The wait is finally over. Find out which projects came out on top at this year’s World Architecture Festival 2016.
The 2016 Building of the Year goes to The National Museum in Szczecin – The Dialogue Centre. Located in Poland, the building features an underground museum with an open ground-level rooftop that hosts various public activities. Designed by Robert Konieczny of KWK Promes, the Museum responds to the site’s war history, which left a hole in the city centre.
“To go underground is to explore the memory and archaeology of the city,” said the jury, who added that the design addresses the past in “an optimistic, poetic and imaginative way.”
The Future Project of the Year goes to the South Melbourne Primary School by Hayball. The new vertical school model integrates indoor and outdoor teaching facilities, as well as differentiated learning environments, all of which are connected by a central staircase that doubles up as an interactive learning zone.
Situated in Kowloon Bay, the ZCB Bamboo Pavilion by The Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Architecture won Small Project of the Year. The pavilion is made up of 473 large bamboo poles that were bent on site and hand-tied with metal wires, creating a four-storey structure that caters to a seating capacity of 200 people. The bamboo grid shell structure was commended for revitalising traditional Cantonese bamboo scaffolding.
The Chengdu City Music Hall project by Aedas won the Future Projects: Competition Entries category. The poetic building is inspired by an abstract analysis of the ‘Shan Shui’ style painting – “shan” meaning mountain, and “shui” meaning river.
Singapore’s first integrated public complex Kampung Admiralty by WOHA won the Commercial Mixed-Use Future Projects category. Catering to an aging population, the building integrates healthcare, social and commercial amenities under one roof, fostering cross-generational community bonding to promote active aging in place.
Shenzhen project Floating Fields by Thomas Chung was the Production, Energy and Recycling winner. Composed of open-air shallow rectangular partitions filled with growing fields, the judges found the project to be “collaborative in nature – involving many diverse stakeholders, taking into consideration the entire life cycle and educating an entire region”.
The winning projects of this year seem to point towards community-driven, holistic and sustainable architectural approaches that inspire societal togetherness.
The other projects that won include a shelter for the victims of domestic violence in Israel; a series of beach hut-style tree houses in Singapore that educates the public about waste pollution and more. See the full list of winners here.
Click here to read our coverage on the INSIDE World Festival of Interiors 2016.
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Savage Design’s approach to understanding the relationship between design concepts and user experience, particularly with metalwork, transcends traditional boundaries, blending timeless craftsmanship with digital innovation to create enduring elegance in objects, furnishings, and door furniture.
Marylou Cafaro’s first trendjournal sparked a powerful, decades-long movement in joinery designs and finishes which eventually saw Australian design develop its independence and characteristic style. Now, polytec offers all-new insights into the future of Australian design.
‘The Elevation of Gravity’ installation was an immersive showcase of innovation that heralded the debut of Gaggenau’s groundbreaking Essential Induction cooktop.
Hassell recently presented its gigantic Metro Tunnel Project at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) alongside collaborators Weston Williamson and RSHP. We spoke to Hassell principal Ingrid Bakker about the scale of the work and what’s driving the design.
On the eve of 2024, our new editor, Timothy Alouani-Roby, addresses an exciting yet provocative open letter to the Australian architecture community on the opportunities of an era.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
In Malaysia Spacemen has created a world of perfumed wonder with their latest project, Trove, where treasures abound.
Continuing our new series on the design enthusiasts who work in all sorts of different roles across the industry, we hear from Innerspace’s Creative Collaborator and State Manager NSW.
Welcome to the year of the Design Effect. This year’s theme aims to showcase the profound ripple effects that exceptional design can have on people, place and planet. Join in shaping this narrative by contributing your perspective before May 3, 2024, and become a part of the Design Effect movement.