The World Architecture Festival (WAF) is an annual festival and awards ceremony, one of the most prestigious events dedicated to the architecture and development industries. The first four events were held in Barcelona, from 2008 to 2011, at which point the festival moved to Singapore for four years. Since 2016, host cities have included Berlin and Amsterdam. It is the only event where around 550 shortlisted architects present their projects live in crit rooms to a judging panel. One of these projects is awarded the World Building of the Year title. Each year the World Architecture Festival publishes a list of the winners of the awards on their official website.
History
The World Architecture Festival was first held in 2008 as a "festival and live awards competition dedicated to celebrating and sharing architectural excellence from across the globe." The first four festivals were held in Barcelona; since 2012 the annual events have been hosted by Singapore, Berlin, and Amsterdam. Over a thousand projects are entered in the competition for the awards and more than 550 of these are shortlisted for live presentation at the festival. The architects pay a submission fee to enter a Future Project or a Completed Building project and travel to where the festival is arranged to present the shortlisted project live to a jury panel. The entries are voluntary and the festival does not control who submits projects. In 2011, the sister event INSIDE Festival (for interior architecture and design) was added in the same venue and arranged at the same time as WAF.
Winners
The 2008 festival
The World Architecture Festival was held for the first time on 22–24 October 2008 in Barcelona. Its programme director was Paul Finch. An important part of the festival was the awards programme. The competition was open to building completed within the past 18 months, between January 1, 2007 and June 20, 2008. There were 722 entries competing in 17 categories, comprising 96 building types from 63 countries. After a preselection, 224 projects from 43 countries have been shortlisted. All the shortlisted architects presented their work during the festival and the winners competed for the top award, the World Building of the Year. The judging panel was headed by Norman Foster and included Stefan Behnisch, Robert Stern and Zaha Hadid among the 40 architects on the panel. 1,900 visitors from 70 countries attended the festival.
In 2008, the World Building of the Year was awarded to: Bocconi University, Italy (by Grafton Architects).
Gallery of some of the 2008 winners
The 2009 festival
The second World Architecture Festival took place in Barcelona at the Centre Convencions International Barcelona (CCIB) on November 4 to 6 2009. Projects from 67 countries participated in the competition. 272 projects were shortlisted, in 15 categories. A jury of architects and industry figures from around the world judged the competition's 45 Awards. The winners of the 15 categories of completed buildings competed for the Building of the Year Award. In addition to the categories from the 2008 festival three new sections were added: Interiors and Fit-out, Structural Design and Future Projects. In 2009, 1,507 architects from 71 countries came to Barcelona for the festival.
Awards 2009
World Building of the Year (Category: Culture, Completed Buildings ) Mapungubwe Interpretation Center in South Africa by Peter Rich Architects Future Project of the Year (Category: Cultural, Future Projects ) Spanish Pavilion for 2010 Expo Shanghai in China by Miralles Tagliabue EMBT Interiors and Fit Out Overall Winner (Category: Interiors and Fit Out - Retail (small) ) Corian Super-Surfaces Showroom in Italy, Milano by Architect Amanda Levete Architects Structural Design of the Year (Category: Structural Design - Spans (e.g. bridges, stadiums, big sheds) ) Arena Zagreb in Croatia, by Zagrebby Architect UPI-2M Student design competition (Category: Student design competition: Distressed Cities, Creative Responses ) AECOM Design + Planning Urban SOS in India, Mumbai by Sabrina Kleinenhammans, a graduate at MIT