Photos courtesy Manitoba Hydro

Winnipeg's Manitoba Hydro Tower could very well be the best new tall building in the world, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

A Winnipeg office tower has been named "Best Tall Building" of the Americas by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).

Manitoba Hydro Tower, designed by Toronto-based Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, was lauded for both its form and function.

"It is evident sustainability was at the forefront of the design considerations for Manitoba Hydro Place," CTBUH executive director Antony Wood told Construction Canada Online. "The building serves as a model for how a project can be developed from the onset with sustainability in mind and utilize natural passive systems to create dramatic efficiencies in energy usage and human comfort."

The fourth tallest building in Winnipeg, the recently completed tower stands at 112.5 m (369 ft), with a total of 22 mechanical floors and a podium ranging from two to three storeys. It has been designed to consume 60 per cent less energy than national building code requirements and is equipped with numerous features to promote a healthy, productive workplace for 2000 occupants.

Substantial floor-to-floor heights with full windows, in combination with narrower floor plates, allow for daylighting throughout the Manitoba Hydro Tower's workspace. This not only reduces reliance on electrical systems, but is also designed to lead to a healthier work environment, contributing to improved productivity.

"The visually striking line of the solar chimney on the north façade adds drama to the design and makes this an instant landmark for the city of Winnipeg," Wood said. "The project was designed to be completely site-specific. It could not be transplanted to another city and still work, thus making it the perfect response to the seeming homogenization of the world's skylines."

At CTBUH's October awards dinner, the Manitoba skyscraper will be up against four other regional winners to claim the prize of "Best Tall Building Overall." Its competitors are:
• Beijing, China's Linked Hybrid (Asia/Australia);
• London, England's Broadgate Tower (Europe); and
• Doha, Qatar's Tornado Tower (Middle East/Africa).

The council has no quantitative definition for what constitutes a 'tall' building, instead relying on soft metrics such as height relative to context, proportion, and use of tall building technologies. For more information, visit ctbuh2009.ctbuh.org.