World Architecture Awards 10+5+X Submissions

Long Plaza is a mixed-use commercial complex designed to provide a vibrant hub for retail, services, banking, and leisure activities. The building is located in Kigali and is envisioned as a contemporary architectural landmark that combines modern retail typologies with open-air terraces and social spaces.


The project’s architectural approach emphasizes transparency, accessibility, and spatial layering, while creating a strong street presence that invites both pedestrians and vehicles.



1. Functional Program & Spatial Distribution
The building is organized into a clear vertical hierarchy across multiple levels:


Ground Floor (G):


Main entrance lobby and direct street access.
Retail units including pharmacy, convenience shops, and brand showrooms.
Multiple entrances for pedestrian flow and customer accessibility.
First Floor (1):


Retail and commercial services, including fitness/wellness functions.
Direct connection with restaurants and informal dining areas.
Open floor plan allows flexible tenant subdivision.
Second Floor (2):


Professional services such as dental clinic and additional food outlets.
Balanced integration of healthcare and leisure to maximize public attraction.
Third Floor (3):


Dedicated to restaurants and dining facilities.
Large terraces extending outward to create semi-open dining experiences.
Strategic use of double-height spaces to maximize daylight and outdoor views.

2. Circulation and Accessibility
Vertical circulation is achieved through strategically placed staircases and service cores, highlighted in the exploded axonometric diagram.
The building’s circulation emphasizes direct flow from ground entrances upward to terraces, encouraging a natural transition from commercial to social spaces.
Multiple entrance points at ground level ensure permeability from different directions, enhancing urban integration.

3. Architectural Language & Materiality
Façade Strategy:


Extensive use of glass curtain walls provides natural light penetration and visual transparency, strengthening the building’s retail character.
Projecting terraces with wooden soffits create a warm, tactile contrast to the glass façade, offering both shading and human scale.
Structural Expression:


Exposed inclined steel columns emphasize dynamism and architectural identity while structurally supporting cantilevered terraces.
Material Palette:


Combination of glass, steel, and wood finishes ensures a balance between modernity and natural warmth.
The linear wooden cladding under the terraces adds rhythm and depth to the elevation.

4. User Experience & Public Realm
Outdoor dining terraces establish a vibrant social character, maximizing Kigali’s favorable climate.
Retail variety (banks, branded shops, barbers, pharmacy) creates an everyday-use hub for the community.
The plaza frontage is activated with signage, landscaping, and parking spaces, enhancing accessibility for customers arriving by car.

5. Sustainability Considerations
Deep cantilevered terraces provide passive shading, reducing solar gain on glazed façades.
Natural cross-ventilation opportunities are integrated through terrace openings and façade modulation.
Efficient floorplates allow adaptive re-use of commercial spaces in response to changing tenant needs.

6. Conclusion
Long Plaza is designed as a modern commercial plaza that blends retail, healthcare, banking, and dining into a coherent architectural statement. Its layered terraces, transparent façades, and warm materiality establish it as a recognizable landmark. Beyond its commercial function, the project offers a lifestyle destination, fostering social interaction, leisure, and economic activity in Kigali.

Basement G 3 floors
Selim Senin
Isinsu Sopaoglu

Nestled in the heart of Seoul's historic Jongno-gu District, the Relics Exhibition Museum is a testament to the city's rich cultural heritage. Located within a historical preservation area that was once part of the esteemed Gyeonghui Palace during the Chosun Dynasty, this unique site holds fragments of the past waiting to be unearthed. With a vision to preserve the historical context while meeting the owner's requirements, the building seeks to provide a space for culture and education, weaving the threads of history into the fabric of modern Seoul.

The development of the Gyeonghui-Dang was not without its challenges. The site's sloped terrain presented an obstacle, compounded by a strict aboveground-level development guideline capped at a FAR (Floor Area Ratio) of 200 percent. To maximize rentable areas while maintaining the site's historical integrity, the design devised an innovative solution. By setting the average ground-level elevation at the middle of the slope and establishing the abutting road level as B2, that managed to increase the FAR by over 80 percent. This approach not only optimized space utilization but also allowed for the creation of an inviting retail shopping environment, as the lower two floors were carved out.

Connecting four levels of retail spaces above the street level required a careful and efficient design. The outdoor stairs link the road to the top retail space adjacent to the Seonggok Art Museum. The long and narrow shape of the site posed another challenge, but it led to the ingenious vertical stacking of four floors of retail spaces along with a public staircase that penetrated the building. This design strategy, reminiscent of Rome's open-air Spanish Steps, provided visitors with a captivating three-dimensional linear pathway. Street experiences and events effortlessly flow into the building, facilitated by connecting gardens and retail areas.

The design concept revolves around creating a journey of street experiences, guiding visitors from street level to the rooftop. As they ascend the building, they are treated to breathtaking views of the nearby Gyeonghui Palace, enhancing their connection with the historical context. The newly established step, serving as a designated rest area for the neighborhood, is envisioned to attract numerous visitors to the site. Upon reaching the rooftop, visitors encounter a pocket garden and a plaza-like space, offering a serene and refreshing environment.

The building doesn't solely cater to visitors but also provides functional spaces for office users. Five floors of office space are seamlessly juxtaposed, featuring a separate circulation system to ensure a smooth flow of occupants. Roof gardens and terrace spaces were incorporated, offering office users a place to unwind and appreciate the surrounding views.
To honor the site's historical significance and blend harmoniously with the surroundings, reused bricks imported from China was chosen to clad the building exterior. This design choice pays homage to traditional building materials and enhances the building's timeless appeal, seamlessly integrating it into the historical city center.

Gyeonghui-Dang stands as a beacon of historical preservation and cultural enrichment in Seoul's bustling Jongno-gu District. With its innovative design, the building preserves the remnants of the past while providing a dynamic space for culture, education, and commerce. By seamlessly integrating history and modernity, the building serves as a testament to the enduring significance of Seoul's cultural heritage. As visitors and tenants are journey through its three-dimensional linear pathway, they embark on a captivating exploration of history, art, and architecture, connecting the past with the present in a harmonious dance of design and culture.

Client: Sungmoon Lee, Sungil Co.
Construction: Tracon E&C
Site area: 20,763.58 ft2 (1,929 m2)
Building footprint area: 12,094.33 ft2 (1,123.60 m2)
Total floor area: 93,678.31 ft2 (8,703 m2)
Design Architect: YKH Associates
Executive Architect: Ghowoo Architectural Design Group
Lead architect: Taesun Hong
Design team: Seungkwan Yang, Daejung Sang, Heewon Kim, Dongjae Kim, Jongwoon Kim, Chang Geun Jeong, Songhyun Cho, Yeongmuk Bak, Jaemin Kim, Motbi Choi, Chaewan Kim

The project aims to create a spatial response to the rising addiction rates among adolescents in Alsancak, a district increasingly associated with entertainment, substance use, and social detachment. Once a vibrant residential and cultural hub, Alsancak has gradually lost its historical identity due to rapid urban transformation, commercial overdevelopment, and gentrification.
This design reclaims the site as a place of healing, awareness, and reintegration by proposing a restorative architectural language. The spatial strategy is centered on controlled socialization, achieved through layered courtyards, interactive awareness zones, and transparent yet defined borders. A gradual spatial progression—from solitude to connection—is emphasized through a therapeutic sequence including private counseling rooms, sensory meditation areas, art therapy studios, and shared green gardens.
Nature becomes an integral element of the healing process. Green corridors, edible gardens, and a tree-lined walking ramp promote both physical activity and mental recovery. The ramps are interspersed with semi-open terraces, allowing users to pause, reflect, and engage with nature. Sloped roof forms symbolize elevation and renewal, while permeable facades allow users to define their boundaries and rhythm of interaction.
The center serves not only as a haven for individual recovery but also as a public interface for awareness campaigns, social dialogue, and inclusive education. Ultimately, the project reflects the belief that architecture can shape behavior, foster resilience, and offer spatial justice in a rapidly transforming urban landscape.

The Project is organized around a central courtyard that functions as a transitional and communal space, connecting private therapy zones with public awareness areas. A continuous ramp gently weaves through the site, offering not only physical movement but also a therapeutic journey that mirrors the user’s mental progression. Along the ramp, resting terraces are integrated to create moments of pause, reflection, and interaction with nature.
The building is distributed across multiple levels. Private counseling and meditation rooms are placed on the upper floors to ensure seclusion and serenity, while public functions, such as exhibitions, seminars and a café are located at ground level to encourage accessibility and community engagement.
Roof forms slope upward toward the outer edges, symbolizing hope and psychological uplift, while permeable glass facades facing the courtyard open up fully to allow natural ventilation and spatial fluidity.
Natural materials such as timber, stone, and vegetated surfaces enhance the sensory experience and promote emotional grounding. Green pockets, planting areas, and a tree-lined path strengthen the bond between users and the environment.
The center is designed to be inclusive, barrier-free, and flexible. Workshops and display zones support user participation and economic sustainability through self-expression and production. The spatial layers reflect a gradual transition from isolation to social reintegration, both architecturally and emotionally.
Doğa BOZDOĞAN (Designer)
Prof. Dr. Rengin ZENGEL (Instructor)

Our goal is to transform a currently abandoned building in Mersin, originally designed by Cengiz Bektaş.
The design approach focuses on global crises and envisions a dystopian future scenario. With its iconic presence, the structure stands as the eye of Mersin—its only skyscraper of this scale—visible from everywhere, watching over everything.

In a future shaped by climate crisis and drought, this building remains the last structure standing—a vessel for life.
The skyscraper functions like an energy system: the tower produces and channels energy down to the base, where life is sustained.
At its peak lies a communication hub, while the upper levels function as an industrial system, hosting a minimal number of residents and maintaining energy, water, clean air, and production cycles.

In this building, everything matters—every product, space, and object. Therefore, production and recycling are at the core of the system.
Production begins at the micro scale within the tower and expands toward the base, reaching a macro scale, eventually extending throughout the city via designed capsules. These capsules are envisioned to regenerate urban life.

The building merges its historical identity (Mertim) with its new purpose (Dirim, meaning “life”), and is renamed: MERDİRİM.
Its vision is not limited to Mersin: the aim is to establish self-sufficient structures in various locations that remain in constant communication with each other.
Governance is provided through collective management—there is no hierarchy, no fixed staff.

Concept video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfhOlN8uvco

WATER SYSTEM
Water is collected at the top of the tower, where filtration begins.
Pipes distribute the water and separate clean and wastewater.
The water tank is located below ground level.

ENERGY
Energy is a vital necessity for this building.
Therefore, wind, solar, and biogas systems are used.
Solar energy is generated on the façade, wind turbines are placed on the roof, and biogas is utilized within the building.

CLEAN AIR
Since outdoor air is not suitable for direct breathing, façade openings filter the air—as shown in the sections—and allow it to circulate indoors.

İsmihan KOYUNCU (Designer)
Prof. Dr. Yenal AKGÜN (Instructor)
Prof. Dr. Gül Deniz DOKGÖZ (Instructor)
Prof. Dr. İlknur TÜRKSEVEN DOĞRUSOY (Lecturer)

The accelerating pace of urbanization on a global scale brings with it numerous physical, social, and environmental challenges. Chief among these is the uncontrolled expansion of cities, known as urban sprawl. Urban sprawl poses a serious threat to sustainable urbanization through its negative consequences, such as unplanned growth, the loss of agricultural and forest lands, inadequate infrastructure, and increasing carbon emissions. At the same time, the effects of climate change—particularly rising temperatures and extreme weather events—directly impact the quality of urban life. In this context, traditional surface-based urban development is being questioned, and alternative spatial strategies are coming to the forefront. The underground urban settlement model is considered a sustainable solution in response to both urban sprawl and the climate crisis.
Underground urbanization offers a valuable alternative in terms of preserving ecological resources, resolving transportation problems, and reducing carbon emissions. Smart use of underground space can support ecosystems by protecting natural areas, enhance city accessibility through sustainable transportation models, and minimize the carbon footprint by creating energy-efficient living environments. In doing so, a holistic approach can be developed that provides long-term environmental and economic solutions to current urbanization problems.
The use of underground spaces provides significant advantages for environmental sustainability and resource management. Thanks to their natural insulation properties, underground facilities are inherently energy-efficient. The insulation provided by the earth prevents internal temperatures from being affected by external weather conditions, reducing the need for heating and cooling, and thus lowering energy consumption compared to surface structures.
The objective here is not only to produce, but also to reorganize life itself through production. While each unit can function as an independent living module, the entire system working in harmony realizes the concept of a self-sufficient neighborhood.
This project proposes an alternative underground living model developed in response to urban sprawl, climate change, and the depletion of natural resources. The settlement is based on a self-sufficient neighborhood system, structured through layered and modular zones including housing, agriculture, technical infrastructure, and social spaces. Water resources are managed cyclically through greywater recycling, rainwater harvesting, and MBR systems supported by natural biofilters. Energy needs are met by a hybrid system of surface-installed solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, and biogas derived from organic waste. Year-round food production is ensured through soilless vertical farming, hydroponic irrigation, and energy-efficient LED lighting. Virtual ceilings, LED-enhanced green simulations, and communal gathering areas provide an open-air experience even underground. All systems are managed via IoT-based monitoring, AI-powered data analysis, and blockchain-enabled resource sharing—forming a digitally autonomous urban model that prioritizes ecological balance and resilience.


Project Location: Sarnıç/ İzmir / Türkiye
Population Capacity: ~300 people
Energy Sources: Solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, biogas from organic waste
Water Management: Rainwater harvesting, greywater recycling, MBR biofiltration
Urban Farming: Hydroponic system, LED-assisted vertical farming
Circulation: Central mechanical core
Digital Infrastructure: IoT-based resource control
Structural system: Steel
Area: 10.000-50.000 m2(The area can change depending on time and conditions)
Construction: 20-25 years (designed process)
Designer: Beyza Kaya
Instructor: Doç. Dr. Ülkü İnceköse, Doç. Dr. Ebru Yılmaz