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It was announced amongst other ultimate accolades including World Interior of the Year, Future Project of the Year and Landscape of the Year, at the Gala Dinner of the 15th World Architecture Festival 2022, held at the Convento do Beato, a former Portuguese convent built in the 16th century in Lisbon's historic quarter.

World Building of the Year (Supported by GROHE)
Quay Quarter Tower by 3XN
Photo credit: Phil Noller

World Building of the Year

Quay Quarter Tower (QQT) in Sydney, Australia has been declared the World Building of the Year 2022 at the fifteenth annual World Architecture Festival (WAF). The World Building of the Year, supported by GROHE went to Quay Quarter Tower (QQT), designed by 3XN Architects. The 206-metre tower, located close to the Sydney Opera House, is an office building arranged as a vertical village, creating a sense of community and providing spaces that focus on collaboration, health, well-being and external terraces. Constructed of five stacked shifting volumes, 3XN employed a radical sustainability strategy which involved upcycling the existing tower. The series of stacked atria create a social spine with exceptional views, while also allowing daylight deep into each floor.

World Building of the Year (Supported by GROHE)
Quay Quarter Tower by 3XN
Photo credit: Phil Noller

World Building of the Year (Supported by GROHE)
Quay Quarter Tower by 3XN
Photo credit: MartinSiegner

World Interior of the Year

Pingtan Children Library by Condition_Lab, has been named World Interior of the Year for 2022. The project, located in China, has been selected from a shortlist of 11 categories to win the final accolade, which was supported by Miele. The library is a small timber structure, which draws on a typology of traditional ‘Dong Houses’ and is primarily composed of two interwoven spiral staircases. The value of the project is concentrated in the animation and preservation of traditional culture for the young users and the discipline of the design, highlighting the social importance of architecture.

World Interior of the Year (Supported by Miele)
Pingtan Children Library by Condition_Lab
Photo credit: Sai Zhao

World Interior of the Year (Supported by Miele)
Pingtan Children Library by Condition_Lab
Photo credit: Sai Zhao

Future Project of the Year

The Future Project of the Year 2022, supported by ABB, celebrates the best of the world’s architecture that is yet to be completed. The winning project was awarded to Dream Pathway / The connection between the sports recreation park to a cultural street, in Iran, designed by CAATStudio (Kamboozia Architecture and Design Studio). The project showcases an urban pedestrian and cyclist pathway in the western part of the Abbas Abad hills complex in Tehran. The project, once complete, will aim to create an interactive-attractive narrative in the city which moves users between four different zones through the use of rammed earth material and geometric forms.

Future Project of the Year (Supported by ABB)
Dream Pathway by CAATStudio (Kamboozia Architecture and Design Studio)
Photo credit: CAATStudio (Kamboozia Architecture and Design Studio)

Future Project of the Year (Supported by ABB)
Dream Pathway by CAATStudio (Kamboozia Architecture and Design Studio)
Photo credit: CAATStudio (Kamboozia Architecture and Design Studio)

Landscape of the Year

Landscape of the Year 2022 was awarded to SHANCUN Atelier, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University + Anshun Institute of Architectural Design for its project Preservation and Rehabilitation of Rural Landscape of Gaodang: A Buyi Ethnic Minority Group Village in Southwest China. The project was selected as the winner from the Landscape Rural category. In the ‘Rural’ Landscape category, Design as Experiment: The Handan Wastewater Cleansing Terraces by Turenscape was also highly commended. First place in the ‘Urban’ category was awarded to SHATOTTO for Revitalization of Rasulbagh Children's Park, Bangladesh, while TROP Company Limited by An Villa was highly commended.

Landscape of the Year
Preservation and Rehabilitation of Rural Landscape of Gaodang
Photo credit: Anshun Institute of Architectural Design

Landscape of the Year
Preservation and Rehabilitation of Rural Landscape of Gaodang
Photo credit: Anshun Institute of Architectural Design

Landscape of the Year
Preservation and Rehabilitation of Rural Landscape of Gaodang
Photo credit: Anshun Institute of Architectural Design

World Architecture Festival 2023

The festival will reconvene in 2023 in Singapore for its 16th edition from 29 November to 1 December. Registration is now open: for more details and to register your interest, please visit here. For more details on the 2022 World Architecture Festival and Inside Festival of Interiors, including a full lineup of award winners, please visit each web site.

About World Architecture Festival (WAF)

WAF is the world’s largest annual, international, live architectural event. It includes the biggest international architectural awards programme in the world, dedicated to celebrating excellence via live presentations to an audience of high-profile delegates and international juries.

About INSIDE World Festival of Interiors

INSIDE World Festival of Interiors runs alongside WAF, with its own awards and conference programme. Delegates have access to both events. WAF and INSIDE are organised by EMAP, publishers of The Architectural Review and The Architects’ Journal.