THE WORLD’S BEST APARTMENT BUILDINGS

As the new era of the high-rise dawns, we look at the best of apartment living across the planet

A S cities around the world have evolved into metropolises, which in turn have morphed into megalopolises, and their transport infrastructure strains past its limit, inner-city high-rises are asserting themselves once more as the only viable solution to the problem of how to comfortably live and work in the city.

In Singapore, 85% of the population already lives in high-rise apartments, and high-rise living is a way of life in cities such as Tokyo and Hong Kong. The exclusive areas around New York’s Park Avenue and the High Line continue to sprout new, ever taller starchitect-designed buildings. In London, more than 230 towers higher than 20 storeys are either planned, approved or being built, and it’s estimated that 80% of them will be residential. At home in Sandton, more than 30 buildings are being built or planned. And apartment living is taking off too in Braamfontein and the Maboneng precinct east of Joburg’s CBD.

But many would-be city dwellers remain sceptical because of highrise living’s past failures. In the last century, the concept of the apartment block lived a double life: on the one hand, it took in the height of glamour and luxury, but, on the other, it represented the worst of inhumane mass housing.

However, the new era of the high-rise apartment represents bold innovative solutions to the issues that caused the failures of the past. New apartment buildings no longer cram as many people as possible into a small space with brute commercial logic. They are designed to include communal spaces, environmental considerations, variety in their layouts, and social and aesthetic concerns. As we all trek from the suburbs to the sky, we take a look at four of our favourite examples of apartment living, old and new.