Best of 2007

New York Times Tower Voted Region’s Best

Selecting this year’s overall project of the year wasn’t without its share of hiccups.

When the eight jurors – culled from different disciplines, sectors, companies and geographic regions – were finally asked to name their favorite project of the more than 100 they’d seen over the course of the day, the day had run longer than anticipated. Some jurors, citing prior commitments, asked to vote via e-mail from home, or the office, or the home office, and those who remained cast their votes.

The day ended without a winner.

As fate would have it, the final decision did, in fact, come down to the final two votes cast electronically. It was a fitting outcome as this was New York Construction magazine’s first-ever paperless Best Of Awards judging, with the entries being viewed on the jurors’ own personal laptop computers.

During the course of the marathon, one-day session at our Manhattan office, the judges selected just 28 winners, one of the lowest totals of recent years. They selected Project of the Year winners in 16 different categories, and an additional 11 Award of Merit winners, all by majority vote. Jurors with any connection to the project in question were required to abstain from voting.

The soaring, 52-story New York Times Tower stood out to the judges because of its groundbreaking design by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, as well as the intricate engineering and construction work that was required to realize the high-concept structure.

The judges also marveled at the uniquely strong relationship up and down the project team. The designers worked closely with the steel erectors, while, at the same time, construction managers AMEC Construction Management of New York, was forced into double duty as steel supplier for the $850 million project after the original fabricator went out of business.