The Shard has been awarded this year's Emporis Skyscraper Award, bringing the award back to Europe after two consecutive wins in North America - by Absolute Towers in 2013 and New York by Gehry in 2012. Each year, the award honours the world's best new building over 100m tall.
The award's jury praised the Shard's "unique glass fragment-shaped form and its sophisticated architectural implementation", resulting in "a skyscraper that is recognized immediately and which is already considered London's new emblem."
Read on to find out the remaining 10 buildings to take home awards
1. The Shard / Renzo Piano
The jury singled out the Shard not only for its eye-catching shape, but also for the circumstances overcome to achieve it: "Construction of The Shard was complicated by the particularly tight site and therefore needed innovative planning. This makes the result all the more impressive," they said.
2. DC Tower 1 / Dominique Perrault Architecture
In Dominique Perrault's 250m tower in Vienna, the jury praised the commitment to sustainability and the building's form, saying "three mirror-smooth sides are broken by a craggy, jagged fourth that gives the building a strength of expression and sense of solidity, despite its slim stature."
3. Sheraton Huzhou Hot Spring Resort / MAD Architects
The third place award may go to the shortest building on the list, but that doesn't make it any less striking. The 102m ring-shaped tower was described as "daring design" by the jury.
4. Cayan Tower / SOM
5. One Central Park (East Tower) / Ateliers Jean Nouvel
6. Flame Towers / HOK
7. Mercury City / Frank Williams & Partners
8. Ardmore Residence / UNStudio
9. AZ Tower / Architektonická kancelář Burian-Křivinka
10 (Tied). Tour Carpe Diem / Robert AM Stern
10 (Tied). Nanfung Commercial, Hospitality and Exhibition Complex / Aedas
