We are excited to share that ZIN in No(o)rd, located in Brussels, Belgium, is the Best Tall Building Worldwide award winner for 2025.
The project designed by architecture firm Jaspers-Eyers Architects was recognized for its transformative reuse of a 1970s-era office complex into a mixed-use vertical ecosystem combining workspace, housing, hospitality, and public amenities. It embodies the tenets of vertical urbanism—verticality, sustainability, livability, and innovation—by knitting together new and existing structures within an energy-efficient, carbon-conscious framework.
The design extends the urban street life vertically, introducing terraces, gardens, and public spaces throughout the building’s height, while a highly efficient double-skin façade, passive ventilation system, and integrated photovoltaic elements reduce operational energy use. Additionally, 85% (in mass) of the existing structure, including cores and basements, was retained, and more than 60% of the material of the project has been reused on site or elsewhere, representing a major reduction in embodied carbon and setting a benchmark for large-scale adaptive reuse in Europe.
Other winners were announced at the Awards Ceremony on 8 October, in multiple height, regional, and functional categories, each highlighting a distinct facet of performance, from structural innovation to adaptive reuse and urban habitat integration.
2025 Award of Excellence category winners:
🔹Best Tall Building Worldwide: ZIN in No(o)rd, Brussels, Belgium
🔸Best Tall Building (under 100 meters): Sirius, Sydney, Australia
🔹Best Tall Building (100-199 meters): ZIN in No(o)rd, Brussels, Belgium
🔸Best Tall Building (200-299 meters): Karlatornet, Gothenburg, Sweden
🔹Best Tall Building (300 meters and above): Merdeka 118, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
🔸Best Tall Building Americas: Ontario Court of Justice, Toronto, Canada
🔹Best Tall Building Asia: The Henderson, Hong Kong
🔸Best Tall Building Europe: ZIN in No(o)rd, Brussels, Belgium
🔹Best Tall Building Middle East & Africa: Ciel Tower, Dubai, UAE
🔸Best Tall Building Oceania: 1 Elizabeth, Sydney, Australia
🔹Urban Habitat Award: CIBC Square 1, Toronto, Canada
🔸Future Project Award: Vertical Landscapes, Tokyo, Japan
🔹Construction Award: One Bloor West, Toronto, Canada
🔸Repositioning Award: PENN 2, New York City, United States
🔹Innovation Award: (Re)Euston—Towards Concrete Reuse at Scale
🔸Structure Award: One Bloor West, Toronto, Canada
🔹Façade Award: The Henderson, Hong Kong
🔸Systems Award: Punggol Digital District, Singapore
🔹Space Within Award: Booking.com City Campus, Amsterdam, Netherlands
🔸Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Award: 495 Eleventh Avenue, New York City, United States
🔹10-Year Award (joint winners): Shanghai Tower, China & Sky Habitat, Singapore
Congratulations to all the project teams!
#verticalurbanism #awards