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Tokyo International Forum wins 1997 Commercial DuPont Benedictus Award

Tokyo International Forum, Glass Hall bridge railing, showing laminated glass guard rails that maintain transparency and lightness of space while providing physical protection

The Tokyo International Forum, designed by Rafael Vinoly Architects of New York (project architect: Charles Blomberg), has won first prize in the Commercial section of the 1997 DuPont Benedictus Awards for Innovation in Laminated Glass. Structural Engineer for the project was Timothy MacFarlane of Dewhurst MacFarlane and Partners, London, who has also worked on several previous DuPont Benedictus Award winners.

As featured in detail in an earlier issue of Laminated Glass News, the $1.6 billion project makes widespread use of laminated glass, following extensive research to determine the safest and most cost-efficient glazing – especially since earthquake protection was a big factor in the design.

The Benedictus Judges said that the Forum is: "A virtuoso piece in glass … It is most successful at the larger scale, like the Glass Hall. The building accents the scale of the city of Tokyo … It shows a sequence of movement, a theme, providing a diversity of perception of sight, from low to high, climbing towards different conference halls … an achievement in detailing construction using glass."