The World Architectural Festival has announced the 11 winners of their newest award slate, the WAFX Prize, sponsored by GreenCoat®, celebrating the world’s most forward-looking architecture. The prize is awarded to future projects that address key challenges architects with face over the next 10 years, spanning topics including climate, energy & carbon, water, ageing and health, re-use, smart cities, building technology, cultural identity, ethics, power and justice.
From the 11 category winners, the Hydroelectric Canal by Paul Lukez was selected as the overall winner for its innovative approach to shaping economic and environmentally resilient self-sustaining communities.
Overall Winner + Climate, Energy & Carbon Prize winner
The Hydroelectric Canal / Paul Lukez Architecture
The Hydroelectric Canal addresses the complex challenge of rising sea levels. PLA together with a multidisciplinary team are working on a scheme to harness the energy from the rising tides in low lying urban areas. The communities will be able to draw clean energy through advanced hydroelectric systems which will generate power from the tidal changes.
Water Prize winner
Floating Ponds / Surbana Jurong Consultants
This projects’ systemic integration of water, nutrients and energy leads to a concept which enables the creation of a self-sustained and closed loop farming eco-system. Floating Ponds omits the traditional dependency on land and will enable rapidly expanding and densifying cities to build resilience through a creative use of space and water.
Ageing and Health Prize winner
Södra Skanstull / White Arkitekter
White Arkitekter has developed a new masterplan for Sodra Skanstull, an area located in the south of Stockholm. The focal point of the scheme is a new diagonal boulevard for pedestrians and cyclists, which makes use of an old railway route, and improves public movement through the area. White’s proposal shows how creating walkability is at the heart of building a people centred sustainable city of the future.
Ethics Prize winner
Whitmore Community Food Hub Complex: Building Community around Food / University of Arkansas Community Design Center
Besides providing processing and distribution support for an underserved agricultural community, the 400,000 sqft Whitmore Food Hub serves additional community needs such as agricultural workforce housing, retail, local business incubation, and cultural tourism.
Smart City Prize winners
Media City / Gad Architecture
Media City will be a vibrant and engaging habitat where people can witness the design, production and application of virtual reality and multimedia products as well as being a beacon for future smart city strategies.
Oresund City: a new European metropolis by 2030 / Sweco Architects
Sweco Architects entry is based on the vision of using a new archipelago to join Copenhagen and Malmo to form an entirely new city: Oresund City.
The Green Manhattan / SHAU
The Green Manhattan by SHAU is a proposal for multitude of ecological and social projects combined to form one sustainable city at Jakarta Bay.
Re-use Prize Winner
I LOVE NYDALEN / SAAHA AS
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SAAHA AS’s proposal maps out how the historic industrial buildings in the Nydalsveien 32B area of Oslo can be preserved and redeveloped with housing, to enable active and vibrant city life. The centre of the district will be transformed into a greenhouse, a common and shared space for both residence and the general public.
Building Technology Prize winner
Energie- ud Zukunftsspeicher im Energiepark Heidelberg / LAVA
This animated energy tower reinvents a 1950s - tank typology into a hub of sustainability; both a renewable energy storage and an educational destination for renewable energy. The external façade is animated by over 20,000 diamond shaped steel plates, the number of moving plates will indicate the number of households supplied by the renewable energy stored in the tower.
Power and Justice Prize winner
Revolution 4.0 / Abdullah Ahmed N AlDabbous
The project utilises of Cairo’s unused urban spaces such as motorway flyovers) to provide both learning and opportunities for advancement for street children. This project aims to engage with the street children, who have become part of Cairo’s social and spatial structure, as positive economic assets rather than liabilities.
Cultural Identity Prize winner
Lagos's Wooden Tower / Hermann Kamte & Associates
This proposal aims to create a new generation of the city of Lagos, above the existing urban fabric. The Lagos wooden tower is built with a high resistance LVL timber system and stands out as a residential tower that acts as a smart and sustainable monument to the city.
The 2017 World Architecture Festival will take place in Berlin from November 15-17. Learn more about the Festival and purchase delegate passes here. Use the discount code ARCHDAILY17 to receive 20% off!
News and project descriptions via WAF
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