World Architecture Awards 10+5+X Submissions

The $2,500 Vernacular Home is a sustainable house designed in Para Dash, the bamboo village of Modonpur, Bangladesh. Built with a budget under $2,500, including labor and materials, it uses only local resources: mud, straw, bamboo, bricks, and tin sheets. The home accommodates a family of four, consisting of parents and their son and his wife. To address Bangladesh's hot climate and long monsoon season, the design uses a raised veranda, steeply pitched roofs for rain runoff, and a layout that ensures every room catches the breeze. Varying window heights on windward and leeward sides enhance ventilation. Clay pots from a nearby village are embedded in the tea house façade to cool the air through airflow compression. The house includes two bedrooms, a kitchen, a toilet, cow sheds, and a future child's room. A weaving area for the daughter-in-law sits on the upper-level balcony, allowing her to stay connected to the family while working. The parents' tea house and shop are placed along the village road for accessibility and courtyard privacy. Due to limited electricity, 'liter bottles of light' are used on the roof to brighten interiors. Rooted in local knowledge, the design reflects true vernacular sustainability.
This design comes from the social responsibility of architects. In today's world of rapid technological advancement, there are still regions plagued by poverty and underdevelopment. People living in these areas are more directly exposed to the challenges of the natural climate, yet they deserve the right to live a better quality of life. As architects, we should not only consider how to adapt our designs to local conditions, making use of available materials and creating housing that is practical and scalable, but also respond to the most immediate needs of these communities, ensuring that every family has the opportunity to improve their living environment.

Tin sheet: 2' width * 8' length
Brick: 9 5/8" length* 4 5/8" height * 3" depth
Pottery: large opening is 5" R, and the small side opening is 1.5" R
The mud wall is 10" thick
Bamboo: 1.5" R
Designer - Xinyun Li

Aero Grove is a public cultural center situated on a green space in Boston. The site serves as a vital social hub where students, faculty, and residents gather for reading, conversation, and leisure. The design explores how a large-scale structure can humbly integrate into the urban fabric. It respects this civic value, aiming to preserve the openness of the landscape while introducing new cultural and educational functions.
The building includes exhibition spaces, as well as two immersive, interactive experience rooms that promote public engagement. Above these, open platforms offer areas for dialogue, experimentation, and hands-on learning. Inspired by informal public movement, the architecture embraces flowing curves and varied elevations to reflect the natural rhythm of the site.
Two offset circular volumes define the form, punctuated by openings that connect the courtyard with the city. Landscape seating extends outward, supporting various uses. Three large voids create semi-enclosed ‘gray spaces,’ while a spacious courtyard with shaded and open lawns restores the feeling of a public field.
A gently undulating roof softens the massing, while a transparent glass envelope wraps around structural columns, abstracting and amplifying their forms for a sense of novelty. The immersive rooms are enclosed in layered façades that host daylight patterns, expressing the passage of time.
The building humbly integrates into the urban fabric and the rhythms of everyday life. Ramps on either side of the courtyard guide visitors to the rooftop, where the undulating roofline becomes a vertical expression of freedom. It offers a variety of perspectives, from city views to intimate courtyard moments, expanding spatial experience across multiple dimensions.


GFRC: thickness transfers from 0.5m to 1.7m
Ultra Clear Laminated Low-E Glass
Travertine Tile
Marble Tile
Pebble pavement
Designer - Xinyun Li

BloomLine is a multi-functional urban installation designed for the laneway between 126 and 132 Osborne Street in Winnipeg/Canada, transforming a transitional pedestrian path into a vibrant, interactive community corridor.

Site Description

Community Patio is a pedestrian laneway between 126 and 132 Osborne Street, in the heart of Osborne Village. The site connects the east sidewalk of Osborne’s storefront strip to the back lane. There are no bollards or physical barriers between the pedestrian-only laneway and the back lane, which remains open to vehicular traffic. The neighbouring buildings provide a cozy sense of enclosure. This site has hosted past installations, which transformed the space with painted murals, picnic benches, string lights, and sculpture. The lane is a frequent thruway for people visiting the shops, restaurants, and nightlife of Osborne Village, at all hours of the day/night!

Inspired by the rhythm of nature and the expressive energy of human connection, the design features:

Segmented Vertical Gardens with integrated digital art panels for showcasing local youth art and digital expression.

A Single Continuous Curved Wall forming a public seating zone, equipped with overhead green planters and ambient lighting.

Interactive nodes where visitors can rest, work, socialize or reflect — day or night.

This project aims to create:

A safe and inclusive urban pocket,

A platform for emerging artists,

A climate-responsive micro-habitat, and

A new definition of what a laneway can mean to a neighbourhood.

Design Features:

Modular curved wooden wall panels

Embedded digital art frames

Sustainable green roofing (planters irrigation)

Low-energy LED lighting system

Universally accessible seating

Public art integration (rotating exhibits)

Philosophy:
“Streets are not just for passage — they are for presence.”
BloomLine reimagines the laneway as a living artery of community.

Project Type: Public Space / Urban Gateway Design
Location: 126–132 Osborne Street, Winnipeg, Canada
Project Area: 3.5 cm height, 5.33 mwide x 18.8 meters long
Design Theme: Nature Art Community Microclimate
Selim Senin
Bilgehan Kucukkuzucu
Hilal Er

This project proposes an affordable housing prototype in Denver that addresses urban challenges through a single-stair layout, modular units, shared spaces, and integrated sustainable technologies. It responds to two key housing issues: families are pushed to northern areas due to high rents and a lack of child-friendly outdoor spaces, while younger groups prefer proximity to schools, transit, and cultural hubs near Capitol Hill. Positioned between these areas, the site becomes a strategic bridge, offering affordable housing that serves diverse demographics.

A key innovation is the redefinition of the kitchen. Instead of individual in-unit kitchens, the project introduces shared rooftop kitchens—designed as “introvert” and “extrovert” zones—promoting community interaction, reducing redundant appliances and infrastructure, and maximizing usable interior space. This strategy not only enhances sociability and flexibility but also lowers embodied energy and upfront construction costs.

Sustainability is at the core of the design, driven by Denver’s semi-arid climate and growing environmental concerns. The project integrates rooftop rainwater harvesting for irrigation and cleaning, and a dual-pipe greywater system that recycles wastewater from sinks and showers for toilet use and landscape maintenance, dramatically reducing potable water demand.

The single-stair layout minimizes circulation space, allowing each floor to incorporate shared hubs for social interaction and natural ventilation. In contrast to traditional double-loaded corridors, this approach enhances air flow, daylight access, and spatial efficiency. Operable windows, cross ventilation, and passive shading through adjustable louvers reduce dependency on mechanical systems, supporting a low-energy footprint.

The building structure uses mass timber, a renewable resource with a significantly lower carbon footprint than steel or concrete. Timber construction enables faster assembly, lower waste, and a warm, biophilic interior environment. Solar panels integrated into the rooftop shading devices generate clean energy while providing comfortable, shaded rooftop terraces. A kitchen heat recovery system redirects excess heat to melt rooftop snow during winter, improving thermal performance and safety.

At ground level, gardens, e-bike parking, and public-facing amenities connect the building to the urban fabric and promote green mobility. These horizontal community spaces, together with the vertical stacking of shared hubs, form a “vertical village” that fosters neighborly interaction and collective stewardship of resources.

By combining spatial innovation, modular efficiency, and climate-responsive design, this project offers a replicable model of sustainable, affordable housing. It not only minimizes environmental impact but also nurtures social resilience—redefining how low-income urban housing can be designed to promote equity, ecology, and engagement.

Location: Denver, Colorado
Typology: Affordable Housing
Total GFA (Gross Floor Area): Approx. 18,000–20,000 sq ft (estimate based on floor count and unit types)
Number of Floors: 6
Housing Units:
Studio: Work-Living
1B1B: Single Family
2B1B: Family Unit
2B2B: Shared Family or Rental Unit
Total Unit Area Range: 39.83 – 113.02 sq ft (Room-by-room); 371.80 sq ft (Unit size)

Structural System
Primary Structure: Mass timber frame system
Floor Slabs: Cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels
Facade: Modular panels with integrated balconies and shading louvers
Lateral Stability: Shear walls incorporated within stair core and unit partitions

Circulation & Layout
Vertical Circulation: Single-stair layout (code-compliant for small-scale multifamily)
Fire Escape: External balconies on north and south sides
Horizontal Shared Spaces: Collective kitchen, gardens, and activity zones on ground floor
Vertical Shared Hubs: Community lounges, shared kitchens on each floor

Sustainability Features
Water Management:
Rooftop rainwater harvesting system
Dual-pipe wastewater system (greywater for irrigation and toilet reuse)

Energy:
Rooftop solar panels
Integrated shading devices with photovoltaic cells
Kitchen heat recovery system for rooftop snow melting

Climate Strategy:
Cross and stack ventilation through unit and building layout
Extra-patio ventilation system for summer/winter performance
Natural daylighting via large window openings and balconies

Materials:
Mass timber (structure)
Recycled and locally sourced materials for facade and finishes

Community & Shared Amenities
Ground Floor: Leasing office, study room, laundry room, e-bike parking, outdoor garden
Rooftop: Introvert & extrovert collective kitchens, community farming
Shared Living: Room for social events, cooking, cleaning, and cultural exchange
Ming Chen, Xiaochi Chen, Ying Chen

This is a cafe located within the grounds of the Nomi Shrine in Takatsuki City, Osaka, Japan.

We aimed to create a new lively public space that connects a historic shrine and a new theater, where anyone can feel free to drop by.

Our goal was to design an architecture that does not make people conscious of the boundaries between these elements, that harmonizes with the existing landscape, and yet maintains its own distinct character.

In planning the new cafe within the shrine grounds, our primary consideration was to respect the existing buildings of the shrine and the new theater, and to connect the history and design of both structures.

To achieve this, we ensured the cafe’s height was kept below the eaves of the existing shrine’s office building to avoid disrupting the existing scenery.

The symmetrical plan with extended eaves also echoes the design of the shrine’s torii gate.

Additionally, by positioning the cafe’s front facade to face the boundary of the theater’s plaza, we aimed to blur its boundary and create a welcoming space where visitors to both areas could freely drop by without being conscious of the boundary.

We also included benches around the building’s perimeter, allowing people who are not cafe patrons to gather as well.

To ensure the café is easily accessible to everyone, we used large glass panes to enhance visibility, creating a bright and wholesome design.

The extended eaves soften harsh sunlight, providing a comfortable indoor environment, and provide shelter on rainy days.

For the entrance door handle, which serves as people’s first and last point of contact, as well as the counters and benches that people touch directly, we used solid wood to create a cozy space that leaves a lasting impression of warmth.

From equipping each seat is with a hook for bags, to providing a luggage shelf near the cash register, the small space enabled us to incorporate meticulous design details that reflect the connection between the old and the new, while also considering functionality to make the cafe inclusive for everyone.

The client was Nomi Shrine in Takatsuki City, Osaka, and we were commissioned to design a new cafe on the boundary between the shrine’s grounds and the site of Takatsuki City’s new theater.

Due to code regulations, the total floor area of the existing shrine and the new construction had to be kept within 500 square meters, limiting the cafe’s total floor area to 18 square meters.

To achieve a sense of openness despite the small space, we employed a mixed structure of reinforced concrete and wood, with the load-bearing reinforced concrete walls allowing for glass facades on three sides.

This design not only creates an expansive feel within the cafe but also serves to connect the architectural contexts of both existing structures.
Design: Horibe Associates architect's office
Structural design: Syunya Takahashi tectonic studio
Construction: Kosaka Construstion Company