC with a vertical-transportation (VT) system by Otis that is the third-tallest in NYC and the thinnest skyscraper in the world with a width-to-height ratio of 1:24. Third is NV Tower, designed by A&A Architects in Sofia, Bulgaria, and marking the first time in the history of the Emporis Skyscraper Award that a project from Bulgaria has made the top 10. The building’s design concept draws inspiration from mining, the primary activity of developer Minstroy Holding, which observes that “an intelligent (VT) system with several groups of elevators — 12 passenger and two freight — will provide fast and seamless mobility of people and cargo between floors.” Each floor of the building is named for its own crystal and is designed in that crystal’s colors. A full list of the winners, which hail from cities including Barcelona, Spain; Seongnam, South Korea; Warsaw, Poland; Melbourne; London; and Toronto, can be found here.