American Copper Buildings represent a venturesome and highly visible architectural statement along the edge of New York City’s East river. Clad in copper on the north and south façades, the color and refractive qualities of the towers will patina gracefully over time, shifting from a russet brown to a signature blue-green throughout the years, much like the iconic Statue of Liberty. Perhaps the most conspicuous structural element is the three-story skybridge connected the East and West towers, which creates intriguing corner spaces and provides residents with a unique way to appreciate their home.

One of our favorite features, when we were [designing] the pool, we said we had to put the pool in the [sky]bridge so that you could swim from one skyscraper to the other, 300 feet in the air. It creates this new idea of what urban living on the waterfront can be.

–Gregg Pasquarelli, Principal, SHoP Architects

The Silo has been transformed from a grain container in the formerly industrial Nordhavn area of Copenhagen into a contemporary residential high-rise. The interior has been preserved as raw and untouched as possible, while a façade made of galvanized steel has been installed on the exterior of the former silo to create a climate shield. The Silo embodies the importance of restoring original structures in cities, as a matter of environmental sustainability, as well as an ethical and visionary approach to cultural heritage.

For architects, one of the hardest jobs of working on a project like this is that we’re already falling in love with the old silo structure, this monolithic, slim and aesthetic building, and it’s a question of how you can transform it into a livable building that still contains the old soul of the silo.

–Caroline Nagel, Project Director, COBE

Zeitz MOCAA represents the adaptive reuse of a massive grain storage and silo complex on the downtown waterfront of Cape Town, South Africa. The top portion of the taller building was transformed into a luxury hotel, while the bottom portion of the elevator building and the storage annex would become Africa’s first international museum dedicated to contemporary African art. From the outside, the greatest visible change to the original structure is the addition of glass windows inserted into the geometry, which by night transform the building into a glowing beacon on Table Bay.

It was a challenging undertaking, and there were very loud calls for the original structure’s demolition. There’s no surprise as to why – it’s valuable real estate, and much less risky to build something new. But my response to that was, why would you do that? It was the mix of old and new that drew us to the project, and there’s multiple layers of history there. We didn’t want to wipe the slate clean, and what would you replace it with that has this much power?

–Mark Noble, Development Director, Victoria and Alfred Waterfront

The World Trade Center Master Plan in New York City forms a welcoming and open space that is meant to foster the democratic values of public assembly that played a pivotal role in the city’s collective response to the attacks of September 11, 2001. At the center of the space are two reflecting pools that deeply puncture the vast flat expanse of the plaza, forming empty vessels that delineate the location of the former towers. The design knits the site back into the urban fabric, allowing the site to be a living part of the city once again.

You can break some buildings, but you can’t break our spirit. In essence, this was the inspiration for the World Trade Center Master Plan. The most important aspect of the memorial is that it’s open to all as a completely public space. Although the intention of the September 11 attacks was to frighten us, we didn’t want security on the site; we wanted it to be open and free.

–Carla Swickerath, Partner, Studio Daniel Libeskind

MULTI, the world’s first rope-less, multi-directional elevator, harnesses the power of linear motor technology to move multiple cars in a single shaft, vertically and horizontally. The potential that can be realized from this innovation is extensive. MULTI requires fewer and smaller elevator shafts, and can thus increase a building’s lettable space by up to 25 percent. Perhaps most exciting, the introduction of a multi-directional elevator opens up infinite combinations of vertical and horizontal building design opportunities.

Given the rapid advance of technology, who knows what buildings will look like in 10 years? Cities are changing, and we need to be flexible in order to adapt. MULTI is like a merger between a train and an elevator using linear motor technology. In terms of frequency and routes, we can create the equivalent highways and city roads in the shaft of an elevator.

–Michael Cesarz, CEO MULTI, thyssenkrupp

The EY Centre employs a world-first timber-and-glass closed-cavity façade (CCF) system, made possible by innovation in digital technologies, that helps the building achieve impressive sustainability standards while creating an approachable office space for tenants. Attention to detail was critical in the project’s delivery. A team used a 3D modeling platform to create an exact replica of the triangular timber soffit and awning, which could be meshed with as-built survey information to allow for prefabrication and high quality pre-assembly directly from the 3D models.

The façade is characterized by the revolutionary use of timber. Prior to The EY Centre, a closed-cavity façade had never been used in a high-rise before. We wanted to reimagine the commercial high-rise as an art form. The best thing about the project is its sense of place; the vision was to use natural materials, in this case timber and stone, to make it more inviting.

–Jason Vieusseux, General Manager, Design Management & Construction, Mirvac Construction

New York Times Tower stands out in the city’s busy skyline, with its distinctive grille of white ceramic brises-rods wrapping around the structure. These elements help the building achieve a high level of transparency while reducing the heat load to a point where the building is energy-efficient and yet has the great luxury of floor-to-ceiling, water-white glass. The façade includes a first-of-its-kind shading system that automatically adjusts to block glare, and the lights dynamically adjust to dim or turn off if the natural light is sufficiently bright.

We wanted a building that would change our culture and how we were viewed by the community. At the time we had employees scattered within several buildings, but we wanted to bring management closer to our employees. As a global media organization, openness and transparency were our guiding principles.

–Terry Hayes, Senior Vice President, The New York Times

Shanghai World Financial Center is a symbol of commerce and culture that speaks to the city’s emergence as a global financial capital. The tower’s boldest feature, a 43-meter-wide portal carved through its upper levels, is dramatic, but also services a distinct structural function – it relieves the enormous wind pressures on the building. This design boldness has allowed the SWFC to endure as an indelible feature of the city’s skyline 10 years later.

When we began designing this building back in 1994, it was going to be the tallest building in the world. We focused very much on the symbolic quality of the building both within its community but also as a world symbol of the emerging global economy of China. With Shanghai’s skyline growing, the purpose and role of this building was to create an urban stabilizer on the skyline, a focal point that welcomes the activity of the city.

–William Pedersen, Principal, Kohn Pedersen Fox