Celebrating 10 years of the World Architecture Festival

WAF Awards 2017

Floating student accommodation in Copenhagen, a futuristic pharmacy in Japan and an automotive museum in Los Angeles are among the projects that have been shortlisted for the WAF awards 2017.

This year’s awards programme received more entries than ever before – 924, increasing by 18% from the 2016 awards. The awards shortlist is a truly international collection, extending to include architectural practices from 51 different nations and projects based across 68 countries. All types and sizes of architectural projects are represented on the 434-strong shortlist, ranging from small family homes, to schools, stations, museums, large infrastructure and landscape projects.

The architectural practices behind each project will battle it out in live judging sessions to be held at the World Architecture Festival in Berlin, 15-17 November. Each will be hoping to win their category and go on to compete for the ultimate accolades of World Building of the Year, Future Project of the Year and Landscape of the Year.

Paul Finch, WAF Programme Director, said: ‘This year’s shortlist has a hugely diverse geographic range. The use of water has been striking and there is evidence of real interest in climate modifications using novel techniques. Colourful architecture makes a strong showing and many of the smaller projects we have shortlisted will punch above their weight. We look forward to welcoming shortlisted architects to our tenth edition in Berlin this November.’

A stellar line up of speakers

In addition to the awards, WAF includes a conference programme based around the theme of ‘Performance’. A collection of world-class architects will come together to speak in Berlin including Pierre de Meuron, Alison Brooks, Rafael Viñoly, Henning Larsen and Charles Jencks, and director of art and civic engagement of the Burning Man Festival, Kim Cook. This year’s programme will include speeches, discussions and debates examining the topic of performance from the perspectives of housing, public spaces, festivals, cultural institutions and new technologies.

Opening Keynote: Performance space, time and architecture, Wednesday, 15 November 10:20-11:00

Speakers: Rafael Viñoly, Principal, Rafael Viñoly Architects

Internationally acclaimed architect Rafael Viñoly will examine how the concept of performance –
creating flexible and integrated architecture that fosters and encourages a wide-range of interactions – is applied in the practice’s projects across a variety of building types, including the Tokyo Forum convention centre, the Walkie Talkie office tower in London, and a current project for a temporary mobile performance facility in Berlin.


Programme highlights include:

Keynote – The Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, discussed. Thursday, 16 November, 18:15-19:15

Speakers: Pierre de Meuron, Herzog & de Meuron, Charles Jencks, Co-Founder Maggie’s Care Centres

Pierre de Meuron and Charles Jencks, will give the Festival’s opening keynote talk. After 15 years in the making Hamburg’s greatly anticipated new concert hall
Elbphilharmonie opened earlier this year to much critical acclaim. Architect Pierre de Meuron and cultural theorist Charles Jencks will present the building and Pierre de Meuron will comment on it, reversing the role of critic and architect. Pierre de Meuron: “With the architecture of the Elbphilharmonie, we redefined performance: The people, that is the combination of audience and performers, determine the space; the space seems to consist only of people.”


Performance – Spaces, Wednesday, 15 November, 12:00-12:40

Speakers: Alison Brooks, Creative Director Alison Brooks Architects, Jacob Kurek, Partner Henning Larsen Architects

Alison Brooks will look at performance embedded in the nature of housing and the many roles it plays: as urban form; as a backdrop for public streetscapes; as a sign of neighbourhood identity and a stage for domestic life. Her housing scheme Ely Court was shortlisted for the 2017 Mies van de Rohe Prize. Jacob Kurek has extensive experience in building projects in challenging climates, from deserts in the Middle East to the Faroe Archipelago in the North Atlantic. He will examine what lessons can be learned from coping with extreme weather conditions.


Keynote – Life, spectacle, performance. Friday, 17 November, 17:40-18:40

Speaker: Kim Cook, Director, Art & Civic Engagement, Burning Man Festival

Burning Man is a spectacular annual event in Nevada’s Black Rock desert, where thousands of people gather to create their own‘city’. Programme Director Kim Cook will introduce this ultimate performance event and discuss the temporary structures created in the middle of the Nevada desert, which is home to 70,000 people each year.


Digital Performance – London newly remodelled. Wednesday, 15 November, 16:00-16:40

Speakers: Jason Wagstaff and Gordon Ingram (Wagstaff and Gordon Ingram Architecture)

In a session exploring implications of new technologies on designers and how planning can perform better as a result of accurate city modelling, Jason Wagstaff and Gordon Ingram developed the first fully interactive 3-D model of London and will discuss the possibilities technology will offer architects and planners as a result.

The entire WAF 2017 programme can be downloaded here: