World Architecture Festival (WAF) has announced more than 30 future projects, across 11 categories, as winners of this year’s WAFX Awards. The award, launched in WAF’s 10^th year, recognises and celebrates international proposals that employ innovative and novel approaches to tackle major world issues. Moving beyond the trope of awarding monumental and hedonistic works in the realm of design and architecture, WAFX serves as a platform for honouring individuals who seek to utilise their creative provisions to address some crucial concerns that infest our ecosystem and impact disadvantaged communities and groups across the globe. From climate crisis and declining heritage to health, food, ethics and values, the WAFX Prize encapsulates 11 distinct and drawn categories under which projects are awarded.

The winners for WAFX 2024 are:

Ageing and Health

Under the Ageing and Health category, WAF awarded The 12th Mine Hospital Renewal Design by China-based YI JIAN Architects, Shenzhen Rehabilitation Center by Stefano Boeri Architetti China and The New Hospital of Cremona by Italy-based Mario Cucinella Architects. All three projects are integrated within their vicinal verdant landscape and utilise design improvisations that can make the space inclusive for those with mobility issues.

Building Technology

Under this category, WAF recognised Iran-based KanLan Studio’s Shoupé mixed-use project which seeks to enhance a neighbourhood situated along the Babolsar coastline such that public spaces are integrated with the high-rise structures in the vicinity. Two other projects awarded under this group include the University of Tasmania Forestry Building in Australia by Woods Bagot and the Community for Refugee by the Netherlands-based UArchitects / Misak Terzibasiyan. While the former is a restoration and redevelopment project where the newer building materials are chosen such that the structure holds 40 per cent less embodied carbon than comparable buildings, the latter is a community space for refugees in the Netherlands that features lightweight portable micro-homes and adjacent rest areas and outdoor farming spaces. All three projects seek to integrate multi-use spaces and verdant terrains in a given area, to reduce the net carbon footprint.

Carbon and Climate

With discussions on climate change gaining traction during the past few years, it is only plausible for such dialogues to inspire infrastructural innovations. Hence, this architecture award category, too, recognises four cognizant projects—Penn's Landing Pavilion by US-based KieranTimberlake, The Waste-Wise House by Philippines-based Bacungan Architects, Gasometer by Dutch studio Mei architects and planners + Peter Bastian Architekten and Balai Ani: House of Harvest in Philippines by Pluszerotwo Architectural Design Studio. These civic and residential projects put forth proposals for climate-responsive designs that integrate traditional and modern inspirations and the usage of upcycled and natural materials.

Cultural Identity

WAFX’s Cultural Identity category recognises projects that are designed for community building, celebrations, education and the preservation of Indigenous values and cultural heritage. These projects utilise vernacular methods and materials, fit well into the local context, are climate-responsive and employ regenerative techniques and practices. They include ENKANASA in Kenya by Tétris Design & Build; University Technology of Sydney - National First Nations College by New Zealand-based Warren and Mahoney in association with Greenaway Architects, OCULUS and Finding Infinity; Auckland Stadium at Quay Park by HKS; and Wuhan Opera Art Center by PES-Architects + The Architectural Design & Research Institute of Zhejiang University (UAD).

Digital Worlds

With digital terrains gaining pace, it becomes essential to pay attention to innovations in this realm, too. Two projects have been announced in this category—AI Sampling Singapore by Singapore-based Artificial-Architecture, Singapore University of Technology and Design; and The Portal by Form4 Architecture. While the former is a project that "explores the design agency of deep generative neural networks in learning architectural notions of three-dimensional exteriority and interiority with a redesigned 3D generative adversarial network (3D-GAN) architecture," the latter is a digital space designed to foster a community that cares.

Ethics and Values

WAF awards individuals who go beyond the canonical architectural project briefs to address issues that affect disadvantaged and marginalised communities. The four projects honoured under this helm include The Surabaya Urban Transformation project in Indonesia by Singapore-based Broadway Malyan; RESILIENT GAZA: A Landscape of Resistance in Gaza by Design and More International from Palestine; CABN Vision Plan by Canada-based B+H and Shahinshahr Women's Park by Iranian architecture studio ARSH-4D STUDIO.

While the Surabaya Urban Transformation project deals with the regeneration of a former red-light district, RESILIENT GAZA is a project that proposes a ‘process’ instead of a tangible structure. This process seeks to rebuild Gaza and restore the agricultural and cultural heritage of the Palestinian Territories. The project, led by Palestinian architect Islam El Mashtooly, proposes a three-step process. First, the remediation of the soil to restore its health; second, rebuilding new ground using site-harvested materials and third, the enhancement and expansion of settlements with adjacent sites developed in a similar process and structurally interlinked to provide a resilient and protected ground. The CABN Vision Plan seeks to foster a deep connection between people and the land by preserving existing wetlands and Shahinshahr Women's Park proposes a future with no restriction on civil freedoms.

Food

Awardees in this category include Parasol Agriculture Center by Fractalviews and AGRITECTURE - future experimental homes/ workspace- multi-functional - Greenhouse Living (Architecture + Agriculture) by India-based tHE gRID Architects. While the former is a project that can help tackle extreme heat, air pollution and the looming threat of floods in the area, the latter redefines sustainable urban living by transforming greenhouses into versatile habitats, integrating architectural innovation with agricultural vitality.

Power and Justice

Turkey-based EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture’s Küçükçekmece Djemevi and Philippines-based Swito Designs’s Peace Building, Maguindanao Del Norte Provincial Capitol are the awardees under the Power and Justice category. The Küçükçekmece Djemevi was designed considering the sociological atmosphere that results from the marginalisation emerging from sectarian politics and policies. Additionally, the project seeks to address the othering of the followers of Alevism and the community's need for a legitimate space.

Re-use

Some rejuvenation and reuse projects that were honoured by WAF under this category include RAMSBURG by Dome+Partners, Noname Studio, Skab and MetaArchitektur; 40 Holborn Viaduct by Eric Parry Architects; Institut Thoracique de Montréal - Breathing life into an abandoned urban hospital by NEUF architect(e)s; and 76 Southbank by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris. Ranging from the larger urban scale to the building level, these projects retain most of the older construction, whilst appending the space with facilities that can address current needs and usages.

Smart Cities

Projects in this category are Lingang Open Zone Station TOD project by Chinese architecture practice Benoy; Centipedes by Turkey-based EAA-Emre Arolat Architecture; Future Vision for London Waterloo Station and South Bank – Waterloo Station Masterplan by UK-based Grimshaw; and Knowledge Economic City by UAE-based DLR Group. These projects employ different measures such as transit-oriented development, pedestrianisation, enhancement of public spaces and green infrastructure and more.

Water

The Greenline Project Master Plan by ASPECT Studios, TCL, City of Melbourne emerged as the winner in the Water category. One of the biggest city-shaping projects in Melbourne’s history, the project seeks to reshape the city’s connection to the north bank of its treasured Yarra River – Birrarung. “The Master Plan serves as a roadmap to transform four kilometres of riverfront promenade. This connected network will create a sequence of inspiring public spaces, fostering a vibrant community hub. The Greenline Project represents a transformative shift in the way people will relate to the city and its river,” reads a description from the project brief.

Citing this year’s winners, Paul Finch, programme director of the World Architecture Festival, shares, “This year’s winners show how major challenges affecting people and environments generate responses that address functional and social problems while lifting the spirits of those who will benefit from creative architecture and design.” The WAFX Award winners are selected from the finalists of the Future Projects categories in the WAF Awards Programme. This announcement precedes the live WAF event, which will take place in Singapore at Marina Bay Sands from November 6 - 8, 2024.