Chicago, IL, July 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) today announced the winner of its 2023 Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award: Carol Willis, founder and director of the Skyscraper Museum, in New York City; and the winner of its 2023 Fazlur R. Khan Lifetime Achievement Award: Patrick Bellew, founding director of international environmental design and engineering consultancy Atelier Ten. Willis and Bellew will receive their awards and deliver keynote presentations at CTBUH’s annual international conference, Humanizing High Density—People, Nature & the Urban Realm, October 16–21, in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
“This year’s lifetime achievement awardees represent some of the most vibrant minds in the field of sustainable vertical urbanism,” explained CTBUH CEO Javier Quintana de Una. “Carol Willis has been a steadfast champion for the critical role high-rise buildings play in tackling population density in cities around the world, both today and historically. And there is perhaps no one more well-versed in the integration of environmental and building systems with architecture than Patrick Bellew. We look forward to honoring their enduring commitment to these estimable undertakings in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.”
Willis, an architectural and urban historian, has extensively researched, taught, and written about the history of American city building. She is the author of Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago, which received an AIA book award and was named the 1995 “Best Book on North American Urbanism” by the Urban History Association, and has curated more than 30 exhibitions at the Skyscraper Museum (read her complete bio here).
Willis will deliver the opening keynote presentation “Density Is Human by Definition: Key Issues and Vertical Solutions,” which will shed light on the common confusion between density and overcrowding and draw on historical examples and contemporary practice to clearly illustrate the concept of “vertical density.”
“Writing history takes the past as its subject, but its goal is always, inescapably, to explain or critique the present,” stated Willis. “All signs indicate that cities have been and will continue to be our collective future, so understanding density as an urban experience is key. ‘Vertical density’ that embraces tall buildings and an expansive public realm—as a way to use land wisely and create healthful and equitable urban environments—is a humanistic goal that challenges all the professions united by CTBUH.”
Bellew, one of the UK’s Royal Designers, is a Chartered Building Services Engineer who has more than 40 years of experience in environmental building design and is expert in thermal mass energy storage technologies and high-efficiency building conditioning systems. The consultancy Bellew founded has pioneered numerous innovations in the built environment and has 11 offices worldwide, all focused on the delivery of high-performance buildings, which include The Visionaire, with Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, in Manhattan, and the Comcast Center, with Robert A.M. Stern Architects, in Philadelphia. Bellew has taught a core environmental design course at the Yale University School of Architecture, where he led six advanced design studios as the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor (read his complete bio here).
Bellew will deliver the closing keynote presentation “Living Environments: Building Systems Around Nature and High-Performance,” which will examine projects such as Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay and the Jewel Changi Airport, as well as the now-under-construction Google Headquarters, known as KGX1, in London, that stretches to 330 meters, making it longer than The Shard is tall.
“The natural world, the built environment and the diverse people and communities that inhabit them need to be woven into the urban fabric like never before,” said Bellew. “Only then can we really grapple with the complex issues confronting us as a society, from equity in housing to reducing carbon emissions to mitigating the impact of climate change. I’m looking forward to being a part of these integral conversations in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.”
The Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of tall buildings and the urban environment. These contributions significantly enhance cities and the lives of their inhabitants and may take any form, including completed buildings, research, technology, methods, ideas or industry leadership (view all previous Lynn S. Beedle Lifetime Achievement Awardees).
The Fazlur R. Khan Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual for demonstrated excellence in technical design and/or research that makes a significant contribution to the design of tall buildings and the built urban environment. These contributions may be demonstrated as specific technical advances, innovations, design breakthroughs, building systems integration or innovative engineering systems (view all previous Fazlur R. Khan Lifetime Achievement Awardees).
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to smarter, more sustainable cities and a more viable future for global populations. Specifically, CTBUH focuses on the critical role of density in addressing climate change. CTBUH is headquartered in Chicago and has offices in Shanghai, China, and Venice, Italy. CTBUH’s worldwide membership network includes companies from fields such as real estate development, architecture, engineering, cost consulting, building management and construction, among others. In addition to hosting leading industry events, CTBUH produces research and reporting on issues of significant consequence to its membership. Its most utilized asset is its building database, a compendium of detailed data, images and technical information on more than 30,000 tall buildings throughout the world. CTBUH is best known to the public as the arbiter of tall building height and the global authority that bestows titles such as “The World’s Tallest Building.” For more information, please visit ctbuh.org.
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