27 October 2008

World's Best

The first ever World Building of the Year has been announced at the World Architecture Festival Awards in Barcelona.

The World Architecture Ferstival (WAF) have announced the overall winner of their awards program. Irish practice, Grafton Architects designed an extension to the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan.

Winners of the ‘Learning’ category the project was originally up against over 200 projects from around the world, including a number from Australia. The building consists of public lecture theatres, courtyards and concourses with staff offices suspended above.

Judge Catherine Slessor praised the building for its “mature handling of space, light and materials by architects who, though not from Milan, succeeded in distilling the essence of this tough city into a confident, contemporary form.”

There were winners in seven other categories –

Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Centre, China, by Belgian architects Buro II (Civic)

Oslo Opera House in Norway, by Norwegian architects SNØHETTA (Cultural)

La Vall d´en Joan, by Spanish practice Batlle & Roig Architects (Energy, Waste & Recycling)

Centre pour le Bien-être des Femmes, Burkina Faso, Africa by Italian architects FAREstudio (Health)

Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, in Canada by Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden Architects (Holiday)

Mountain Dwellings in Orestaden, Copenhagen, Denmark, by Danish practice BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, (Housing Development)

Luigi Bocconi University, Milan, by Irish practice Grafton Architects (Learning)

The Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle, USA, by Weiss/ Manfredi Architecture/ Landscape/ Urbanism (Nature)

The Awards also included a competition for architecture students (the Student Charrette) to revitalise a run down factory site in Barcelona. Winning from six competing schools the students from Hafencity Universitat in Germany.