World Architecture Festival 2026 Shortlist
WAF International Architectural News – Buildings & Architects
21 July 2026
This year’s best international architecture and interiors are revealed as the 2026 World Architecture Festival (WAF) shortlist is announced. Celebrating the most outstanding new completed buildings, interiors and landscape designs from around the world and visionary future architectural projects, the shortlist sets the stage for the festival’s second event in the USA. Finalists will present their projects live to an international panel of esteemed judges at WAF 2026, which will take place at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from 18-20 November.
The 2026 WAF shortlist features 416 projects, across categories ranging from best Creative Re-Use, Housing and Education to best Hotel, Health, Sports and Culture. Selected from over 630 entries, this year’s shortlist celebrates incredible groundbreaking architectural and design achievements.
WAF 2026 Shortlisted Buildings
View project image highlights from the 2026 WAF shortlist here:
Saha Casa Boutique Hotel by Ho Khue Architects
photo © Trieu Chien
Stöng – (Re)interpretation by SP(R)INT STUDIO
photo © Studio CAPN
The Folia by ET Architects
photo © ET Architects
Indore by Sanjay Puri Architects
photo © Vinay Panjwani
Lotus Clubhouse by MIA Design Studio
photo © Hiroyuki Oki
Copper Villa by Jacobsen Studio
photo © Fernando Guerra
Yichang Life Park, The Hall of Eternal Life by Central-South Architectural Design Institute Co., Ltd.
photo © Zhao Yilong | Courtesy of Central-South Architectural Design Institute Co., Ltd.
Techo International Airport by Foster + Partners
photo © Foster + Partners
205 North Quay by Hassell, REX and Richards & Spence
photo © David Chatfield
Kaway’an EcoPark by Sangay Architects & Ibuku Studio
photo © Studio Synthesis
12_Zayed National Museum by Foster + Partners
photo © Foster + Partners
Hengqin Culture and Art Complex by Yunchao Xu Atelier Apeiron
photo © Kunzhen Huang
Xinchang Globular Center by line+ studio
photo © Chen Xi Studio
Two Sheds by RTA Studio
photo © Samuel Hartnett
Terra House by Atelier Design N Domain LLP (ADND)
photo © PHX INDIA
New Government Quarter by Nordic Office of Architecture with Haptic Architects
photo © Hufton + Crow Photography
Modern Mosque by Yodezeen
photo © Yodezeen
Bisate Sanctuary by Black Sable Designs (pty) ltd
photo © FLINK Studios
Labirint Educational and Community Campus by Quadratum Architecture
photo © Vlad Pătru
Class of 1986 Fitness and Wellness Center by DIGSAU + MJMA Architecture & Design
photo © Scott Norsworthy
https://www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/WAF2026/en/page/home
WAF 2026 Shortlist
This year’s WAF shortlist brings together project entries from world-leading practices including: Foster + Partners, Snøhetta, Herzog & de Meuron, Coldefy, Grimshaw, Sanjay Puri Architects, Perkins&Will, and Woods Bagot alongside work from an exciting new generation of emerging studios.
Within the shortlist, practices from the USA are the most highly represented, with China, India, UK, and Australia also in the top ten.
The full WAF shortlist awards can be viewed here.
This year’s 205 shortlisted completed buildings include everything from an immersive tropical clubhouse in Vietnam to a landmark fish market in Sydney and a 1.2-acre oceanfront park in Florida.
The 48 shortlisted interiors range from an off-grid private wildlife sanctuary and guest lodge in South Africa to a design-led rooftop bar in Bangkok, while the 12 shortlisted landscapes include a clubhouse in Vietnam designed as a living organism and an ecological landmark in the Philippines that showcases the structural material qualities of bamboo.
The 151 future projects shortlisted include a climate-responsive home in Mumbai and an ambitious vision for a children’s hospital in Texas.
WAF features the world’s largest live-judged architecture awards, complemented by keynote talks, an exhibition, and various fringe events including architecture tours, networking opportunities, and workshops.
This year’s WAF Judging Panel of 164 experts representing 37 countries, includes: Peter Cook, Founder at Peter Cook Studio Crablab, Kai-Uwe Bergmann, Partner at BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), Olga Bolshanina, Senior Partner at Herzog & de Meuron and Cazú Zegers, Director and Founder at Cazú Zegers Architecture.
The full list of WAF Judges for 2026 can be viewed here.
Still to come, the winners of this year’s WAFX Awards, celebrating architecture that tackles major world issues, will be announced on Monday 20 July on WAF social media channels, with the Special Prizes announcements following on Monday 27 July.
All finalists on the shortlist will present their projects within their categories during the first two days of the festival. On the final day, category winners from across all 43 categories will go on to present to the Super Jury to compete for World Building, Landscape, Future Project and Interior Project of the Year. The overall winners of this year’s Special Prizes, including WAFX, will also be announced live from the festival.
WAF programme director Paul Finch comments: “WAF continues to thrive with more than 630 entries to the Awards programme this year, despite global challenges. As ever, the combination of major practices and smaller firms, perhaps entering WAF for the first time, is refreshing, and the shortlisting judges were impressed by the design standards of the selected entries. We have also shortlisted designs for a host of special prizes, which will make for a stimulating set of presentations to our international judges in Fort Lauderdale this November.”
WAF will be in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for its 19th edition, following previous editions of the festival in Miami, Singapore, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Berlin.
Press can apply for an Official Press Pass to attend the World Architecture Festival here.
For more details on the 2026 World Architecture Festival and the WAF Awards please visit: worldarchitecturefestival.com @worldarchfest #WAF26
About World Architecture Festival (WAF)
https://www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/WAF2026/en/page/home
World Architecture Festival will take place at the Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from 18–20 November 2026.
WAF is where the world architecture community meets to celebrate, learn, exchange and be inspired.
Every year, WAF hosts the world’s biggest live-judged architecture awards programme. It celebrates design achievements through presentations by architects to high-profile delegates and international judging panels.
The 2026 World Architecture Festival (WAF) comprises:
A celebration of the world’s best architecture, landscape and interior projects
Events programme and keynote talks
Live judging of awards finalist presentations
Gallery of all award entries
Exhibition area
Networking and social events including partner fringe events
Gala dinner announcing the overall winners
A tours programme of local landmarks in Fort Lauderdale
WAF is organised by emap, publishers of The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal.
Founder Partner, GROHE
As the leading global brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings, GROHE has shaped the way the world experiences water for decades. By infusing its core values of technology, quality, design, and sustainability into every innovation, the brand consistently delivers “Pure Freude an Wasser” (Pure Enjoyment of Water). Consumer-centric and anchored by German engineering and design excellence, GROHE creates intelligent, life-enhancing solutions across its entire portfolio – a philosophy wholly reflected in its luxury sub-brand, GROHE SPA.
Since 2014, GROHE has been a part of the LIXIL brand portfolio, a manufacturer of pioneering water and housing products.
As the founding sponsor of the World Architecture Festival, GROHE is proud to support the global architecture and design community for the 19th consecutive year. The brand’s comprehensive portfolio features everything from elaborate faucet collections and customizable showers to intricate ceramics and coordinated accessories. GROHE is excited to welcome the architect and design community to its booth to experience GROHE SPA. This year, the space brings the sub-brand’s founding concept of “Health Through Water” to life through a water-inspired sanctuary of luxurious well-being. www.grohe.com
World Architecture Festival 2026 Shortlist News image / information received 210716.
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WAF Awards
WAF 2019 Architecture Drawing Prize
Li Han, ‘The Samsara of Building No. 42 on Dirty Street’, overall winner of the 2018 Architecture Drawing Prize:
image : Li Han, courtesy of WAF
World Architecture Festival 2019 Architecture Drawing Prize
World Architecture Festival Awards 2018 Day One Winners
WAF World Building of the Year 2018 Winner
Kampung Admiralty photos : Patrick Bingham-Hall, Darren Soh, Lim Weixiang
Kampung Admiralty by WOHA
The Interlace in Singapore
image : Ole Scheeren
World Building of the Year 2015
Media-TIC wins World Building of the Year 2011 at World Architecture Festival Awards
World Building of the Year 2011
MAXXI, Rome, winner of World Building of the Year 2010
World Building of the Year 2010 by Zaha Hadid Architects
Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre, South Africa
Peter Rich Architects
WAF Building of the Year 2009
Universita Luigi Bocconi, Italy
Grafton Architects
WAF Building of the Year 2008
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Architecture Design
Contemporary Building Designs – recent architectural selection from e-architect below:
Comments / photos for the World Architecture Festival 2026 Shortlist News – WAF buildings and architects page welcome.
