A soaring hotel in Dubai, a space observatory in Cyprus and the control center of a Turkish solar power plant are among more than 220 projects shortlisted for the coveted World Building of the Year prize.
Spanning 18 categories, from housing and offices to health facilities and sport venues, the shortlist was announced by organizers of the annual World Architecture Festival (WAF) on Monday.
Other notable buildings on this year’s shortlist include the new Australian Embassy in Washington DC and the recently expanded Terminal 2 at Singapore’s Changi Airport.
The finalists will all present their projects at the festival’s 17th edition this November. A panel of 175 delegates will vote for category winners, which then go head-to-head for the overall title.
Last year’s top prize was awarded to a boarding school, in China’s Zhejiang province, which features a rooftop park, treehouses and elevated walkways that form a “floating forest.” Previous winners of World Building of the Year include the Zaha Hadid-designed National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome, a waste-to-energy power plant with a rooftop ski slope in Copenhagen and Sydney’s “upcycled” Quay Quarter Tower, which retained two-thirds of an old skyscraper on the site.
In a statement, WAF program director Paul Finch said that 2024’s competition had attracted “another terrific set of entries” that had “made shortlisting projects a tough process.”
Scroll down to see a selection of this year’s nominees.
Designed by US architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, the 500-meter-long (1640 feet) Atlantis The Royal hotel in Dubai sees a series of stacked volumes connected by a central sky bridge. - 2024 World Architecture Festival
The "woven" exterior of Texoversum, the new campus expansion plan of the Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences in Germany, reflects the building's function as a center for teaching and researching textile industry technologies. - 2024 World Architecture Festival
Chilean architecture firm Contexto was recognized for its serene A-framed hotel, TAWA Refugio. - 2024 World Architecture Festival
The aptly named Slender House, by Indian firm Spaces Architects@KA, was built on a plot in Delhi measuring just 6 meters (19.7 feet) wide. - 2024 World Architecture Festival
Nestled in the Troodos Mountains and housing two powerful telescopes, the National Star Observatory of Cyprus, by Kyriakos Tsolakis Architects, was nominated in the Civic and Community category. - 2024 World Architecture Festival
Chinese firm UAO Design’s tent-like Liangzi Island Off-island Pier tent-features a glass-fronted visitor center overlooking a lake in the city of Ezhou. - 2024 World Architecture Festival
Located on the European shore of the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, the original 17th-century structure was severely damaged during WWI. A multi-disciplinary team comprising designers, historians and engineers worked to restore the fortress to its current form today. - 2024 World Architecture Festival
Mixed-use development Lighthouse is currently home to Denmark's tallest building. The waterside project by 3NX Architects is situated in the city of Aarhus. - 2024 World Architecture Festival
The circular OLM Nature Escape, designed by Andreas Gruber Architects, is a boutique hotel nestled in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains. - 2024 World Architecture Festival
The Shenzhen Women & Children's Center, by Dutch architecture group MVRDV, is a colorful Chinese skyscraper containing an array of facilities for women and children, including a library and a kids’ theater. - 2024 World Architecture Festival
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