Judges at the Royal Institute of British Architects were unanimous in their decision to choose the gherkin-shaped building for its Stirling Prize, the first time in the prize's history they've all agreed.
The tower, which draws fresh air through light wells that spiral up the building, "is already a popular icon on the city skyline,'' the judges said, according to an e-mailed statement from the Institute.
The architects, who describe the structure as "the capital's first environmentally progressive tall building,'' receive 20,000 pounds ($36,000) prize money from the Institute, according to the statement.
Skanska AB, the world's second-biggest construction company, was the main contractor on the tower, whose shape and round base allows more ground space for landscaping.
Candidates for the prize included Frank Gehry, for a cancer center in Dundee, Scotland; Richard Rogers, for an elementary school in Kyoto, Japan; Daniel Libeskind, for the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester; Rick Mather, for a building at Keble College Oxford; HOK International, for the King's Library at London's British Museum, and Zaha Hadid, for an arts center in Cincinnati.
