World Architecture Festival 2018 Day One winners announced

Now in its 11th edition, the World Architecture Festival kicked off this morning in Amsterdam announcing its day one winners. The yearly awards program, which attracts architects from all four corners of the Earth, received more entries this year than ever before with a total of 1,000 submissions. Previously narrowed to a shortlist of 535 selected projects, judges selected a host of winners across a range of completed building categories as well as future projects.

Among today's winners were Thomas Heatherwick, for his highly lauded conversion of a disused grain silo in South Africa; Bjarke Ingels, for his yet to be completed Swiss Hotel with a roof you can ski down; and Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, for their reinvented mansion block in South London as well as their future bereavement counseling center for Alder Hey children's hospital. Have a look at these projects along with other day one winners below.

Civic - Future Projects Winner: BAAD Studio - The Sunken Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes of Cabetican, Bacolor, Philippines

The designs were commended by judges for conserving the existing structure of the ruined shrine, which was buried in ash following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, deeming it a “serious solution, rooted in an ecological response, to the problems of flooding and landslides caused by the eruption.”

Competition Entries - Future Projects Winner: Nextoffice - Sadra Civic Center, Sadra, Iran

The festival’s judges found this scheme to be a rich, sensitive solution to a pressing urban challenge, which draws on historical sources in building and planning to create a viable urban nucleus for a new town.

Experimental - Future Projects Winner: KANVA - Imago, Montreal, Canada

The judges commented that the series of inflatable, mobile biomorphic structures offers the chance for behavioral change and embodies innovation at its core. It can also be as a paradigm elsewhere.”

Infrastructure - Future Projects Winner: Monk Mackenzie + Novare — Thiruvalluvar, Kanyakumari, India

The designs for a 500 metre long pedestrian bridge located at the southern-most tip of India was commended by judges as “a simple and elegant response to a complex problem.”

Health - Future Projects Winner: Allford Hall Monaghan Morris - The Alder Centre, Liverpool, United Kingdom

The bereavement center is unique within the UK National Health Service and internationally; providing bereavement counseling for families who have had a child pass away as well as a national telephone helpline and general counseling for hospital staff. Judges commented that “technical and emotional aspects of the design are integrated into delicately balanced architecture.”

Leisure Led Development - Future Projects Winner: BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group - Audemars Piguet Hôtel des Horlogers, Le Brassus, Switzerland

The Danish practice was commended for how the designs “seamlessly resolved the connection between the existing factory and its sloping site.”

Office - Future Projects Winner: 3XN Architects - Olympic House - International Olympic Committee HQ, Lausanne, Switzerland

Designed as the future headquarters of the International Olympic Committee, judges commended the architects for their “strong and subtle response” to the client’s brief, and felt it was a “very sophisticated design that was very well resolved.

Civic & Community - Completed Buildings Winner: CHROFI with McGregor Coxall - Maitland Riverlink, Maitland, Australia

The project included the creation of a new public space between the town’s high street and river, flanked by public amenities, with judges impressed by the clarity and simplicity of the architects designs in opening up the town to the river by removing existing buildings. 

Culture - Completed Buildings Winner: Conrad Gargett - The Piano Mill, Stanthorpe, Australia

The building’s shape and construction excited the judges, who felt it was perfect for its location, viewing it “prime instrument in an orchestra of trees.”

House - Completed Buildings Winner: David Leech Architects - A house in a garden - 81 Hollybrook Grove, Dublin, Ireland

The practice’s first project was commended as an “extremely precisely thought, conceptualized, and executed exercise in layers of detail.”

Small Scale Housing - Completed Buildings Winner: Allford Hall Monaghan Morris - Weston Street, London, United Kingdom

The judges felt it constituted a “radical reimagination of the standard, single-storey cellular residential model, offering a multi-level, volumetric multi-dwelling typology.”

Sport - Completed Buildings Winner: Koffi & Diabaté Architectes - Gymansium, Blaise Pascal High School, Abidjan, Ivory Coast

The festival’s judges recognized it as “an Press Release 28 Nov 2018 exemplary, ethical and beautifully realized project, perfectly balancing tectonic and environmental design with astonishingly mature spatial and formal control.”

New and Old - Completed Buildings Winner: Heatherwick Studio - Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa

The inventive, creative and intriguing reuse of industrial grain silos wowed the judges, with the building’s new entrance lobby lauded as a “unique and evocative space.”

Display - Completed Buildings Winner: Arkitema Architects and Professor Christoffer Harlang - Hammershus Visitor Centre, Allinge, Denmark

Celebrating the largest castle ruin in Northern Europe, located on the tiny Baltic island of Bornholm, the centre’s designs were hailed by judges as a real “Gesamtkunstwerk – a total complete project.”

Office - Completed Buildings Winner: INNOCAD Architecture - C&P Corporate Headquarters, Graz, Austria

Judges were impressed by the intricate and adaptive design of the real estate developer’s new landmark headquarters, and also praised the building’s open floorplates and smart common areas. 

Production, Energy & Recycling - Completed Buildings Winner: Parviainen Architects - Länsisalmi Power Station, Vantaa, Finland

Judges commented that “the consideration exhibited in the composition extended through the architect’s choice of materials and details, which is rare in this building typology.”