Hearst Tower has won the prestigious Best New Building Award at the 6th annual MASterwork awards ceremony in New York. Presented by the Municipal Art Society, the event was held yesterday at the General Motors Buildings new plaza. Awarded to buildings that exemplify the highest standards of architectural design, MSA Chairman Philip Howard said that Hearst gave New Yorkers something new to be proud of. He also paid tribute to the attention paid to the precepts of adaptive reuse.
Nominations were reviewed by a committee of distinguished architects and the panel agreed that William Randolph Hearst had always envisioned a soaring office tower atop his landmark 1928 Art Deco headquarters building. Lord Foster, drawing on the approach he developed for his acclaimed Reichstag restoration in Berlin, succeeded brilliantly in fulfilling Hearsts vision with a tower that establishes a creative dialogue between old and new, marrying the original limestone with modern glass.
Launched in 2001 to recognize the best of the citys new architecture and design, the awards are organized annually by the MAS and sponsored by Helaba, an international commercial bank. The four awards presented this year are for projects completed in 2006.
Other winners were:
Best Privately Owned Public Space: Fifth Avenue Plaza, General Motors Building, 767 Fifth Avenue in Midtown.
Best Neighborhood Catalyst: Fairway Market, 480-500 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook.
Best Commercial Restoration: Battery Maritime Building, 10 South Street in Lower Manhattan.
The Municipal Art Society of New York is a private, non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote a more 'livable' city.
For more information go to: http://www.mas.org/index.php
Last month Hearst also scooped an Honor award in the architecture category at the annual AIA New York Chapter Design Awards. The scheme recognizes excellence in architectural design by New York City architects and in New York City projects. The programme's purpose is to increase awareness of outstanding architecture and to honour the architects, clients, and consultants who work together to improve the built environment.
Winning projects can currently been seen at New York's Center for Architecture on 536 LaGuardia Place, NYC until 7th July.
For more details go to: http://www.aiany.org/centerforarchitecture/
