World Building of the Year 2017 supported by GROHE: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Post-earthquake reconstruction/demonstration project of Guangming Village, Zhaotong, China(Credit: World Architecture Festival)
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the World Architecture Festival (WAF) has just awarded this year’s prizes to a truly global selection of projects. The winners were selected from a pretty long shortlist comprising 434 projects across 68 different countries, and featured everything from a hospital in Iran to a small earthquake-proof prototype house in China.
“These are big-picture initiatives which concern architects both individually and collectively, and we want WAF to play a part in promoting initiatives which are aimed at making life better,” says WAF Programme Director Paul Finch.
To this end, WAF also proposed a manifesto directing architects to the key challenges the world faces over the next decade, including climate, energy and carbon; water; ethics and values; and cultural identity.
The award for World Building of the Year certainly hit the manifesto targets. The Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Project in Guangming Village took the main prize for its novel technique for cheap rammed earth construction. It was a surprisingly modest choice for a big prize winner but as Finch says, “this building is a demonstration that architecture is just as relevant in the poorest of communities as it is in the richest.
2. The Director’s Special Award (or essentially the runner up prize) went to Marc Koehler Architects’ Superlofts Southaven, in Amsterdam, Netherlands(Credit: Marc Koehler Architects)
3. The World Interior of the Year Prize went to Produce.Workshop, Fabricwood, Singapore(Credit: Produce.Workshop)
4. The Future Project of the Year Winner was a design for the Sydney Fish Markets by Allen Jack+Cottier Architects and NH Architecture(Credit: Allen Jack+Cottier
5.The Landscape of the Year went to Turenscape for its work call Peasants and their Land: The Recovered Archaeological Landscape of Chengtoushan in Lixian County, China(Credit: WAF)
6. The Small Project of the Year Winner was a design from Eriksson Furunes + Leandro V. Locsin Partners + Jago Boase called Streetlight Tagpuro, found in Tacloban, Philippines(Credit: Alexander Eriksson Furunes)
7. A highly commended runner-up in the Best Small Project category was DSDHA by the Alex Monroe Workshop in London, United Kingdom(Credit: Alex Monroe Workshop)
8. The winner of Best Use of Color went to the Fitzroy Crossing Renal Hostel in outback Australia, designed by Iredale Pedersen Hook Architects(Credit: Iredale Pedersen Hook Architects)
9.The Iran Special Prize Winner went to the New Wave Architecture design for Pars Hospital in Tehran, Iran(Credit: Parham Taghioff)
10. The Arcaid Images Architectural Photography Award Winner was given to Terrence Zhang for this image of a swimming pool at the New Campus of Tianjin University, China(Credit: Terrence Zhang)
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World Architecture Festival
