Top Image: Oasia Hotel Downtown by WOHA (Mixed Use)

Back for its ninth edition, the World Architecture Festival (WAF) organises the largest architecture award in the world. After four successful runs in Singapore, the festival of 2016 will relocate to the Arena in Berlin, Germany, to be held for three days from 16 to 18 November 2016.

This year, 343 projects based across 58 countries, entered by firms from 42 nations have been shortlisted. The architectural offices behind the projects will move on and compete during the live judging sessions at the WAF, vying to be crowned winners of each of the 32 categories and to receive the ultimate accolades of ‘World Building of the Year’ and ‘Future Project of the Year’. 

The Philips APAC Center by LAUD Architects (Office)

The 15 Singapore-based projects that made it to the shortlist vary in size across categories, from cultural and heritage buildings to 21st-century mass housing.

Niven Road Studio by WOW Architects (New and Old)

In the New and Old category, WOW Architects was nominated for its adaptation of a historic shophouse into a full-fledged studio. The two-storey building on Niven Road was conserved alongside a tall rear extension, comprising a basement, three floors of double height space and an attic. 

National Gallery Singapore by studioMilou Singapore and CPG Consultants (New and Old)

It comes as no surprise that the much talked about National Gallery Singapore also made the shortlist. Two historic monuments were sensibly transformed by studioMilou and CPG Consultants to backdrop the appreciation of Southeast Asian art.

New Wings at the Asian Civilisations Museum by GreenhilLi architecture + design (Culture)

With an alternative take on heritage add-ons, GreenhilLi architecture + design was nominated in the Culture category for additions made to the Asian Civilisations Museum, which bears over 140 years of history. Two strikingly contemporary metallic extensions present 21st-century architecture, while complementing the existing building (more on that story here).

The Future of Us by Advanced Architecture Laboratory, Singapore University of Technology and Design (Culture)

Shortlisted within the same category, the Future of Us pavilion by the Singapore University of Technology and Design’s (SUTD) Advanced Architecture Laboratory was designed to reflect a ‘walk in an imaginary forest’. The pavilion enables visitors to experience a tropical forest in the midst of a concrete jungle. The intricate metal lattice, made out of approximately 11,000 triangular aluminium panels of varying perforations, draws from natural environmental conditions such as light and shadow.

Waterway Terraces by Aedas (Housing)

Three Singapore-based projects were shortlisted in the Housing category. Designed by Aedas, the Waterway Terraces in Punggol proposes a sustainable mass housing with a communal identity, while adhering to a high-density tropical urban lifestyle.

The Housing category also includes the d’Leedon condominium by UK-based Zaha Hadid Architects. The 840,049-square-f00t site marks the late Hadid’s inaugural take on a high-rise residential project, illustrating her sensible approach to site and context. The buildings bear undulating lines that ascend towards the sky, conceived out of a study of existing energy flow lines and connections (more on that story here).

d’Leedon by Zaha Hadid Architects (Housing)

WOHA received a shortlist for SkyVille @ Dawson, a mass housing that focuses on three core themes of community, variety and sustainability, possessing 960 housing units with flexible floor plans and housing types and various common spaces for gatherings. The building was also awarded the highest sustainable rating in Singapore. WOHA’s Oasia Hotel Downtown was also shortlisted in the Mixed Use category. The tropical skyscraper features a lush green facade that depicts a massive vertical garden that stands out in the Central Business District.

SkyVille @ Dawson by WOHA (Housing)

Other completed shortlisted projects include the Grace Assembly of God Church and The Philips APAC Center by LAUD Architects; the 33 Holland Park house by studioMilou; and the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital & Jurong Community Hospital by CPG Consultants in collaboration with HOK & studio505.

Grace Assembly of God Church by LAUD Architects (Religion)

The nominations also credit projects that have not been built, such as Singapore-based projects Kampung Admiralty by WOHA; Lichen by Park + Associates, which was shortlisted in two categories, as well as Beach Hut by Spark Architects.

Ng Teng Fong General Hospital & Jurong Community Hospital, CPG Consultants in collaboration with HOK & studio505 (Health)

33 Holland Park by studioMilou architecture (House)

The Future Projects shortlist also revealed overseas-based projects spearheaded by Singaporean architects. They are Aarohan in India by WOW Architects (Residential); Shorefront in Malaysia by RT+Q (Residential); Ranfurly and Cochrane Garden Rooms in Scotland by Spark Architects (Health); Siem Reap Botanic Residences and Lifestyle Mall in Cambodia by ONG&ONG  (Commercial Mixed Use); the Vertical Stacked City in China (Commercial Mixed Use) and Brac University in Bangladesh (Education) by WOHA.

Kampung Admiralty by WOHA (Commercial Mixed Use)

The panel of judges this year includes Ole Scheeren, architect of Singapore-based development, The Interlace (2015 World Building of the Year); Louisa Hutton of Sauerbruch Hutton; Christoph Ingenhoven of Ingenhoven Architects; and David Chipperfield of David Chipperfield Architects.

Lichen by Park + Associates (Competition Entries and Leisure Led Development)

Apart from the awards, WAF will also be hosting exhibitions and a conference programme focused on the 2016 theme of ‘Housing for Everyone’, which aims to examine the effects of global urbanisation on housing.

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Beach House by Spark Architects (Experimental)