A research centre in Riyadh, guests houses on stilts in rural China and a mosque without a minaret in Iran are among the projects shortlisted in the World Architecture Festival (WAF) and INSIDE World Festival of Interiors Awards 2018 – the world’s biggest architectural awards programme.
With just three weeks to go, WAF will reconvene for its eleventh edition in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from 28-30 November this year. This is the first time the event has been hosted in the Dutch capital, following previous editions in Barcelona, Singapore and Berlin.
The 2018 awards programme received more than 1,000 entries for the first time, with numbers up 20 per cent compared with 2017. Architects and designers generated 500 plus shortlisted entries across 81 countries.
All types and sizes of architectural projects are represented on the shortlist, ranging from private residential, to education, infrastructure, healthcare, hospitality, cultural/civic, interior and landscape projects.
The architects and designers behind each shortlisted project will compete for category prizes at WAF from 28-30 November. They will present to international juries in front of festival delegates. Category winners then compete against each other on the final day of the festival, to compete for the ultimate accolades of World Building of the Year, Future Project of the Year, Interior of the Year and Landscape of the Year.
Major world architects shortlisted include Zaha Hadid Architects, OMA, Foster & Partners, BIG, Neri & Hu, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Turenscape, Nikken Sekkei, Rafael Vinoly Architects, Grimshaw, Tabanlioglu Architects, Heatherwick Studio and FJMT. Many smaller practices will also take part to pitch against the big names.
Presentations of the shortlisted designs will be made to more than 100 international judges. The 2018 completed buildings ‘Super Jury’ which will decide the World Building of the Year, will be chaired by Nathalie de Vries, Director & Co-founder of Dutch practice MVRDV; panellists include Sir David Adjaye of Adjaye Associates; Manuelle Gautrand, Principal, Manuelle Gautrand Architecture; and Li Xiaodong, Founder, Li Xiaodong Atelier.
WAF and its co-located event, INSIDE World Festival of Interiors, will welcome more than 2,000 of the world’s leading architects and designers to Amsterdam for three days of conference programmes, awards, exhibitions and fringe events from 28-30 November.