OMA/Ole Scheeren's The Interlace wins World Building of the Year 2015

In the blink of an eye, the World Architecture Festival had another successful year in Singapore. Since the 2015 festival kicked off this past Wednesday, 2,000 architects from around the globe gathered at Marina Bay Sands to witness more than 300 finalist teams give presentations to the super jury for a chance to win.

After the Day 1 and Day 2 category winners faced off in one last round of presentations, OMA/Ole Scheeren's The Interlace scooped up World Building of the Year 2015 and BIG won Future Project of the Year with the Vancouver House. Other top-winning titles include Landscape of the Year, the Small Project Prize, and AkzoNobel's Prize for Colour in Exterior Architecture. The big announcements took place during a gala dinner at Marina Bay Sands. 2015 is the last time WAF will take place in Singapore. The festival will make its way back to Europe in Berlin for 2016.

Check out the winning projects right below.

World Building of the Year: The Interlace in Singapore by OMA + Buro Ole Scheeren

"The Interlace is one of the most ambitious residential developments in Singapore's history, generating an intricate network of living and social spaces intertwined with the natural environment. Instead of following the default typology of housing in the region — clusters of isolated towers — the vertical is turned horizontal, with 31 apartment blocks, each six stories tall and 70 meters long. Stacked in hexagonal arrangements around eight large-scale open permeable courtyards, the scheme creates a network of internal and external environments that create a multitude of shared and private outdoor spaces on multiple levels."

Praising the project, World Architecture Festival Director Paul Finch stated: ‘The Interlace is blazing a trail with an example of bold, contemporary architectural thinking. The project presents an alternative way of thinking about developments which might otherwise become generic tower clusters’.

Future Project of the Year: Vancouver House by BIG

"The [Vancouver House] negotiates a difficult site trisected by an overpass, with BIG’s response optimising the conditions for its future inhabitants — in the air as well as on the street. As a result, it creates desirable spaces for living at its top, while freeing up a generous public space at its base. The silhouette of Vancouver House resembles a curtain being drawn aside, welcoming people as they enter the city."

Small Project Prize: Lidingövallen in Sweden by DinellJohansson

"Lidingövallen is a Swedish football stadium in minature, designed by DinellJohansson. The project was praised for its imaginative response and the big impact possible with a small project, the judges called it ‘a heroic result’."

Landscape of the Year: Yanweizhou Park in China by Turenscape International

"Yanweizhou Park showcases a replicable and resilient ecological solution to large-scale flood management. Sitting at the mouth of three rivers, each over 100 metres wide, the Yanweizhou project uses groundbreaking strategy to create a water-resilient terraced river embankment that is covered with flood adapted native vegetation. The park’s pedestrian paths and pavilions are integrated with the planting terraces, which adapt to seasonal flooding."

AkzoNobel's Prize for Colour in Exterior Architecture: ONS INCEK Showroom & Sales Office in Turkey by Yazgan Design Architecture

"The project that was awarded the Colour Prize, in association with AkzoNobel, is the ONS Incek showroom and sales office, Turkey, by Yazgan Design Architecture. Recognised as the best use of colour across the year’s 338 shortlisted entries, the judges felt that the use of colour contributed to a strong piece of architecture that saw form and colour integrate seamlessly."