2015 Grand Prix

United Nations Capital Master Plan | New York, NY

*United Nations Headquarters in New York, NY*

Sponsored By: New York Northeast Council

The UN Headquarters was designed by a team that included some of the world’s most influential architects of the 20th century, among them Wallace Harrison, Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. With its completion in 1952 the ensemble of the General Assembly, Conference and Secretariat buildings instantaneously became an icon of Modernist architecture and a symbol of mankind’s hope for peace. After almost 60 years of service as a center of world diplomacy, the United Nations in 2008, under its Capital Master Plan, broke ground for a multi-year, multi-billion dollar phased project with the objective of turning its aging compound into a more sustainable and secure, more efficient, safer and accessible facility fit for the 21st century. For the majority of the Headquarters space, this involved a virtual redesign in place in occupied space.

In 2007, at the very beginning of the Capital Master Plan, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the potential for the United Nations Headquarters to “become a globally acclaimed model of efficient use of energy and resources,” befitting an organization that has been taken the lead in warning of the increased dangers of global warming and in facilitating negotiations for a climate agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Office of the CMP, mindful of the fact that a third of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the way buildings are constructed and managed, consequently designed the renovation of the United Nations Headquarters to meet the requirement for LEED Gold. Not only has this standard been met, in the case of the Secretariat Building it has even been exceeded.

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital | Chicago, IL

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago — *Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, IL*

Submitted By: Chicago Association of REALTORS

Sponsored By: Chicago Midwest Council

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (formerly Children’s Memorial Hospital), the tallest children’s hospital in the world, opened June 9, 2012, six weeks ahead of schedule and $70 million under budget. This 1,255,000 sq. ft., state of the art hospital, was built on a 1.8 acre site in the heart of downtown Chicago. It consolidated most of its original medical center buildings, located three miles away, into a single, integrated facility, and was designed to increase patient safety, accommodate new technology and to provide medical care more efficiently in a family-friendly environment. The strategic downtown location has enabled the Hospital to recruit world-class pediatric specialists and enhance collaboration with its academic and clinical partners including Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Last year, the hospital served children from all 50 states and 48 countries around the world.