Lisbon, Portugal – Some of the most bold, beautiful and innovative projects from around the world are revealed today as the shortlist for the 2022 World Architecture Festival (WAF) is announced, ahead of the live festival event taking place later this year, under the theme of ‘Together’.
WAF represents the world’s biggest live judged architectural awards programme, and the 420-strong 2022 shortlist has been selected from hundreds of entries from over 50 countries, including Portugal, Malaysia, Finland, Mexico, Turkey, Australia, Japan, India and the UK. The shortlist celebrates the best new completed buildings and landscapes, ranging from rural and coastal villas to contemporary religious buildings to the very latest healthcare buildings to complete since the pandemic. The shortlist also includes Future Projects, showcasing the most inspiring new architectural concepts.
Three years on since the global community of architects and designers have been able to meet live at WAF, this year’s festival returns as an in-person event, in Lisbon, from 30 November - 2 December.
The theme for the 2022 edition of the festival is ‘Together’, and as part of a live events programme, an international panel of speakers will explore and debate how architecture is responding to the renewal of collective life post-pandemic, and in the light of commitments to combatting climate change.
WAF’s unique live-judged awards programme, which sits at the heart of the festival, will see architects and designers behind each shortlisted project compete for 43 category prizes. Category winners will then compete against each other on the final day of the festival, for the ultimate accolades of World Building of the Year and Landscape of the Year, as well as Future Project of the Year and Interior of the Year. Projects from across the shortlist will be selected for Special Prizes including the Best Use of Natural Light Prize, Best Use of Certified Timber Prize and the newly introduced International Building Beauty Prize.
This year’s entrants range from major world architects including Foster + Partners, 3XN, Zaha Hadid Architects, Studio Gang, Nikken Sekkei, Mecanoo, and White Arkitekter, while many smaller practices will also be on stage, live pitching against the big names. This year’s international judging panels will include Mario Cucinella, Tracy Meller, Sanjay Puri, Gonka Arik Caliskan, Sir Peter Cook, Yui Tezuka, Shane O’Toole, Eva Jiricna, Issa Diabaté, Nadia Tromp, Jo Noero, Ann Lau and Nigel Coates.
WAF programme director Paul Finch commented: “The number and quality of entries this year has been very encouraging, and we are looking forward to meeting in person to carry out category judging and then our best-in-show awards. WAF, the outstanding live event in the world of architecture, celebrates its 15th year in 2022. We are delighted to be hosting the event in the magnificent city of Lisbon and look forward to re-engaging with our architect and designer friends from across the world.”
This is first time WAF has been hosted in the Portuguese capital, following previous editions in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Singapore and Berlin. WAF and its co-located event, INSIDE World Festival of Interiors, will welcome the world’s leading architects and designers to Lisbon for three days of talks programmes, awards, exhibitions and fringe events, showcasing leading international practices, the best new projects, and most pressing live debates.
For more details on the 2022 World Architecture Festival and the WAF Awards please visit: www.worldarchitecturefestival.com.
