1 December 2023 | Marina Bay Sands, SINGAPORE.
Awards have been announced at the 2023 World Architecture Festival (WAF), the annual international architectural event organised by EMAP.
Landscape of the Year went to Benjakitti Forest Park: Transforming a Brownfield into an Urban Ecological Sanctuary by TURENSCAPE, Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect in Thailand. The project transforms a former tobacco factory into downtown Bangkok’s largest public recreational space.
The World Building of the Year was awarded to Huizhen High School by Approach Design Studio/Zhejiang University of Technology Engineering Design Group in China. It explores an ‘efficiency first’ campus design and features a ‘floating forest’ with classrooms hung in each corner of the forest and joined by meandering paths.
The World Interior of the Year was awarded to 19 Waterloo Street by SJB in Australia. Situated in a narrow strip of land adjacent to the road, judges described this small multi-storey house as ‘like a wardrobe for the architect himself to live in’.
Future Project of the Year went to The Probiotic Tower by Design and More International in Egypt. The project proposes to repurpose obsolete water towers to address climate change. It features a large algae bioreactor tank to absorb CO2, a bamboo plantation, facade algae panels, reed beds for treating wastewater, and photovoltaic panels.
The Drawing Prizes were as follows: for the hand-drawn category, Grundtvig by Ben Johnson; for the digital category, The Archatographic Map of the Incomplete Landscape on Pedra Branca by Eugene Tan; for the Hybrid Category, (Re)membering the See Monster by Eldry John Infante.
The WAFX Prize for the best use of design and architecture to address world issues was awarded to Rethinking Oil Rigs – Offshore Data Centres by Arup in the United Kingdom. The project rethinks oil rig structures as data centres giving them a new function in the fast-expanding circular economy.
Photo of Benjakitti Forest Park by TURENSCAPE, Arsomsilp Community and Environmental Architect © Turenscape & Arsomsilp Community. World Architecture Festival
