The 17^th edition of the World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards was held at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, between November 6-8, where the 2024 winners were announced over the course of three days. Being the world’s biggest live-judged architecture awards programme, the design festival had over 450 finalists present their projects in front of judging panels and WAF delegates. The design event recognised a wide range of both completed and future architecture and interior design projects across several categories, under the Completed Buildings, Future Projects and Inside awards.

A jury of 140 representatives from 68 countries, including Brazilian architect Renata Furlanetto of Studio MK27, Indian architect Ambrish Arora of Studio Lotus, Singapore-based Charu Kokate of Safdie Architects, Yosuke Hayano of MAD Architects, Nigel Coates, architects Peter Cook and Mario Cucinella, chose winners from over 480 shortlisted projects around the world. Inspired by architectural writer Reyner Banham’s description as a ‘historian of the immediate future’, this year’s theme Tomorrow aimed to identify and reflect on forthcoming changes in the urban design, architecture and design industry due to ever-changing factors such as global crises, digital technologies and popular culture. The three-day conference programme invited several industry experts, including WAF programme director Paul Finch, Ma Yansong of MAD Architects and Peter Cook, as speakers and presenters to shed light on their perception and vision for the future of the industry.

School category winner Darlington Public School by fjcstudio in Sydney was awarded the World Building of the Year. The jury recognised the Turkish community complex Küçükçekmece Djemevi by Emre Arolat Architecture (EAA) as the winner of the Civic category as well as the overall winner of Future Project of the Year. Pang Mei Noodle Bar designed by Office AIO in an art and culture-focused Beijing neighbourhood won the Bars and Restaurant category and emerged as World Interior of the Year. LAY-OUT Planning Consultants Co., Ltd. took home the Landscape of the Year award for their Regeneration Of Vitality – Shenzhen Guanlan Riverside Plaza project in China.

Completed Buildings

Completed architecture, infrastructure and landscape design projects all over the world were selected across 33 distinct categories, including retrofit, sports, housing, residential architecture and healthcare architecture. National Star Observatory in Cyprus by Kyriakos Tsolakis Architects won the Civic and Community Architecture award for contributing to the economy of the mountainous region of Troodos. Istanbul Museum of Modern Art by Renzo Piano Building Workshop won in the Culture category, the Hotel and Leisure category award went to TAWA Refugio’s ‘A’ frame mountainous retreat CONTEXTO and the Production, Energy and Logistics category winner was Turkey’s Kalyon Karapinar solar power plant and Central Control Building by Bilgin Architects.

The Office category winner was Forskaren, a research and development centre of life sciences that contributes to the growth of its district, by 3XN in Stockholm, Sweden. The Nightingale Village in Australia by a conglomerate of six practices won the Housing category award for its sustainability and thoughtful design, while Touching Eden House by Wallflower Architecture + Design and Arthur Residence by 5468796 Architecture were announced as winners of the House & Villa Rural and Urban categories, respectively.

Future Projects

Among the upcoming projects, Woods Bagot’s design concept for the restoration and redevelopment of the University of Tasmania Forestry Building in Australia won the Education category award and the Institut Thoracique de Montréal project by NEUF architect(e)s was selected in the category of Office for adaptive reuse of an abandoned hospital building in Montreal, Canada.

The Greenline Project Master Plan, a riverfront promenade master planning project and a collaborative effort of ASPECT Studios, TCL and the City of Melbourne, aced the Masterplanning category of the awards. Iran’s Chaarkhaan Bridge by Bonsar Architects won in the Infrastructure category, SAOTA’s residential design Meru in Kenya in East Africa was announced as the best House and the Unity Arena project in Norway by Rodeo Architects was awarded in the category of Leisure-led Development for transforming an Oslo neighbourhood into a vibrant entertainment district.

Inside

The Embassy of Australia by Bates Smart in Washington DC was awarded in the Public Buildings category and Fender Flagship Tokyo by Klein Dytham Architecture won the Retail category award. Melbourne’s CSL Global Headquarters by COX Architecture and Penn Color Technology Centre by DP Design in Singapore won the Inside awards for large and small workplace design categories respectively. Providing a temporary mobile shelter alternative to tackle Hong Kong’s housing crisis, HKU/Superposition’s Backpack Housing project was recognised in the Temporary/Meanwhile Use category.

Several other projects were highly commended by the judges at the architecture festival and Special Prizes such as Small Project of the Year, Sustainability Prize and Student Charrette were awarded to the forest retreat Fushi in Japan by Tezuka Architects, Iranian building White Renovation by Olgoo for its wrapped white veil and project Staging Symbiosis: Seaweed+ by Queen’s University Belfast respectively.