Awe-Inspiring “Shanghai Tower” Skyscraper Honored as the Architectural Design of the Year

The stunningly modern Shanghai Tower borrows its name from the city in which it’s located. Designed by San Francisco-based firm Gensler, the structure rises high above the horizon line and is now China’s tallest building at 632 meters tall—making it an iconic part of the bustling skyline. The multi-use space is home to offices, entertainment venues, a luxury hotel, conference center, and other cultural amenities.

Boasting a futuristic look and feel, the 121-story skyscraper features a transparent, spiral form whose interior build is visible from the outside, giving us a firsthand look at the structure’s inner-workings. Once you’re inside, however, you realize that the exterior view doesn’t do it justice—the design has graceful, flowing curves that turn ordinary ceiling beams and window treatments into abstract works of art.

The Shanghai Tower has recently had the immense honor of winning the American Architecture Prize’s (AAP) Architectural Design of the Year. They note that the building is influential on a global architecture scale, but that it “also points the way forward for technical innovation accomplished within the parameters of a Chinese cultural identity.” Continuing, “…its function, identify, and symbolism are firmly rooted in the needs of its specific site.” Check out the other winners of the 2016 AAP here.