World Architecture Festival Awards

A film and animation institute in Thailand, a dinosaur museum in Australia, an observatory in South Africa and a golf clubhouse in Brazil are among 301 projects that have been announced on the shortlist of the 2012 World Architecture Festival Awards ?? the world??s biggest architectural awards programme.

This year??s festival is being held in Singapore for the first time, prompting in a big increase in entries from Asia, particularly Australia and Singapore, but also from China, India and Japan. Now in its fifth year, the WAF Awards have attracted more than 500 entries from almost 50 countries. This year??s entries have come from as far south as New Zealand to as far north as Norway, with projects in countries including Angola, Azerbaijan, Equatorial Guinea and Brunei alongside entries from USA, UK and Scandinavia, which all have significant presence on the shortlist.

Projects entered this year, against a challenging economic climate, reflect the festival??s theme of ??Rethink and Renew??, highlighting the need for innovative and creative approaches to existing buildings and areas, and questioning whether it is time for architecture to rethink whether it is fulfilling the role it should, and delivering for those it serves.

Buildings designed by global architects such as Woods Bagot, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and Foster & Partners feature among projects by smaller practices. Each practice will compete as equals when presenting their shortlisted designs live to international judging panels and festival delegates. The World Architecture Festival will take place in Singapore from 3 ?? 5 October this year, and will include conference sessions, seminars and an exhibition featuring all the awards entries.

WAF programme director, Paul Finch says: ?The WAF Awards programme is the centrepiece of a festival which has strengthened over the last five years as a truly global event. The awards have again attracted hundreds of entries from across the globe. We were not only impressed by high levels of flair, creativity and innovation in the entries, but also encouraged that our new venue in Singapore has led to an increase in Asian and Oceanic entries. We??re looking forward to meeting the architects that have been shortlisted at the festival in October, when they will present their projects to panels of industry experts as they compete in their categories.??

The awards are div ided into three main sections: Completed Buildings, Landscape Architecture, and Future Projects (for designs in progress), with various award sub-categories.