The School of Atmospheric Sciences Building at Sun Yat-sen University and the Zhuhai Tower have each received 2020-21 China Construction Engineering Luban Prizes, the top honor of China's construction industry.

Affiliated with the Tianqin Space-based Gravitational Wave Research Plan, the 30.3-m (99.4-ft) tall campus building is located west of North Lovers Avenue across from Tangjia Bay & Beach. It has six floors aboveground and one below with gross floor area of 65,041 sqm (16 acres). The Lingnan (Cantonese) architectural style of red walls and green bricks echoes that of Sun Yat-sen University's century-old South Campus in Haizhu District, Guangzhou.

Xiangzhou-based Constar Group, the builder, adheres to concepts of greening, environmental friendliness, energy conservation, and comfort throughout the planning, design, construction, and usage stages. A great deal of new technologies, materials, and techniques were deployed.

Sun Yat-sen University School of Atmospheric Sciences [Photo by Li Jianshu / WeChat account: zhuhaifabu]

The project's 13 awards include: National Demonstration Project for Green Construction, National AAA Standard Safe & Civilized Construction Site, and Guangdong Golden Craftsmanship Award for Construction Projects. It also garnered eight patents and recognition for one provincial construction method.   

Developed by Zhuhai Huafa and Shanghai Baoye groups, the 330-m (1,083-ft) Zhuhai Tower is the tallest building in Zhuhai and Macao. Situated south of the International Convention & Exhibition Center in the Shizimen Central Business District, the building faces Macao across the Haojiang River. With floorage of 146,000 sqm (36 acres), it is one of the few large public high-end complexes in the country that integrate convention and exhibitions, conferences, a theater, hotel, and business and tourism facilities.

The project has earned 27 accolades including the Gold Award of China's Construction Engineering Steel Structure, Tien-yow Jeme Civil Engineering Prize, and Guangdong Golden Craftsmanship Award for Construction Projects.

Founded in 1987, the Luban Prize was formerly a civilian award initiated by the original China Architecture League to encourage companies to improve construction quality. It was transferred to the China Construction Industry Association in 1993 and merged into a National High-Quality Engineering Award by the Ministry of Housing & Urban-Rural Development in 1996.