Hearst Tower, GM plaza win MAS recognition.

The bold, new Hearst Tower and the GM Building's superbly redesigned Fifth Avenue Plaza, both in Midtown, have won 2007 MASterwork Awards, the Municipal Art Society announced.

The skillful restoration of the Battery Maritime Building in Lower Manhattan and Red Hook's new Fairway Market also took top honors.

"Each of these distinctive projects gives New Yorkers something new to be proud of," MAS Chairman Philip Howard said. "But at a time when the city is seeing an astonishing amount of new development and construction, it is worth noting that each of this year's winners--albeit in very different ways--paid attention to the precepts of adaptive reuse."

Launched in 2001 to recognize the best of the city's new architecture and design, the awards are organized annually by the MAS and sponsored by Helaba, an international commercial bank. The four awards presented this year are for projects completed in 2006. The sixth annual MASterwork Award winners are:

Best New Building: The Hearst Tower, 300 West 57th Street in Midtown.

William Randolph Hearst had always envisioned a soaring office tower atop his landmark 1928 Art Deco headquarters building. Lord Norman Foster, drawing on the approach he developed for his acclaimed Reichstag restoration in Berlin, succeeded brilliantly in fulfilling Hearst's vision with a tower that establishes a creative dialogue between old and new, marrying the original limestone with modern glass. Developer: Tishman Speyer Properties. Architect: Foster + Partners.

Best Privately Owned Public Space: Fifth Avenue Plaza, General Motors Building, 767 Fifth Avenue in Midtown.

The vision for the redesigned plaza, which was lowered to street level and adorned with two reflecting pools and moveable furniture, has been realized as a first-class public space that beautifully integrates the adjacent Apple store. It is a wonderfully creative combination of public amenity and private retail. Developer: Macklowe Properties. Architect: Harry Macklowe of Macklowe Properties and Dan Shannon of Moed de Armas & Shannon.

Best Neighborhood Catalyst: Fairway Market, 480-500 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook. Developer: Greg O'Connell, Kings Harbor View Associates. Architect: Susan Doban Architect, RC.

Best Commercial Restoration: Battery Maritime Building. 10 South Street in Lower Manhattan. Developer: New York City Economic Development Corporation. Architect: Jan Hird Pokorny Associates.