World Architecture Festival announces World Building of the Year 2022
World Building of the Year: Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney, Australia by 3XN in partnership with BVN.
The adaptive reuse diagram for Quay Quarter Tower (QQT), demonstrating the original structure, retained structure and new structure.
World Interior of the Year: Pingtan Primary School by Condition_Lab
Winner of the Inside: Public Buildings category, Te Ao Marama South Atrium by fjmt Studio Jasmax and designTRIBE.
Winner of the Completed Buildings: Religion category, The Chapel of St. Peter by Stevens Lawson Architects.
Landscape of the Year: Preservation and Rehabilitation of Rural Landscape of Gaodang: A Buyi Ethnic Minority Group Village in Southwest China by SHANCUN Atelier School of Architecture Tsinghua University + Anshun Institute of Architectural Design.
Future Project of the Year: Dream Pathway/ The connection between the sports recreation park to a cultural Street by CAATStudio (Kamboozia Architecture and Design Studio).
The winning entry for the Future Project: Infrastructure was designed by a specially-created Architecture Joint Venture (AJV) comprising experts from Warren and Mahoney, BKK and T.C.L, with further Indigenous consultation from Greenaway Architects.
Sydney’s Quay Quarter Tower by 3XN in partnership with BVN has been named the World Building of the Year in the 15th annual World Architecture Festival (WAF), held in Lisbon.
Programme director Paul Finch said the project was an excellent example of adaptive reuse, retaining a huge portion of an existing 50-year-old commercial tower.
“It has an excellent carbon story and it is an example of anticipatory workspace design produced pre-COVID, which nevertheless has provided healthy and attractive space for post-pandemic users,” said Finch.
Philip Oldfield, who reviewed Quay Quarter Tower for Architecture Australia, argued that the building is one of the most important of the 21st century, as a demonstration of how office towers of more than 100 metres tall could be adapted instead of demolished and replaced.
The New Zealand design community celebrated three category winners of our own at this year’s festival. Firstly, the winner of the Completed Buildings: Religion category was The Chapel of St. Peter by Stevens Lawson Architects, a “beautifully composed and rigorous” project. Judges felt “successful collaboration with the client was evident in the subtle reinterpretation of ritual for a modern context.”
New Zealand’s second big winner was from the Inside: Public Buildings category, Te Ao Marama South Atrium, in New Zealand by fjmtstudio, Jasmax and designTRIBE. The judges noted the project’s “respectful and sensitive approach.”
And the third category win was a Warren and Mahoney project in the Future Project: Infrastructure category for their North East Link project which was designed by a joint venture team including WaM, BKK and T.C.L, with further Indigenous consultation from Greenaway Architects.
Stevens Lawson also received a Completed Buildings: Civic and community Highly Commended award for HomeGround/Auckland City Mission.
WAF/Inside World Festival of Interiors is the largest global annual event of architecture and interiors, bringing together members of the international design community in one city to celebrate the most prestigious achievements in architecture and design with the festival and awards ceremony.
The awards culminated in the announcement of World Building of the Year, World Interior of the Year, Future Project of the Year and Landscape of the Year.
See all the category winners here.
See some visual highlights from the festival here.
Julie Wilson of Studio Wilson Lawson will be reporting on her experience of attending the Lisbon WAF Awards and offering an insight into the machinations of a global architecture festival, its value to the industry, its highlights, lowlights and her insights. Her report from WAF will be published shortly here on ArchitectureNow.
