The World Architecture Festival (WAF), the world’s largest architectural festival and awards event held annually in Singapore, has announced the theme of this year's program: 50:50. The theme is inspired by Singapore’s upcoming 50th anniversary as an independent country, and will look back on how architecture and urbanism have changed during the last 50 years, as well as forward on what may change or stay the same in the next 50 years to come.
The conference will center around three key topics: Designing for Tomorrow; Imagining the Future; and Cities and Urbanism. Among the sessions will be lectures on “The future of food: Radical approaches that preserve ecological sustainability” by Michael Sorkin and Rachel Belatchew of Belatchew Arkitekter; “The way we thought then, the way we think now” by Charles Jencks; and Singapore 50:50 by Liu Thai-Ker of RSP Architects Planners & Engineers. Peter Cook and Kerry Hill will also give a talk on “Reflections on 50 years of city evolution,” while Manuelle Gautrand will speak on “Paris reconsidered.” The full conference program can be viewed here.
This year WAF will be held from November 4-6. In addition to the conferences, exhibitions and lectures, an awards ceremony will also take place, recognizing projects across 30 categories and ultimately selecting the World Building, Future Project and Landscape of the Year. The shortlisted projects have already been announced and include designs by Foster + Partners, Zaha Hadid Architects, Herzog & de Meuron, OMA, Buro Ole Scheeren and BIG.
This year’s “superjurors” include Sir Peter Cook (UK), Sou Fujimoto (Japan), Benedetta Tagliabue (Spain), Charles Jencks (UK/US), Kerry Hill(Singapore) and Manuelle Gautrand (France).
View the full conference program here. Make sure to use the ARCHDAILY10 discount code to receive a 10% discount when booking your festival pass.
