INDEX, an 80-storey mixed-use tower in Dubai, has headed off stiff competition to be judged the best new high-rise building in the Middle East and Africa.

The tower, the first building designed by Foster + Partners to be completed in Dubai, has won the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) Award, beating a record number of nominations.

The tower combines 520 luxury apartments with 25 floors of office space. The different functions are separated by a spectacular double-height, glazed sky lobby, with views over the city to the coast. At the tower’s base, a landscaped podium creates pedestrian routes through the site and incorporates a range of places to eat, shop and socialise.

Located on a prominent corner site within the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the 326-m-high tower, developed by Union Properties, is unusually offset against the urban grid, oriented east to west to maximise views of the desert and coastline. This orientation also reduces solar gain, as the building’s core mass absorbs heat and reduces its reliance on mechanical ventilation. A system of sunshades shelters the interiors on the exposed south elevation.

Gerard Evenden, a design director at Foster + Partners, commented: “Our design for Index had to fulfil many different needs: it had to be a great place to work, a great place to live, a landmark for the financial district and, perhaps most significantly, a sustainable high-rise building.”