The World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards—'the world’s biggest live-judged architectural awards programme'—announced the winners of their 2023 awards cycle over the course of a three-day design event. Taking place at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, the awards and the acclaimed festival 'celebrate the best new completed buildings and landscapes as well as the most inspiring future architectural concepts, across 33 categories, ranging from residential to cultural, to creative re-use.' While WAF’s sister awards programme, INSIDE celebrates exceptional interior design across 11 categories. Out of the 44 category winners, four overall prizes for World Building of the Year, Future Project of the Year, Interior of the Year, and Landscape of the Year were awarded at a gala event on the last day, December 1, 2023.

Reflecting on the notion of architecture and design serving as tools for positive change, this year’s theme ‘Catalyst’ put forth an invitation to the fraternity to reflect on the state of the practice and the way forward. As Paul Finch, WAF programme director commented: “[The shortlisted projects] are a reminder in a world experiencing numerous crises that architects continue to address both everyday and unusual challenges with skill and imagination.” The winners of the prestigious design awards were chosen from 495 shortlisted projects by a jury of over 140 people, including Lily Jencks, Nigel Coates, Sir Peter Cook, Albert Williamson Taylor, Tracy Meller, Jason Bruges, Annette Fisher, Roland Schnizer and Issa Diabaté.

Overall prizes were given to Huizhen High School in China designed by Approach Design Studio/Zhejiang University of Technology Engineering Design Group for World Building Of The Year; The Probiotic Tower in Egypt by Design and More International for the Future Project of the Year; 19 Waterloo Street by Australian architecture practice, SJB Architects for the World Interior of the Year; and Benjakitti Forest Park by Chinese practice, TURENSCAPE, in collaboration with Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect in Thailand were awarded the Landscape of the Year. Special prizes were also awarded on the last night, on the merit of use of natural light in projects (See Sea Park by Osamu Morishita Architect and Associates in Japan), the use of colour (Turrell Pavilion by Studio MK27 in the Maldives), exceptional architectural visualisation (The Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation by Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design in United States) and such often unrecognised aspects of design. Overall, this year, the judges commended the level of care, attention to the community’s needs, and awareness of resource use the projects displayed, evident as one goes over the list of winners.

Completed Buildings

This year, the winners in the 33 categories for Completed Buildings were selected from over 400 shortlisted entries. According to the judges, "Many of the winning projects were city-changing with thoughtful responses to historical elements including preservation of found architecture, retrofitting and change of use—all making a significant contribution to their locales," thus also underscoring the theme of the awards. The level of community engagement, attention to vernacular methods and materials, sustainable design, and innovative use of resources signals a turn in architecture toward more conscious processes of building.

Apart from the overall winner, an educational building in China which showcases attention towards the needs of children in designing a truly out-of-the-book school, winners like Battersea Power Station Phase Two by WilkinsonEyre in United Kingdom (Mixed Use), Kaomai Museums and Tea Barn by PAVA architects in Thailand (creative reuse), and Vast Gallery & Artist Residency by Persian Garden Studio in Iran (Retrofit) underscore the relevance of refurbishment in a world of dwindling resources. On the other hand, projects such as the Turell Pavillion (display), Mario Cucinella’s Santa Maria Goretti Church (religion) and Surat Diamond Bourse by Morphogenesis in India (office) highlight the role design plays in addressing pressing issues through beautiful interventions that take into site context, local resources and community needs.

Future Projects

While with completed projects, one can judge how effective the design is through its performance metrics, unrealised and future projects hold a sense of speculative, utopian hope. This year’s entries in this category were commended by the judges for how they rethink conventional approaches to architecture, including design and material. This is exemplified by the overall winner of Future Project of the Year, The Probiotic Tower by Egyptian architects, design and more international. The proposed design reimagines water towers in Egypt as a probiotic urban machine with algae bioreactor tanks that absorb carbon dioxide, and a bamboo plantation on-site to provide material for creating scaffolding for the tower.

Similarly, projects such as Border Village Community Center by Nextoffice, Studio of Architectural Research & Design in Iran, winner of the Civic Future project category, Green City Kigali by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (master-planning) and Kuzeh Valley by Iranian architects FMZD (residential) explore the potential of architecture sensitively embedding into the fabric of existing communities. Discussing the Future Projects, judges praised the consideration of social enterprise hand in hand with visionary applications of design ideas.

Interiors

The judges particularly commended the level of care and attention showcased towards clients and users by the projects in the INSIDE Awards categories, noting "the exemplar qualities of projects for creating ‘magic experiences’ and ‘using local material in a poetic way." For instance, the overall winner in the Interiors category, 19 Waterloo Street by SJB Architects engages with its street context through a sensitive repurposing exercise, where materials from around the industrial neighbourhood are reused. Other notable winners in this category include the newly refurbished Victoria and Albert museum’s Photography Centre by Gibson Thornley Architects in the United Kingdom which won the award in the Public Buildings subcategory, Bijou Shop in Tehran Grand Bazaar by Nextoffice, Studio of Architectural Research & Design in Iran which bagged the prize in the Retail subcategory, and Murrenda Residential Aged Care Home by STH in Australia, winner for Health and Fitness.