WATG Wins Two American Architecture Awards for Innovative Designs

Two innovative designs by the WATG Urban team have been awarded the prestigious 2017 American Architecture Award which identifies the best new buildings and urban planning projects designed and constructed by American architects in the United States and abroad as well as international architects for buildings designed and built within the United States. From a short list of 300 entries, WATG’s Tu Lien Bridge (Hanoi, Vietnam) and Seattle Towers (Seattle, Washington) were two of the seventy-nine cutting-edge designs that were honored as a representation of the changing state of global architecture.

For 23 years, The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies have organized The American Architecture Awards which are the nation’s highest public awards given by non-commercial, non-traded affiliated, public arts, culture and educational institutions.

Tu Lien Bridge – Hanoi, Vietnam

Located in the Tay Ho district of Hanoi, the 3km long, 60m wide, Tu Lien Bridge rises as a simple, iconic structure linking the West Lake region with the Dong Anh District across the Red River.

The design, accommodating vehicular, pedestrian and cycling activities, is inspired by the grandeur of the local mountainous landscape silhouettes and is anticipated to be a catalyst in the future development of the region.

Just as the mountains form a strong foundation connecting the land to the sky, the cable-stayed bridge’s strong curved supports and delicate cables connect land, sea, and sky while providing passage through the valley between.

Seattle Towers – Seattle, Washington, United States

The mixed-use development totalling nearly 950,000 square feet is located in the Denny Triangle Neighborhood, between the established downtown Seattle core and the rapidly evolving waterside neighborhood of South Lake Union.

Two towers, 440-feet tall, with roughly 400 residential units each, are set atop a mixed-use podium including retail, co-working, residential and shared amenity spaces. As the towers rise, the facades rotate and adjust to the ever-changing city context, while 30-foot cantilevers allow both buildings to provide unique, open air, amenity decks and authentic views of the city for residents.

Retail and restaurants open to the streets while roof terraces provide covered, green spaces throughout the vertical community, connecting the user experience with the surrounding city.

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About WATG

WATG is one of the world’s leading integrated design firms and ranked as 2^nd in the world among hotel architectural firms. WATG’s interior design firm, Wimberly Interiors, was ranked 10^th by Interior Design Magazine in their 2016 Hospitality Giants survey.

In 2016, WATG and Wimberly Interiors designed over 200 projects in 46 countries on six continents on behalf of distinguished brands such as Disney, St. Regis, Rosewood, Fairmont, Belmond, W Hotels, Nobu, Viceroy, Atlantis, Hard Rock, Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons.

Since the firm’s inception in Hawaii in 1945, WATG has grown to offer integrated design solutions comprising strategy, planning, architecture, landscape, and interiors for urban, tourism and resort destinations. WATG and Wimberly Interiors have offices in Seattle, Beverly Hills, Irvine, Chicago, New York, London, Miami, Istanbul, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai and Honolulu, and are best known for creating internationally acclaimed destinations in 160 countries across six continents. WATG’s projects are renowned not only for their design and sense of place but also for their bottom-line success.

About WATG Urban

In 2015, WATG broadened its service expertise in urban architecture, urban planning and urban landscape architecture. The visionary design result is the fusion of the firm’s renowned expertise for experiential design with the multi-disciplinary process of shaping the physical setting for life in cities and urban environments.

The firm strategically bolstered its urban design talent in the United States – in Seattle, Chicago and Irvine; and globally in London. Currently the WATG Urban team is comprised of over 20 designers with global expertise spanning China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the United States and across Asia Pacific. Collectively, the award-winning WATG Urban team have designed a portfolio of legendary projects such as the Burj Khalifa, The Ritz-Carlton Guangzhou, the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Uptown Cairo, Casablanca Marina in Morocco, the Panpenisula tower in London, Seoul Tower, Porto Montenegro and Fragrant Mountain in Beijing.

About the American Architecture Awards

The American Architecture Awards, founded 23 years ago, is a centerpiece of The Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre’s efforts to identify and promote best practices in all types of architectural development and to bring a global focus to light of the best new designs from the United States. It is the only national and global program of its kind.