Sanjay Gangal Sanjay Gangal is the President of IBSystems, the parent company of AECCafe.com, MCADCafe, EDACafe.Com, GISCafe.Com, and ShareCG.Com.
World Architecture Festival Winners 2011
November 18th, 2011 by Sanjay Gangal
Barcelona, November 7, 2011 – Media-TIC, Barcelona, Spain, designed by Cloud 9 based in Spain , has beaten off competition from hundreds of buildings around the globe to win the ‘World Building of the Year 2011’ award at the prestigious World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards in Barcelona.
The presentation of the WAF Awards took place during the largest global celebration of architecture – the World Architecture Festival, which took place at the Centre Convencions International Barcelona (CCIB) this week.
This is the 4th year the World Architecture Festival Awards have been presented. Previous winners include ‘World Building of the Year 2008’ – Luigi Bocconi University, Milan, designed by Irish practice Grafton Architects; ‘World Building of the Year 2009’ – Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa, designed by Peter Rich Architects of Johannesburg, and ‘World Building of the Year 2010’ – MAXXI (National Museum of the 21st Century Arts) in Rome, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects.
Hanimaadaoo International Airport, Maldives, designed by Integrated Design Associates Limited was awarded the ‘Future Project of the Year 2011’ award and the iconic 76-story Beekman Tower at 8 Spruce Street, New York, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, won the ‘Structural Project of the Year 2011’ with the prize going to engineer WSP Cantor Seinuk.
The WAF Awards see unsung local buildings take on internationally acclaimed projects in what is the world’s biggest architecture contest. Unlike other architectural competitions, architects present their work in front of leading industry judges and a live public audience as they compete for the accolade of ‘World Building of the Year’.
The project was commissioned by The Consortium of the Zona Franca CZFB and @22Barcelona, an experimental district in the city. The architects were extremely interested in the digital city model based on information, communication and technology, with the idea of a city where what matters is knowledge, added value and patents.
The new airport, designated as the country’s second international gateway, is located on an island with very limited land mass for an international airport of this size. With airfield infrastructure consuming nearly all the available land the concept of a “floating terminal” has been selected by the Maldivian Government for its innovative, exciting and eco-friendly approach. The proposed terminal is built entirely on stilts over water without reclamation to preserve the existing environment and the natural coastline.
The 867 ft, 76-story Beekman Tower, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, is New York City’s tallest residential tower. Located in the middle of the block bounded by Nassau, Beekman, Spruce and Gold Streets, just south of the Brooklyn Bridge, the 1.1 million SF mixed-use building has redefined the skyline of Downtown Manhattan. It is a reinforced concrete building and the structure is composed of cast-in-place, concrete flat plate floors supported by reinforced concrete columns and shear walls. The 5 to 6 ft deep mat foundation is supported on 18” diameter concrete encased steel piles and also various capacity drilled caissons adjacent to an MTA subway tunnel.
The showroom of the Decameron furniture store is located on a rented site in the furniture commercial alley in São Paulo. To make the quick and economic construction viable, the architect, worked with the premise of a light occupation combined with industrial elements, which could easily be assembled.
The Norwegian Wild Reindeer Centre Pavilion is located at Hjerkinn on the outskirts of Dovrefjell National Park, which rises 1200 metres above sea level and is home to Europe’s last wild reindeer herds and is the natural habitat for many rare plants and animals. The 90m² building, which features a rigid outer shell and an organic inner core is open to the public and serves as an observation pavilion for the Wild Reindeer Foundation educational programmes.
Norwegian Wild Reindeer Center Pavilion
World Health Building of the Year Rehabilitation Centre Groot Klimmendaal, Arnhem, Netherlands, Architectenbureau Koen van Velsen, Netherlands
In the undulating forest landscape around Arnhem in the eastern part of the Netherlands, revalidation centre ‘Groot Klimmendaal’ can be found standing as a quiet deer in between trees. From a small footprint, the building gradually fans out towards the top and cantilevers out over the surrounding terrain. The care concept is based on the idea that a positive and stimulating environment increases the well-being of patients and has a beneficial effect on their revalidation process. The design ambition was not to create a centre with the appearance of a health building but a building as a part of its surroundings and the community.
Rehabilitation Centre Groot Klimmendaal
World Housing Building of the Year 8 House, Copenhagen, Denmark, Bjarke Ingels Group, Denmark
With spectacular views towards the Copenhagen Canal and over Kalvebod Fælled’s protected open spaces, 8 House will not only be offering residences to people in all of life’s stages as well as office spaces to the city’s business and trade – it will also serve as a house that allows people to cycle all the way from the ground floor to the top, moving alongside townhouses with gardens winding through an urban perimeter block.
Night View (Images Courtesy Jens Lindhe)
Future Project of the Year – Commercial Wadi Rum Resort, Jordan, Oppenheim Architecture + Design, USA
A unique luxury accommodation where desert sand meets desert stone, engaging with the landscape with nominal impact and primal elegance. The boundaries between man-made and nature, interior and exterior are deliberately blurred to establish maximum impact.
Wadi Rum Welcome Area 01
Future Project of the Year – Competition Entries Glacier Discovery Walk, Alberta, Canada, Sturgess Architecture, Canada.
The Glacier Discovery Walk is envisioned as an extension of the fractal landscape that defines the Columbia Icefields in Canada’s Jasper National Park. Located along the edge of this dramatic escarpment, the project weaves a continuous thread of experience through united geometric and material forms. This sinuous experience defines the Discovery Walk not only as a singular destination, but as a catalyst and gateway that empowers guests to immerse themselves in the untouched natural environment.
Glacier Discovery Walk
Future Project of the Year – Experimental The Tower of Nests, Shanghai, China, Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture AB
Located in down town Shanghai, it is designed to be co-inhabited by humans and animals. Its outer skin is composed of natural materials to allow birds and bees to inhabit, yet providing a community space.
A Tower of Nests
Future Project of the Year – Education Women’s Opportunity Center, Kayonza, Rwanda, Sharon Davis Design, USA
On a two-hectare site in Rwanda, the most densely populated country in Africa, the Women’s Opportunity Center is a change-making campus that empowers one small community and, in turn, reframes the way we as architects engage the world.
Bird Eye View
Future Project of the Year – Cultural Zhang Da Qian Museum, Neijang, China, Miralles Tagliabue EMBT, Spain
On April 2010, Excellence group invited EMBT to design Zhang Da Qian’s museum in Neijang city, a purpose built museum to exhibit the work of the legendary Chinese painter in his home town. The design philosophy behind the museum would be to integrate the cultural essence of east and west and to express the past and the future and relate to the painter’s friendship with Picasso.
Future Project of the Year – Residential Wafra Living, Kuwait, AGi Architects, Kuwait
The design for the “Wafra Living” complex, consists of a high rise building set back from the street and an L-shaped building defining the street edge, conceived to maximize privacy within the community, whilst providing ample natural light and usable indoor and outdoor common spaces. Cuts have been made in the front building in order to provide better views for the lower floor apartments in the back tower.
Rendering
Future Project of the Year – Masterplanning West Kowloon Cultural District Conceptual Plan, Hong Kong, Rocco Design Architects Ltd, Hong Kong
The proposed Conceptual Plan for the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) aspires to evoke a social energy conducive to the spirit of exploration and discovery, hence the essence for long-term sustainable cultural development for Hong Kong. The programmatic disposition of the master plan is structured on a 3-layer organization: green terrain (south), city link (north) and a cultural zone (centre) for the arts. Overlaid onto its framework is an urban street-grid. The Conceptual Plane aim is to offer a low carbon sustainable community.
Aerial View from the West (Images Courtesy Pak Chung)
Future Project of the Year – Infrastructure Hanimaadaoo International Airport, Maldives, Integrated Design Associates Limited, Hong Kong
The new airport, designated as the country’s second international gateway, is located on an island with very limited land mass for an international airport of this size. With airfield infrastructure consuming nearly all the available land our concept of a “floating terminal” has been selected by the Government for its innovative, exciting and eco-friendly approach. The proposed terminal is built entirely on stilts over water without reclamation to preserve the existing environment and the natural coastline. With blue sea, white sandy beach as backdrop the new airport aims to provide passengers with a unique and memorable travel experience.
Hanimaadhoo International Airport
Future Project of the Year – Health Binh Chanh Pediatric Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, VK, 2050 A+P, Nhat My, Belgium
The Centre presents a welcoming and open environment, offering a natural habitat for care whilst still allowing plenty of opportunity for other activities. The double-height ground floor at entrance level facilitates the rehabilitation process with a sports and fitness facility including a swimming pool, and also a restaurant and theatre. As well as patients, family members and members of the local community (schools, theatre groups etc) are invited to use these facilities on a regular basis. The meandering facade of the building allows the forest inside the building.
Overview
Future Project of the Year – Landscape Shoreline Walk, Beirut, Lebanon, Gustafson Porter, UK
The ‘Shoreline Walk’ is a sequence of connected spaces which form part of the reconstruction of the Beirut city centre. The project demonstrates Beirut’s character and resolve. It guides and reveals Beirut’s history and forms a connective spine to the city. A continuous white limestone line marks the ground and a wide pedestrian promenade. It features four areas to pause and reflect on pre-war city and forgotten memories.
Zeytoune Square Perspective
World Holiday Building of the Year: Raas, Jodhpur, India, The Lotus Praxis Initiative, India
A luxury boutique hotel in the old city of Johhpur, which features 17th and 18th century period structures that have been restored using traditional crafts and materials, to provide visitors with a sensual contemporary experience.
World Villa of the Year: InBetween House, Nagano, Japan, Koji Tsutsui & Associates, Japan
Surrounded by Japanese larch trees in a mountainous region of Karuizawa, Japan, this 178sqm house sits on an artificially levelled area of the site created thirty years ago and left unused.
World House of the Year: Small House, Sydney, Australia, Domenic Alvaro, Australia
The ultra-compact vertical house is located in an urban setting and features an outdoor room on the top floor. It was designed by Alvaro not only to be his own home, but also to test a development model for downtown urban living as an alternative to the ubiquitous luxury apartment.
Roof Terrace at night (Images Courtesy Trevor Mein)
World Civic and Community Building of the Year: Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church, USA, Marlon Blackwell Architect.
The church is the result of a transformation of an existing metal shop building into a sanctuary and fellowship hall in anticipation of a larger adjacent sanctuary on the same site. The simple original structure is enveloped by a new skin, obscuring and refining the original gabled form.
West elevation (Images Courtesy Timothy Hursley)
World New & Old Building of the Year: Puzzle Piece, Canary Islands, Spain, Romera y Ruiz Arquitectos, Spain
A cover for a patio in a nursery school for children to protect their play area from sun and rain, allowing all-weather play. The cover is shaped like a puzzle piece with gaps allowing light in.
Interior View (Images Courtesy Juan Correa)
World Learning Building of the Year: Sainsbury Laboratory, Cambridge, UK, Stanton Williams, UK
The Sainsbury Laboratory is an 11,000 sq.m. plant science research centre set in the University of Cambridge’s Botanic Garden, and brings together world-leading scientists in a working environment of the highest quality. The design reconciles complex scientific requirements with the need for a piece of architecture that also responds to its landscape setting.
Main entrance at night (Images Courtesy Hufton and Crow)
World Culture Building of the Year:
Shima Kitchen, Tonosyotyo, Japan, Architects Atelier RYO ABE, Japan
An arts centre and restaurant situated on a rural island in Western Japan. The building features an awning made of charred timber shingles, which are tied loosely to the main frame of the building to create an illusion of shimmering feathers in the wind.
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