Shard is named best skyscraper as Europe's tallest building wins international competition

The Shard has been named the best skyscraper in the world after claiming first place in an international competition.

The
306-metre tall building - the tallest in Europe - was praised by judges
for its glass fragment-shape and sophisticated architecture.

The
buidling, which has become a significant part of the London skyline, won
the Emporis Skyscraper Award after being chosen by an international
panel of experts from more than 300 skyscrapers 100 metres or higher
completed in the previous calendar year.




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The Shard has been named the best skyscraper in the world after it won the Emporis Skyscraper Award

The 306-metre tall building - the tallest in Europe - was praised by
judges for its glass fragment-shaped form and sophisticated architecture

The Shard was chosen by an international panel of experts from more
than 300 skyscrapers of at least 100 metres' height completed in the
previous calendar year


The jury said: 'Construction of The Shard was complicated by the
particularly tight site and therefore needed innovative planning.

'This
makes the result all the more impressive: a skyscraper that is
recognized immediately and which is already considered London's new
emblem.'

The building was designed by Renzo Piano, and officially
opened in July 2012. The highest accessible part of it is the
observation deck on the 72nd floor.



Parts of it remain empty, with the latest part of it to be finished a
branch of Shangri-La hotels which occupies from the 34th floor to the
52nd.

Second, was the 250-metre tall DC Tower 1, in Vienna, which was designed by Dominique Perrault Architecture.

The building features three mirror-smooth sides broken by a jagged fourth.

The 250-metre tall Viennese DC Tower 1, by Dominique Perrault Architecture, won second place in the awards


The building also impressed due to its
comprehensive sustainability concept, including photovoltaics to
generate energy, local plants with low water requirements in the green
areas of the building, and electric car chargers to save on carbon
dioxide emissions.

The Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort, on Lake Tai, near Shanghai in China, took third place.

The
102-metre tall hotel, whose shape evokes a gigantic ring, was conceived
by architects MAD, who also came up with last year's winner The
Absolute World Towers, two blocks of high rise apartments dubbed the
'Marilyn Monroe of the architectural world'.


The flats earned the name because their hourglass figure is said to bear a similar shape to that of the Hollywood film star.

The Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort, on Lake Tai, took third place in this year's competition


Designed by MAD and Burka Architects they twist 209 degrees from their base to the top floor, 56 storeys up.

This
year's winners' list contained a total of five European projects - the
last time so many were represented was six years ago.

The Shard's victory is the fifth time the architecture prize has gone to Europe.

However,
after the award had gone in the last two years to Absolute World Towers
in Canada and New York by Gehry at Eight Spruce Street in the U.S., no
North American skyscraper features in the top ten this year.