World Building of the Year 2024 awarded to Australian public school design inspired by Aboriginal culture

The World Building of the Year winner has been named as the fjcstudio-designed Darlington Public School in the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, in culmination of this year’s World Architecture Festival in Singapore.

The Sydney-based practice was selected over the other 42 category winners, repeating its win of the World Building of the Year in 2013 to become the WAF’s first-ever repeat recipient of the honor.

The project serves the local community with strong connections to the Aboriginal people whose memory serves as its embodiment. The design importantly upholds the privacy of pupils first and foremost while providing space for a community garden and library, the display of Aboriginal artwork, and incorporation of an outdoor learning area — another critical consideration for K-12 education and children’s health. This results in a well-integrated project that enhances its surroundings with a design that is also beset with passive design elements like an angular sawtooth roof, high-level glazing, and protective sunscreens. 

Alessandro Rossi, an Associate at fjcstudio, said it was "humbling given the modest scale of the building [...] to have won against all the other big projects at WAF is a testament to the client and the community engagement that helped drive the design process."

The WAF's Paul Finch, commented on behalf of the World Building of the Year jury, saying: "The very high quality of several of this year’s finalists, not least the National Star Observatory in Cyprus, but the jury’s unanimous decision was reached relatively easily. The architect of the winning project explored and extended the formal program of the client, to include the views and experience of the local community and a variety of users."

"This generated a reading of the history of place, culture and time," his statement continued. "The result of the project is poetic, a building in which topography and landscape, inside and outside, form and materials, flow seamlessly in an unexpectedly delightful way. It is also an inspirational proposition about the acknowledgement and reconciliation of historic difference — a pointer to brighter, better futures for all."

Be sure to check back for the the announcement of the World Interior of the Year award winner later today.