The Landscape of the Year 2021 was awarded to SLA Architects for their project Al Fay Park in Abu Dhabi in the UAE at this year's World Architecture Festival which was held virtual from 1 to 3 December, 2021. 

Al Fay Park is a new 27,500-square-metre public park in downtown Abu Dhabi that signals a new kind of Middle Eastern city development. Driven by inclusive nature rather than iconic buildings, Al Fay Park is the Middle East’s first urban biodiversity park.

With its biodiverse planting, optimised microclimate strategy and inclusive social activities, the park is specifically designed to provide biological, environmental and social benefits to both the city and its residents. By planting more than 2,000 native trees and bushes, biodiversity is strengthened for both plants and wildlife, which in turn maximises natural cooling throughout the park.

The judges commented that, "Al Fay Park is a thoughtful and intelligent response which takes into consideration pressing contemporary social and environmental issues. It is more over a delightful and biodiverse oasis in a dense desert city."

The super jury was made up of Zaš Brezar, Landzine; Lily Jencks, LilyJencksStudio | JencksSquared; Todd Langstaffe-Gowan, Todd Langstaffe-Gowan Landscape Design. The category winners that went head-to-head were from the Landscape Urban and Rural categories.

World Architecture Community is official Media Partner of WAF and INSIDE and covered the latest news from both festivals on WAC's Portugal country page.

Due to the Covid-19 restrictions around the world, this year WAF moved its physical festival into a virtual festival which was comprised of digital presentations from architects around the world with over 40 days of content. 

In 2018, Batlle I Roig Arquitectura's Pedestrian Path won Landscape Of The Year 2018 at WAF. In 2017, Chengtoushan Archaeological Land by Turenscape was named World Landscape Of The Year. 

All images © Philip Handforth

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