A celebration of design

World Architecture Festival

- Chantal Sajan

From the reimagining of an old airport terminal in Singapore into a nature-inspired sanctuary to a green embassy in Washington, 2024's World Architecture Festival (WAF) trained the spotlight on the power of design to transform.

The world's biggest architecture festival featuring live judging was held from Nov 6 to 8 at Marina Bay Sands, where emerging practices shared the stage with the biggest names in urban design.

The top five countries on the shortlist were China with 50 firms, the United Kingdom (34), Australia (24), Singapore (20) and India (18).

A shortlist of more than 480 cutting-edge designs from around 350 firms in 71 countries vied for the top awards, which were announced in phases at the end of each day.

On the last day of the three-day festival, winners from the 42 categories competed for four accolades: World Building of the Year, Interior of the Year, Future Project of the Year and Landscape of the Year.

There were also eight Special Prizes that celebrate innovative designs addressing major global issues, such as the Grohe Water Prize and Rockwool Sustainability Prize.

Alongside the live presentations were talks featuring key figures in the built environment sector. A series of fringe events across Singapore also coincided with the festival, allowing delegates more opportunities to learn and share.

The jury panel comprised 153 industry experts from 32 countries such as President's Design Award recipient Kelley Cheng from Singapore, Sanjay Puri from India and Sir Peter Cook from Britain.