Thai designs vie for awards

A pair of island resorts in Thailand, a Buddhist temple in Singapore, an “almost invisible” eco-tourism project in Turkey, a maritime museum in Copenhagen and the new master plan for Gatwick Airport are on the shortlist for World Architecture Festival (WAF) awards. 

Completing their seventh year in October, the WAF awards have attracted entries from more than 50 countries, from Costa Rica and Kuwait. This year sees a huge increase in entries from Asia, with projects in China, Malaysia and Vietnam up from last year by 87, 71 and 140 per cent respectively. The geographic spread of the entries is complemented by the variety of projects, from an opera house in Italy to health facilities in Australia and a chapel in Brazil.

 Buildings designed by established global firms such as Zaha Hadid Architects, OMA, Foster and Partners, BIG, Woods Bagot, KPF, Farrells, Perkins and Will and Aedas feature among the shortlist entries. They will compete across 27 individual award categories, spanning completed buildings, landscape projects and future projects, presenting their designs in person to the international judging panel and delegates at this year’s festival.

For the first time, the festival will have a separate “small projects” category. The judges want to highlight design skills that have a disproportionate relationship to the physical size of a project.

“From small structures to industrial complexes, the breadth of projects short-listed this year reveals the diversity and strength of global architectural design,” says programme director Paul Finch. “It also demonstrates the creativity and tenacity of the international architectural community in creating these truly remarkable schemes.”

This year’s entries from Thailand are the Koh Talu Island Resort in Prachuap Khiri Khan, in the Leisure-led Development category, the Morph 38 Condominium in Bangkok (Landscape category) and the KC Grande Resort and Spa Hill Side on Koh Chang in Trat (Hotel category). 

Last year the Siamese Blossom townhouse on Ram-Indra Road, designed by Somdoon Architects, won the Future Projects Residential Award, topping 14 other candidates. Judges liked how Somdoon moved away from the typical attached terraced houses and the friendly, green living space that maximised natural lighting and cross-ventilation.

The festival is being held in Singapore for the third time, from October 1 to 3.

 

On the Web:

www.worldarchitecturefestival.com.