World Architecture Festival, the world’s largest live-judged international architectural event, has opened earlier today in Amsterdam. The 2019 edition of WAF has announced winners for its Architecture category.  

Following a busy day of live presentations, in which hundreds of shortlisted projects were presented by architectural practices from around the world, the first award winners of the 2019 festival have been announced. 

The first day’s awards category winners include Heatherwick Studio, Tabanlioglu Architects, WilkinsonEyre and Morphis and many more. 

World Architecture Community is official media partner of this year's event. 

See the full winning projects for Architecture at WAF Day 1:

Image © Xu Liang Leon

Completed Building Civic & Community

School of Architecture CUHK & UAL Studio - School of Architecture and Urban Planning GZU - Gaobu Book House, Hunan Province, China

The ‘Civic and Community – Completed Buildings’ category was won by Condition Lab - School of Architecture CUHK & UAL Studio - School of Architecture and Urban Planning GZU for Gaobu Book House which serves the 2,500 people of Gaobu Village, one of the Dong minority villages located on the Pingtan River in Tongdao County, Hunan Province. 

Judges commented: "Gaobu Book House is totally intertwined with the community; a project that goes well beyond the actual building and demonstrates excellence of process."

Image © Stijn Bollaert

Completed Building Culture

Civic architects (lead architect), Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau, Inside Outside / Petra Blaisse - LocHal Public Library, Tilburg, the Netherlands

The winners of the ‘Culture - Completed Buildings’ award were Civic architects (lead architect), Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau and Petra Blaisse at Inside Outside for their LocHal Public Library - a new urban living room for Tilburg in an iconic former locomotive shed of the Dutch National Railways. 

Judges celebrated the project for its "fine details and the use of textiles which create the necessary intimacy for the human scale, whilst considering the old steel structure”.

Image © Michael Moran

Completed Building Display

Heatherwick Studio - Vessel, New York, USA

The winners of the ‘Display - Completed Buildings’ category was The Vessel in New York by globally renowned practice, Heatherwick Studio which offers a ‘new and innovative’ way for the general public to engage and create chance encounters.

Image © Brett Boardman

Completed Building House

TERROIR - Castle Cove House, NSW, Australia

TERROIR were winners of the ‘House - Completed Buildings’ category for Castle Cove House in Australia. Judges stated that "with the diversity and complexity of space, there is a visual shattering of the boundaries between inside and out".

Image © Majid Jahangiri

Completed Building Housing

Nextoffice - Cedrus Residential, Tehran, Iran

Nextoffice were victors in the ‘Housing - Completed Buildings’ category, supported by GROHE, scooping the award for their Cedrus Residential. Judges commented "this is a wonderful, holistic and intellectually challenging project of worldwide merit."

Image © Tomothy Soar

Completed Building New & Old

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris - The Bower, London, United Kingdom

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris won the ‘New and Old - Completed Buildings’ award for The Bower - a contemporary mix of retail, restaurants, studios and large offices housed within a former collection of 1960s buildings originally built for British Telecom. The project was described by judges as a "clever realisation of the existing building to create unique office space’ whilst ‘knitting together the city fabric".

Image © Guanhong Chen

Completed Building Office

FCHA - Vanke Liuxiandong Design Community - A4+B2 Plot Design, Shenzhen, China

FCHA triumphed in the ‘Office - Completed Buildings’ category with their Vanke Liuxiandong Design Community - A4+B2 Plot Design – a "highly sustainable and transformed corporate environment into one that welcomes the public."

Image © Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners

Completed Building Production, Energy & Recycling

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners - The Macallan Distillery and Visitor Experience, Craigellachie, United Kingdom

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners won the ‘Production, Energy & Recycling - Completed Buildings’ award for The Macallan Distillery and Visitor Experience which has been "masterfully embedded in the landscape through an undulating timber roof with grass cover’, taking inspiration from historic references."

Image © studio BAUHAUS

Completed Building Schools

HIBINOSEKKEI / Youji no Shiro / KIDS DESIGN LABO - YM Nursery, Yonago, Japan

The ‘School – Completed Buildings’ category winner was HIBINOSEKKEI + Youji no Shiro + KIDS DESIGN LABO with the YM Nursery in Yonago, Tottori, Japan, which encourages children to feel at one with nature. As described by the judges, the project ‘demonstrates huge sensitivity to the experience of young children, from the layout of the building as an open pavilion, to the use of materials such as wood, stone, fire and water’. Judges added "the project embraces nature holistically in its concept and detail."

Image © Enric Duch

Completed Building Sport

Anna Noguera, Javier Fernandez - TURÓ DE LA PEIRA'S SPORTS CENTER AND LAYOUT OF THE INTERIOR URBAN BLOCK, Barcelona, Spain

Anna Noguera + Javier Fernandez won the ‘Sport - Completed Buildings’ category with their Turo de la Peira's sports center – the result of an architectural competition held by Barcelona’s City Council for the landscape planning of an interior urban block and sports facility consisting of an indoor heated swimming pool and a sports court which has been awarded for its "outstanding use of resources with a sustainable ethos". 

Image © John Nye

Completed Building Transport

Integrated Design Associates - MACTAN CEBU INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TERMINAL 2, Cebu, Philippines

The ‘Transport – Completed Buildings’ award, was won by Integrated Design Associates for their Mactan Cebu International Airport Terminal 2, an expansion of the second largest airport in the Philippines. Judges described the design as "simple" but "elegant" with many "locally sourced materials" that would be "capable of future expansion".

Image © HCMA Architecture + Design

Future Project Civic

HCMA Architecture + Design - Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre, Vancouver, Canada

The ‘Civic - Future Projects’ category winner was Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre in Vancouver, Canada by HCMA Architecture + Design. The building contains nine major spaces including an aquatic centre, ice arena, curling, gymnasium, skatepark, fitness and dedicates areas for children, youth and retirees. Redefining recreation to promote wellness in the community, the judges commented "A flow of natural landscape, including water features, boulders and trees manages to permeate and enliven the upper terraces which allows views to the sea, the city and the mountains."

Image © Wilkinson Eyre and Morphis

Future Project Infrastructure

WilkinsonEyre / Morphis - Shenzhen Bay Avenue, Shenzhen, China

WilkinsonEyre and Morphis won the ‘Infrastructure - Future Projects’ category for their Shenzen Bay Avenue urban design and masterplan with judges describing the project as an "active urban intervention creating diverse public spaces."

Image © Tabanlioglu Architects

Future Project Leisure Led Development

Tabanlioglu Architects - Tersane Halic - Halic Shipyards, Istanbul, Turkey

Tabanlioglu Architects was victorious in the ‘Leisure Led Developments – Future Projects’ category, winning the award for their Tersane Halic - Halic Shipyards. The new project includes marinas, hotels, housing, offices and leisure areas which will respect and protect the symbolic silhouette of old Istanbul, with design elements which "capture the spirit of the place in its use and materiality whilst allowing future flexibility."

Image © Wilkinson Eyre and Morphis

Future Project Masterplanning

ADEPT, KARRES EN BRANDS, Transsolar, Büro Happold, Kraft - THE CONNECTED CITY Oberbillwerder, Hamburg, Germany

ADEPT and KARRES EN BRANDS together with Transsolar, Büro Happold, Kraft won the ‘Masterplanning – Future Projects’ award for THE CONNECTED CITY Oberbillwerder. The 360-hectare masterplan close to Hamburg City Center, was described by the jury as having "comprehensive and well thought out strategies" when designing the masterplan.

Image © Modern Office of Design + Architecture

Future Project Office

Modern Office of Design + Architecture - Attabotics Headquarters, Calgary, Canada

The ‘Office – Future Projects’ award went to Modern Office of Design + Architecture for the Attabotics Headquarters – a new 12,000 sq metre manufacturing and office headquarters for a robotics company in Calgary, Canada. The judging panel was particularly impressed by ‘the interiors and vertical integration of elements of the building’. They added that "the concept is perfectly thought through and developed into a beautiful building that sets new standards for modern manufacturing."

Tomorrow WAF will see another set of category winners announced at the RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre, before WAF culminates with the glittering Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony where the winners of the World Building, Interior, Future Project and Landscape of the Year will be announced. 

Running alongside WAF is its sister event INSIDE which will showcase 2019’s most ground-breaking interiors projects. Visitors to INSIDE will be able to view this year’s best in class interiors nominations from leading practices and designers across four continents. 

> via WAF