Bold in both design and function, the architecturally distinguished Aqua tower developed by Magellan Development Group at Lakeshore East has captured the blossoming community’s second prestigious Prix d’Excellence International Design Award from the International Real Estate Federation.
The 87-story mixed-use tower at 225 N. Columbus Drive in Chicago, IL USA that anchors the west boundary of the 28-acre neighborhood earned the international award in the 2011 Prix Residential High-Rise category. The Lakeshore East master plan captured the 2008 Prix award from the International Real Estate Federation.
The world’s fifth tallest building completed in 2009 and one of the tallest skyscrapers designed by an architectural team headed by a woman, Jeanne Gang, principal of Studio/Gang Architects, has already been proclaimed with highly-esteemed international design awards. These include the 2009 Skyscraper of the Year Award from Emporis, the international building database, besting more than 300 competitors worldwide.
Aqua also holds the 2008 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design.
A global award in every sense of the word, the unique Prix d’ Excellence is given to projects that show excellence at every stage of their creation. It “recognizes the project that best embodies excellence in all the real estate disciplines involved in it creation” and is awarded by an international panel of experts who evaluate developments “with respect to such criteria as design, construction, benefit to the community, environmental impact, ease of facilities management, financial viability, marketing strategies and lifestyle improvement for its occupants.”
Prix award winners were announced May 19 at the FIABCI (the International Real Estate Federation) 62nd World Congress held in Paphos, Cyprus. Accepting the award was Magellan co-CEO Joel Carlins. The World Congress is held in different nations each year.
The only other 2011 U.S. Prix award winner is Liberty Station, a Corky McMillin Companies development in San Diego.
In addition to Lakeshore East’s dual Prix awards in the residential category, other past Chicago winners include University of Illinois/Chicago for public sector design/2007; Millennium Park for leisure design/2005; Northwestern Memorial Hospital specialized category/2000; AT&T Corporate Center for office/industrial design/1998.
Other past U.S. winners in the residential categories include Trump World Tower in New York (2003); Harbor Point Apartments in Boston (1996) and The Woodlands in Texas (1992).
In all, the United States has produced 13 Prix award winners since the award program’s inception in 1992.
Founded in France in 1945 and officially constituted as FIABCI in 1951, the Federation now represents 106 national real estate trade associations with a membership of more than two million real estate professionals from 60 countries, including Russia and China.
The Federation also enjoys a ‘special consultative’ status with the United Nations and particularly its Economic and Social Council (ESOCOC), serving as an adviser on various global property issues.
Proclaimed one of the world’s most fascinating skyscrapers and boldly enhancing the skyline of what a leading architectural critic declares to be “the first city in American architecture,” Aqua’s dramatic design is produced by outdoor balconies and terraces that form unique, undulating contours of different sizes and shapes. They flow like ocean waves and imitate the striated outcroppings visible throughout the shoreline of the Great Lakes region. The $475 million Aqua tower is one of seven completed structures and the keystone of the emerging Lakeshore East community.
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