World Building of the Year 2022, WAF Winner building news, Quay Quarter Tower Sydney, 3XN Architects design

World Building of the Year 2022 – WAF

post updated 16 February 2024

Quay Quarter Tower wins World Building of the Year Award at World Architecture Festival 2022

Day Three Winners of International Architectural Awards Announced

Quay Quarter Tower (QQT) in Sydney, Australia has been declared the World Building of the Year 2022 this evening at the fifteenth annual World Architecture Festival (WAF), held in Lisbon, Portugal: World Architecture Festival 2022 Winners

It was announced amongst other ultimate accolades including World Interior of the Year, Future Project of the Year and Landscape of the Year, at a glittering gala dinner held at the Convento Do Beato, a former Portuguese convent dating back to the 16th century, located in a historic part of Lisbon.

3 December 2022

World Building of the Year 2022 Winner

Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney design by 3XN Architects, Denmark:
Quay Quarter Tower by 3XN Architects
photograph © Phil Noller

The World Building of the Year went to Quay Quarter Tower (QQT), designed by 3XN Architects.

The 206-metre tower, located close to the Sydney Opera House, is an office building arranged as a vertical village, creating a sense of community and providing spaces that focus on collaboration, health, well-being and external terraces.

Quay Quarter Tower by 3XN Architects
photo © Phil Noller

Constructed of five stacked shifting volumes, 3XN employed a radical sustainability strategy which involved upcycling the existing tower. The series of stacked atria create a social spine with exceptional views, while also allowing daylight deep into each floor.

Quay Quarter Tower by 3XN Architects
photo © Fred Holt

Paul Finch, Programme Director of the World Architecture Festival commented: “The winner was commissioned to provide a building on a world class site, and to retain a huge proportion of an existing fifty-year-old commercial tower. The result was an excellent example of adaptive re-use. It has an excellent carbon story, and it is an example of anticipatory workspace design produced pre-COVID which nevertheless has provided healthy and attractive space for post-pandemic users. The client was prepared to risk building out an idea on a speculative basis – it worked”.

Quay Quarter Tower by 3XN Architects
photo © Martin Siegner

The winner was selected by a super jury of luminaries of the global architecture industry – comprising Tracy Meller, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; Jo Noero, Noero Architects; John Wardle, John Wardle Architects; Issa Diabaté, Koffi & Diabaté Architectes, and Murat Tabanlioglu, Tabanlioglu Architects.

Quay Quarter Tower by 3XN Architects
image courtesy of architects practice

World Interior of the Year

Pingtan Children Library by Condition_Lab

Pingtan Children Library by Condition_Lab
photograph © Sai Zhao

Pingtan Children Library by Condition_Lab, has been named World Interior of the Year for 2022. The project, located in China, has been selected from a shortlist of 11 categories to win the final accolade, which was supported by Miele.

Pingtan Children Library by Condition_Lab
photo © Sai Zhao

The library is a small timber structure, which draws on a typology of traditional ‘Dong Houses’ and is primarily composed of two interwoven spiral staircases. The value of the project is concentrated in the animation and preservation of traditional culture for the young users and the discipline of the design, highlighting the social importance of architecture.

Pingtan Children Library by Condition_Lab
photo © Sai Zhao

Judges were impressed by the “traditional craftmanship” of the design for children, “the real users of this delightful structure, where they can play on the steps, reach for a book or peak at their friends”. They congratulated Condition_Lab on creating “a space for the community and achieving it”.
Pingtan Children Library by Condition_Lab
photo © Sai Zhao

The INSIDE World Interior of the Year award was judged by INSIDE festival’s 2022 super-jurors: Linzi Cassels, Perkins+Will; Ann Lau, Hayball; Eva Jiřičná, AI – DESIGN; Johnny Chiu, J.C. Architecture, and Professor Nigel Coates.

Pingtan Children Library building section
image courtesy of architects practice

The Moving Kitchen in Taiwan designed by JC. Architecture was highly commended:
The Moving Kitchen by JC Architecture
photo © LEE Kuo-Min

Future Project of the Year

Dream Pathway by CAATStudio (Kamboozia Architecture and Design Studio)

Dream Pathway by CAATStudio (Kamboozia Architecture and Design Studio)
image courtesy of architects practice

The Future Project of the Year 2022, supported by ABB, celebrates the best of the world’s architecture that is yet to be completed. The winning project was awarded to Dream Pathway / The connection between the sports recreation park to a cultural street, in Iran, designed by CAATStudio (Kamboozia Architecture and Design Studio).

Dream Pathway Iran landscape design
image courtesy of architects practice

The project showcases an urban pedestrian and cyclist pathway in the western part of the Abbas Abad hills complex in Tehran. The project, once complete, will aim to create an interactive-attractive narrative in the city which moves users between four different zones through the use of rammed earth material and geometric forms.

Dream Pathway Iran landscape
image courtesy of architects practice

WAF’s Future Project super jury, included: Shane O’Toole, University College Dublin; Sir Peter Cook; Nadia Tromp, Ntsika Architects; Mario Cucinella, MCA – Mario Cucinella Architects, and Yui Tezuka, Tezuka Architects.

Judges described the project as an “original architectural and urban concept that lives up to its project title and ambition” and congratulated it on its “exquisitely controlled geometry” which they felt “provided a surprising continuity” between the “city’s street pattern and the district’s new parkland destination”.

Landscape of the Year

Preservation and Rehabilitation of Rural Landscape of Gaodang, Southwest China:
Rural Landscape of Gaodang, China
image © Anshun Institute of Architectural Design

Landscape of the Year 2022 was awarded to SHANCUN Atelier, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University + Anshun Institute of Architectural Design for its project Preservation and Rehabilitation of Rural Landscape of Gaodang: A Buyi Ethnic Minority Group Village in Southwest China. The project was selected as the winner from the Landscape Rural category.

Rural Landscape of Gaodang, China
image © Anshun Institute of Architectural Design

WAF’s Landscape of the Year super jury, included: Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, Todd Longstaffe-Gowan Landscape Design; Lily Jencks, LilyJencksStudio | JencksSquared; Mariana Simas, studio mk27, and Zaš Brezar, Landzine.

Rural Landscape of Gaodang, China
image © Anshun Institute of Architectural Design

The judges praised the project as an “incredibly sensitive village conservation scheme, breathing life back into rural China”. The project brings together a rich diversity of stakeholders over the last seven years, to realise a design that ensures this rural community will last into the future.

Rural Landscape of Gaodang, China
image © SHANCUN Atelier

In the ‘Rural’ Landscape category, Design as Experiment: The Handan Wastewater Cleansing Terraces by Turenscape was also highly commended. First place in the ‘Urban’ category was awarded to SHATOTTO for Revitalization of Rasulbagh Children’s Park, Bangladesh, while TROP Company Limited by An Villa was highly commended.

Rural Landscape of Gaodang, China
image courtesy of architects practice

WAF Special Prizes

The WAFX Award overall winner was BAD – Built by Associative Data + Guallart Architects for their project The Tower of Life, Senegal, Africa.

The Futureglass Prize, supported by Aestech, was awarded to MVRDV for Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Substation 164 by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp – FJMT was highly commended.

Best Use of Natural Light Prize, supported by VELUX, went to Condition_Lab for their project Pingtan Children Library in China, while Agrotopia by van Bergen Kolpa architects + META architectuurbureau was highly commended.

Woods Bagot received the Best Use of Colour Prize, for their project Meadowbank School in Australia. Judges felt that “the whole balance of the building through colour, texture and material was exhilarating”. Harvard University District Energy Facility by Leers Weinzapfel Associates was highly commended.

Winner of the Visualisation Prize, supported by Lumion, was Shenzhen Airport East Comprehensive Transportation Hub Competition Scheme, in China, by Lingui Hive Technology Services Limited, and Souls of Beirut by Omar Moataz was highly commended.

The inaugural International Building Beauty Prize, supported by Royal Fine Art Commission Trust and Ballymore, was picked up by k-studio for Dexamenes, in Kourouta, Peloponnese, Greece. Judges were impressed that the building “proved beauty could be found anywhere…even in an old raisin factory!”. Phoenix Central Park by Durbach Block Jaggers / John Wardle Architects, and Tintagel Castle Footbridge by ney&partners + William Matthew Associates were both highly commended.

Announced on the opening night of the festival, The ‘Lisbon Prize‘ supported by Kreon went to Parque das Nações Office Building by Capinha Lopes Consulting.

Play Architecture picked up the Small Project of the Year Prize for Dining Space at DevaDhare, Bengalaru, in India.

Koffi & Diabaté Architectes received the Engineering Prize, for their project Orange Village – Headquarters in Côte d’Ivoire. Judges felt that the project demonstrated “a brave and splendid use of modern technology”.

Winner of the Best Use of Certified Timber Prize, supported by PEFC, was Paseo Mallorca 15, by OHLAB. The judges praised the project’s “masterful control of light”, and “timeless beauty and technical innovation”.

The Architectural Photography Awards, supported by Iris Ceramica Group, Sto, Aluprof, WAF and X spaces was awarded to photographer GuoZhe for Pocket Park Shanghai in China, while Deed Studio won the WAF Delegate Vote for its photograph of Jagdal Primary School in Iran.

Last night, Instituto Balear de la Vivienda (IBAVI), Spain was announced as the winner of the Architectural Review Emerging award 2022, and Sanchez Benton Architects was highly commended, while Sher Maker won the Peter Davey Prize.

The International VELUX Award winner of Daylight in Buildings was TIP – Time Indicate Protection, by Zuzanna Sazonow and Aleksandra Pytka. The winner of Daylight Investigations was Sajjad Navidi, Mahya Mousavi Sadr and Elham Bahadori from University of Art, Tehran for their project FLight.

World Architecture Festival 2023

The festival will reconvene in 2023 in Singapore for its 16th edition from the 29 November to the 1 December. Registration is now open: for more details and to register your interest, please visit:
https://worldarchitecturefestival.com/live/en/page/register-your-interest-for-2023.

For more details on the 2022 World Architecture Festival and Inside Festival of Interiors, including a full line up of award winners, please visit: www.worldarchitecturefestival.com and www.insidefestival.com

@worldarchfest #INSIDE22 #WAF22

WAF

About World Architecture Festival (WAF) and INSIDE World Festival of Interiors:

https://www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/live/en/page/home
https://www.insidefestival.com/inside/en/page/home

WAF is where the world architecture community meets to celebrate, learn, exchange and be inspired.

WAF is the world’s largest annual, international, live architectural event. It includes the biggest international architectural awards programme in the world, dedicated to celebrating excellence via live presentations to an audience of high-profile delegates and international juries.

The World Architecture Festival (WAF) comprises:

– A thematic conference programme (based on the theme: ‘Together’
– Live judging of finalists ‘projects
– Gallery of all award entries
– Exhibition area
– Networking and social events including partner fringe events
– Gala dinner announcing the overall winners

INSIDE World Festival of Interiors runs alongside WAF, with its own awards and conference programme. Delegates have access to both events.

WAF and INSIDE are organised by EMAP.

World Building of the Year 2022, WAF Winner images / information received 021222

Previously on e-architect:

WAF World Building of the Year 2018 Winner

Kampung Admiralty by WOHA wins World Building of the Year Award at World Architecture Festival 2018

Kampung Admiralty in Singapore:
Kampung Admiralty in Singapore
Kampung Admiralty photos : Patrick Bingham-Hall, Darren Soh, Lim Weixiang

Kampung Admiralty designed by WOHA wins the WAF World Building of the Year 2018 Winner

Kampung Admiralty Singapore - World Building of the Year 2018 at WAF

World Architecture Festival Awards 2018 Day Two Winners

World Architecture Festival Awards 2018 Day One Winners

WAF Awards 2018

The Interlace in Singapore
World Building of the Year 2015
image : Ole Scheeren
WAF World Building of the Year 2015 Winner

Gardens by the Bay Conservatories Singapore
World Building of the Year winner in 2012

World Architecture Festival Awards 2012 buildings news

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

Stirling Prize

Comments / photos for the World Building of the Year 2022 Winner – Quay Quarter Tower Sydney Building page welcome.