With its partners DekaBank and the Deutsches Architekturmuseum, the City of Frankfurt am Main announced today that the Hearst Tower in New York by Foster and Partners is the winner of its 2008 International Highrise Award, given to a project completed between January of 2006 and April of 2008.

Chosen from among five finalists and 26 nominated projects by a seven-member jury that included Alejandro Zaero Polo of Foreign Office Architects (jury chair) and RECORD’s Suzanne Stephens, the Hearst Tower is the third building ever to receive the biennial prize of 50,000 euros and a sculpture by artist Thomas Demand. Created in 2003 by the City of Frankfurt, the International Highrise Award aims to encourage designers and developers to build skyscrapers (defined at a minimum height of 100 meters) “tailored to the requirements of tomorrow.” Its previous recipients are the Torre Agbar in Barcelona by Ateliers Jean Nouvel in 2006, and De Hoftoren in The Hague by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates in 2004.