Curbed Int'l: Steven Holl's 'Linked Hybrid' is Best Tall Building

[Photos via Steven Holl Architects.]

If it's November it must be time for another Best Tall Building award from the terrificly named Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Last year's overall winner was Shanghai's big bottle-opener, while the Best Tall Building Americas victor was Renzo Piano's New York Times Tower in good ol' Manhattan. This year's Americas winner is some snoozer up in Winnipeg (Winnipeg!), but holy hell, check out the overall champ: Steven Holl's Linked Hybrid in Beijing. Our old friend might be a tease when it comes to NYC projects, but this mixed-use "city within a city" connected by sky bridges is actually complete and doing its thing. Here's a bit of archibabble:

The project promotes interactive relations and encourages encounters in the public spaces that vary from commercial, residential, and educational to recreational. The entire complex is a three-dimensional urban space in which buildings on the ground, under the ground and over the ground are fused together.

To summarize, basically you never have to step out in the cold for a booty call down the block. Bravo, Steven Holl!
· 2009 Best Tall Building Overall and Asia & Australasia [ctbuh.org]
· Linked Hybrid [Steven Holl Architects]