The best new skyscraper of the year doesn't look much like a skyscraper at all — at least, not in the traditional sense.
On Thursday, real estate research company Emporis announced the winner of the Emporis Skyscraper Award, the world’s most renowned prize for high-rise architecture. To qualify for the award, skyscrapers had to be at least 100 meters (or about 328 feet) tall and completed in 2016.
VIA 57 West, a pyramid-shaped luxury residential building in New York City, took home the grand prize for its ground-breaking design. It's joined by a tower in Toronto and a hotel in Singapore, among others, on Emporis' list of the top 10 best new skyscrapers of the year.
Take a closer look at the stunning buildings below.
10. Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower
Located in the Roppongi district of Tokyo, this tower is home to TV Tokio, a Japanese television station.
Fun fact: It also houses the largest passenger elevator in all of Japan.
The building was designed by Japanese architecture firm Nikken Sekkei Ltd.
9. Beijing Greenland Dawangjing Tower
Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), this tower has a unique exterior made of trapezoid-shaped glass panels. It also features an energy-efficient, "self-shading" mechanism.
You can find it in the Dawangjing business district in Beijing.
8. The L Tower
Built as part of the redevelopment of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, this tower bridges the buildings of the financial district with those in the historic St. Lawrence cultural neighborhood.
To prevent the building from casting shadows on Berczy Park toward the north, Studio Libeskind and Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects designed the building's unique, sloping form.
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