A catalyst is an agent that instigates change. Coming from catalysis (the process of making a chemical reaction happen more quickly), a catalyst can be an object, a person, or a conversation that sets off an action. When we think about architecture and design today, we must consider how we can drive beneficial change. To live in a world where the climate crisis, pandemics, and war are part of the everyday news cycle, urging us to collectively work towards a better future. Act on the rhetoric that design has purported since time immemorial: that it enables and inspires interaction across the built environment to the benefit of both individuals and institutions. To instigate change and take action, we must start somewhere; what we perhaps need is a catalyst. Perhaps, with platforms such as the World Architecture Festival (WAF), that hope to bring together the global architecture community.

A space to 'celebrate, learn, exchange and be inspired,' this year's World Architecture Festival is taking place at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore from November 29-December 1, 2023. It includes the WAF Awards programme, one of the biggest international awards programmes in the world, keynote talks and presentations, and other social events to allow visitors to discover the leading voices in the fraternity and engage in important debates. The theme for this year’s design festival is 'Catalyst', a way to 'explore the potential for people to find opportunities for fulfilment, personally and collectively, through multiple and varied interactions with community, ideas, experiences, and place' through the medium of design. Focusing on the pressing issues design faces today and is expected to solve, the WAF speaker programme includes a line-up of 75 speakers who will be presenting across two stages over the course of the three-day event.

The keynote address will be delivered in the Main Stage venue by Charu Kokate, Senior Partner/Director at Safdie Architects on November 29, 2023. Her talk, titled 'Beyond the Brief' delves into her insights on running a successful architecture practice. The talk will include projects she has been involved in with the Boston-based practice, including Marina Bay Sands and its future phase, Jewel Changi Airport, and the soon-to-be-completed Surbana Jurong Headquarters.

Other speakers include established international architects such as Lily Jencks, Keeper of Vision at The Cosmic House, The Jencks Foundation; Patrick Bellew, Founder and Executive Chairman, Atelier Ten; Mario Cucinella, Founder, MCA Mario Cucinella Architects; and Wim Walschap, Partner at Herzog & de Meuron. Apart from practising architects, academics and city planners will also share their insights at the event including Sir Peter Cook, Director, Cook Haffner Architecture Platform (CHAP); Tashi Penjor, Architect and Chief Planner, Royal Government of Bhutan with Jonathan Rose, Director, Prior & Partners; and Trevor Boddy, architecture critic and curator, who will chair a discussion with Johanna Hurme, Principal and Sasa Radulovic, Partner at 5468796 Architecture.

The talks this year highlight the issues that have become integral to the continuation of the design profession. Mario Cucinella for instance, talks about how The Future is a Journey to the Past, exploring past and present notions of sustainability. By delving into history, the talk becomes a relevant source of inspiration, providing designers with the tools to tackle the problems we face today. Similarly, the talk by Lily Jencks along with Nigel Coates, 'Dark Side of the Moon: Landscape and Architecture Acting in the Planetary System Contextualised' explores mankind’s relationship to nature, reviewing examples of contemporary landscape design/landscape urbanism and architecture to reveal how designers are engaging with planetary systems (such as the climate) across many scales.

The range of topics for the programme this year is wide–disaster management, regenerative futures, housing for all–but seems to be focused on a singular idea: how the fraternity can bring about change through design and how design can catalyse a brighter future. As Paul Finch, the Programme Director of WAF, comments, “We are excited to be hosting inspirational speakers from such a wide variety of geographies and backgrounds. We look forward to stimulating presentations and thought-provoking ideas that will form part of the ‘big conversation’ that takes place at WAF each year.” While an important stage of catalysis is the initiation through catalysts, real change foregrounds action. The design event will conclude by announcing the winners of the WAF and INSIDE Awards on December 1, 2023.