November 7, 2009 | Broadcast Competitions

Singapore based WOHA’s latest completed high-rise residential tower, The Met in the heart of downtown Bangkok Thailand, towers over its competition by emerging victorious in the Housing category at the ongoing World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Spain.

The design of the 66-storey tower is an innovative solution to the issues of density in tropical Asian cities, and offers a new model for high-density tropical housing. The Met explores how aspects of low-rise tropical housing can be adapted to provide vast amenities through indoor-outdoor spaces in the sky. The jurors presiding in the Housing category were on the lookout for an exemplary building for other architects and specialists in residential developments. In their selection of The Met as the winner, the jurors felt that the high-rise tower brought the sharpest and most detailed realised concept, and that has great potential for the future.

“The Met by WOHA is an excellent attempt to open a skyscraper to the city and to allow its inhabitants to use
the building as much as possible. A system of pass ways, sky-parks and swimming pools on upper levels forms a real vertical analogue of the city and creates a new quality of living.

The wide use of greenery almost as an additional facade material is also an effective way to unite horizontal dimensions of the city with the verticality. The use of passive ways to save energy is also an important aspect of this project.” – jury citation

WOHA is the only asia-based architecture firm to win an award at World Architecture Festival 2009. For more winners, stay tuned for the full post coming up shortly.

More:
Official WOHA website

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Adib is the co-founder of FIVEFOOTWAY and a senior designer at FARM. He is also sometimes known as misterdibster.