Best of 2006 Awards

Hearst Tower Leads Pack of 40 Winners

A strange thing happened when 12 people from different backgrounds, disciplines, companies, and states got together this September to serve on the Best of 2006 Awards jury: They agreed unanimously on the overall project of the year.

The process of selecting the top winner each year usually comes down to a list all of the projects that were voted the best in their respective categories. In some years, the final winner only emerges after several rounds of voting.

But this year, the suspense was over early. All 12 judges – from residential developers to highway engineers – chose Manhattan’s Hearst Tower as “Best in Show.”

The judges had reviewed submissions for more than 120 projects from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut during the marathon, one-day session, engaging in spirited discussions and establishing a high bar of project quality. They selected only 40 winners overall, one of the lowest totals of recent years, with quite a few projects missing the cut by only one vote.

The jurors chose Project of the Year Award winners in eight categories, down from 13 last year, and another 31 Award of Merit winners, all by majority vote. Jurors abstained if their companies had worked on a project in question.

The new 46-story headquarters for Hearst Corp. rose above the pack for various reasons, from its distinctive triangle-themed design to the careful restoration of the limestone exterior from the company’s existing 1928 landmark building, which now serves as the base of the new tower.

The $500 million building also featured innovative structural solutions that contributed both to its striking angular shape as well as to savings in the amount of steel used – one of many elements helping it gain gold-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

Overall, the jury honored projects across 19 categories: adaptive reuse; airport; bridge; cultural; environmental; health care and hospitals; higher education; highway and roadway; hospitality; industrial; interior fit-out; mass transit; office; public works and facilities; rehabilitation, renovation, and restoration; residential; retail; schools - pre-K to 12; and small projects.

Many of this year’s winners will gather to accept their honors at New York Construction’s Best of 2006 Awards breakfast, to be held on Dec. 15 at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Manhattan’s Times Square district. The doors open at 7 a.m.