Designs that took centrestage at World Architecture Festival, INSIDE Awards 2019

Over the years, the World Architecture Festival (WAF) has been a platform for the global architecture community to meet, celebrate, learn and exchange ideas, and turn it into one of the world’s largest live architectural events. The 12th edition of the annual event – from December 4-6, 2019 - hosted presentations and awards, and celebrated design and architecture over a course of three days. The festival saw the presence of some powerful innovative works that were presented to an audience of international delegates and juries, comprising the best-known names from the industry.

WAF 2019 consisted of a conference programme based on this year’s theme ‘flow’ – of ideas, time and data – presented through an electronic gallery of all award submissions, exhibitions, live judging of finalists’ projects, an architectural tour programme, networking and social events including partner fringe events, and a Gala Awards Dinner.

This year, WAF saw the maximum number of participation from Chinese practices,  while Russia, India, the UK and Italy were also well represented. Talks by several renowned architects including the likes of Sir Peter Cook, Massimiliano Fuksas, and Elizabeth Diller among many others also brought invigorating discussions and ideas to the platform.

The winners were selected by more than 148 judges representing over 68 countries. The panel consisted of global architecture industry's luminaries like Ben van Berkel, Founder and Principal Architect at UNStudio and Founder of UNSense; Aaron Betsky, President of Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture; Anuradha Mathur, Associate at University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia; Murat Tabanlioglu, Founding Partner at Tabanlioglu Architects, and Maria Warner Wong, Design Director at WOW Architects & Warner Wong Design; Francine Houben, Founding Partner and Creative Director at Mecanoo and Richard Hassell, Founding Director of last year's World Building winning practice WOHA.

The selection and awards where each of the finalists presented their works to the jury, and were further felicitated, took place at the RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre in Amsterdam. An engaging and enthralling programme schedule with multiple talks and exhibitions created an exciting atmosphere at the venue for delegates and professionals attending WAF from across the world . The event concluded with a Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony, where the winners of the World Building, Interior, Future Project and Landscape of the Year were announced.

Running in tandem with WAF was INSIDE World Festival of Interiors, a sister event which showcased the year’s most ground-breaking interior projects, and declared its winners in various categories. The speakers at the INSIDE conference included international interior designers such as Petra Blaisse, Founding Partner and Lead Designer at Inside Outside; Nigel Coates, architect, author and designer, and Eva Frach I Gilabert, the Director of the Architectural Association, among many others.

While mentioning noteworthy aspects about each of the projects, judges remarked that the World Architecture Festival 2019 displayed “welcome evidence of serious thinking about environmental and community issues”, and “noted the increasing incidents of architecture and landscape integration”.

The Winners of the WAF Awards:

1. World Building of the Year
LocHal Public Library | Tilburg, Netherlands
By Civic architects

2. Future Project of the Year
The Connected City Oberbillwerder | Hamburg, Germany
By ADEPT and KARRES EN BRANDS together with Transsolar, Büro Happold and Kraft

3. Landscape of the Year
Demonstration Section of Yangpu Riverside Public Space | Shanghai, China
By Original Design Studio

4. Small Project of the Year
Lokadhatu (The World) | China
By Studio Link-Arc

5. Completed Buildings | Health
Bayalpata Regional Hospital | Achham, Nepal
By Sharon Davis Design

6. Completed Buildings | Higher Education and Research
Kokugakuin University Learning Center | Tokyo, Japan
By NIKKEN SEKKEI

7. Completed Buildings | Hotel and Leisure
Lindis Lodge | New Zealand
By Architecture Workshop

8. Completed Buildings | Mixed Use
Oasis Terraces | Punggol, Singapore
By Serie + Multiply Architects

9. Completed Buildings | Religion
Qasr Al Hosn: Al Musallah | Abu Dhabi
By CEBRA

10. Completed Buildings | Shopping
Coal Drops Yard | England
By Heatherwick Studio

11. Completed Buildings | Villa
Villa B | Germany
By Powerhouse Company

12. Future projects | Commercial Mixed Use
De Meelfabriek | Leiden, Netherlands
By Studio Akkerhuis

13. Future Projects | Competition entries
The Cultural Canyon | Baghdad, Iraq
By Design & More International

14. Future Projects | Culture
The New GoDown Arts Centre | Nairobi, Kenya
By White Arkitekter

15. Future Projects | Education
The School in a Park | Amman, Jordan
By Maisam Architects & Engineers

16. Future Projects | Experimental
The Tanks at Bushwick Inlet Park |  New York
By STUDIO V Architecture

17. Future Projects | Health
Psychiatric unit at the Dronning Ingrid’s hospital | Nuuk, Greenland
By White Arkitekter AB / DIFK Dipl.-Ing. Florian Kosche / ÅF Engineering AS

18. Future Projects | House
75.9 House | Canada
By Omer Arbel Office

19. Future Projects | Residential
Badaevskiy Brewery | Moscow
By Herzog & de Meuron and APEX project bureau

20. Landscape Urban & Rural
Demonstration of Yangpu Riverside Public space | China
By Original Design Studio

21. Completed Buildings | Civic and Community
Gaobu Book House | Hunan Province, China
By Condition Lab - School of Architecture CUHK & UAL Studio - School of Architecture and Urban Planning GZU

22. Completed Buildings | Culture
LocHal Public Library | Tilburg, Netherlands
By Civic Architects (lead architects), Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau and Petra Blaisse

23. Completed Buildings | Display
The Vessel | New York
By Heatherwick Studio

24. Completed Buildings | House
Castle Cove House | Australia
By TERROIR

25. Completed Buildings | Housing
Cedrus Residential | Iran
By Next Office

26. Completed Buildings | New and Old
The Bower | UK
By Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

27. Completed Buildings | Office
Vanke Liuxiandong Design Community | China
Design by FCHA

28. Completed Buildings | Production, Energy & Recycling  
The Macallan Distillery and Visitor Experience | UK
By Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

29. Completed Buildings | School
YM Nursery | Yonago, Tottori, Japan
HIBINOSEKKEI + Youji no Shiro + KIDS DESIGN LABO

30. Completed Buildings | Sport
Turo de la Peira's sports center | Barcelona, Spain
By Anna Noguera + Javier Fernandez

31. Completed Buildings | Transport
Mactan Cebu International Airport Terminal | Philippines
By Integrated Design Associates

32. Future Projects | Civic
Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre | Vancouver, Canada
By HCMA Architecture + Design

33. Future Projects | Infrastructure
Shenzen Bay Avenue | China
By WilkinsonEyre and Morphis

34. Future Projects | Leisure Led Developments
Tersane Halic - Halic Shipyards | Istanbul
By Tabanlioglu Architects

35. Future Projects | Masterplanning
Connected City Oberbillwerder | Hamburg, Germany
By ADEPT and KARRES EN BRANDS together with Transsolar, Büro Happold, Kraft

36. Future Projects | Office
Attabotics Headquarters | Calgary, Canada
By Modern Office of Design + Architecture

Some other remarkable works that competed and won, apart from the building projects categories:

1. Engineering Prize
Swirling Cloud | China
By SUP Atelier

2. ROCKWOOL Student Charrette
Bridging the Disharmony | Odisha
School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, India

3. Visualisation prize
Park for the future generations | Russia
By Atrium Sakha_Z

4. The Best Use of Certified Timber
Pingelly Recreation and Cultural Centre | Australia
By iredale pedersen hook architects with Advanced Timber Concepts Studio

5. The Use of Colour Prize
Comfort Town | Kiev, Ukraine
By Archimatika

6. The Best Use of Natural Light
Smith Campus Center, Harvard University | USA
By Hopkins Architects

7. Amsterdam Prize
Freebooter
By GG-loop

8. The Architectural Drawing Prize
City in a box
Drawing by Anton Markus Pasing

9. WAFX
Urban Living room
By X-Space

10. Architectural Photography
The Twish Museum by BIG Architects
Laurian Ghinitoui

The Winners of the INSIDE Awards:

1. World Interior of the Year
JCA Living Lab | Taipei city, Taiwan
By J.C. Architecture

2. Health and Education
Classroom Makeover for the Blind | Pattaya, Thailand
By Creative Crews

3. Offices
B:Hive, Smales Farm | Auckland, New Zealand
By BVN in association with Jasmax

4. Retail
Aesop Bondi Junction Signature Store | Syndey, Australia
By mlkk Studio

5. Bars and Restaurants
Noma | Denmark
By BIG-Bjarke Ingles Group

6. Creative Re-use
Mecanoo - LocHal Library | Netherlands
By Civic architects

7. Civic, Culture, Transport
Cloud of Luster | Japan
By KTX archiLAB

8. Display
The Cloud Maze | Shanghai, China
By RSAA/ Büro Ziyu Zhuang

9. Hotels
Can Bordoy |Spain
By OHLAB

With its stellar line-up, the World Architecture Festival stands by its commitment to quality content and initiatives to host the biggest international architectural awards programme in the world, dedicated to celebrating excellence.

Read more about the WAF 2019 shortlisted projects here