Shortlist
EAA | Emre Arolat Architecture
İdris Ayar [Team Leader] | impressions
about WAF…
The World Architecture Festival [WAF] is the largest global award event for architects and designers and one of the most comprehensive architectural gatherings. I think its most unusual and interesting feature is that it is almost ‘live-judged’.
From large to small, from well-known names to undiscovered [for now] offices, many offices of various scales presented their projects in 44 different categories divided according to typology and function. This diversity creates a very broad representation of both building types and current architectural debates.
After the slowdown caused by the pandemic, WAF returned last year as a face-to-face event in Portugal. This year, WAF has chosen Singapore as its host again since 2015. It was announced that it will be held in Singapore again in 2024. These choices bear some traces about the focus of architectural debates in the world. We can say that it has made a very successful and well-attended comeback this year.
The theme of WAF 2023 was announced as ‘Catalyst’. It is quite interesting and points to some issues that I think have an important place in today’s architectural debates. I see this theme as a topic of discussion that argues architecture and design can be a catalyst for positive change, questioning the power of design to change the environment while looking for ways to use it positively. We can see the impact of this theme both in the panels and speeches organised in the jury evaluations, and in major awards such as ‘Building of the Year’.
highlights…
In general, we observe that WAF sessions and evaluations emphasise projects that contain original thought, have a strong relationship with their natural and built environment, the political and sociological situation in which they are located, have strong contextual relationships, approach the project from a wider scale, not only at the scale of the building, and have something to say. Juries are somehow interested in questioning the ‘why’ of what we do. Was it a client request? Was it a constraint or necessity of the site? Was it a new method, a new approach that the office, the architectural practice was trying to explore with the project in question? The stronger the reasons and the story behind what is done, the stronger the context of the project and its relationship with the place, and this is reflected in the evaluations.
At EAA, the main issue in our design practice has always been ‘context’. Beyond considering buildings as objects, we aim to connect them to the place intellectually. We received two awards for two projects where this approach is very visible.
In the project evaluation of the Nora Mosque and Community Centre in Ajman, which received the WAFX award in the Cultural Identity category, I think that the relationship of the building with the city scale and its surroundings and its innovative and seminal approach to mosque architecture were effective. I think that our role in the creation of the requirements program of this project, our influence in the process of transforming the building into a community centre that is always living with auxiliary functions, rather than just building a mosque, also attracted attention.
In the Hyatt Regency White Roads Hotel project in Albania, which received the ‘Highly Commended’ award in the Future Leisure-led Development category, I think that the building has the potential to be a reference and pioneer for other tourism projects in the region, not only for its own physical structure, but also for the contextual power it exhibits on the scale of the immediate neighbourhood, city and even the country, and that this was recognised by the jury. We see that the project’s relationship with the Delta formation, which is a natural park area right next to the project, the mental depth in the interpretation and abstraction of this relationship and the physical aesthetics of this interpretation are also effective in this evaluation.
preparation…
On the first day of the festival, before the presentations had even started, programme director Finch said in a meeting with the jury members: Today there will be separate presentations in 17 different rooms. Some people may make good presentations, some may get excited or have a bad day. Your task is to select the good projects, not the good presentations, and try to understand the potential of the projects.
However, I think it is important to have a fluent presentation that reveals the story behind the project, the context, and why you are doing what you are doing. No matter how long you have been involved in the project, stepping back a little, focusing on telling the real and core story of the project to a group that is completely unfamiliar with the project, and refining the narrative accordingly will help the jury members to understand the project.
It should be realised that WAF presentations have a technical side that cannot be ignored. It has a very regular, intense and disruption-free programme. Regardless of the scale of the project, from urban projects to single house projects, you are given only 10 minutes for your presentation. In order to make the best use of these 10 minutes, it is necessary to be able to control the time and make a good editing.
Just like the presenters, the juries are made up of people from quite diverse backgrounds. All of them may have a different focus, so it is quite difficult to prepare for the Q&A, but it may not be necessary if you are familiar with the project and its story. It will be helpful to watch the presentations of your own category and therefore get some ideas about your jury and the questions they may ask. Touching on the issues that you could not mention in the 10 minute presentation in the Q&A session and using the questions in this context is also a good way to explain the project to the jury members in a limited time.
criticism…
The fact that WAF creates a very wide representation can make the projects ‘competing’ in the same category quite different from each other, even though they are classified in a wide variety of categories. For example, a very large-scale tourism structure and a one-room cabin project in the forest can compete in the same category. Considering the high number of competing projects within the category, it can be said that it is a very challenging festival. However, I think it is very inspiring and exciting to be at the centre of a very rich architectural discussion and production environment, and from an emotional point of view, to establish a direct connection with designers and their projects. This is an experience that goes beyond following current architecture online or in printed publications.
remarkable projects & presentations…
I found the Huizhen High School building – which received the award for the best building of the year in completed buildings – very successful, with its design and poetic expression that encourages ‘wasting time’ as a rebellion against the current education model based on efficiency. However, the project that I expected to receive the grand prize was the Taiwan – Reyhanli Centre for World Citizens project. This project, which is the exact equivalent of the catalyst theme, clearly demonstrates that design has no boundaries and has the potential to change its surroundings and create ‘goodness’. As the winner of its category, I think that this project should find more space in the architectural environment of Türkiye.
Lastly, The Probiotic Tower project in Cairo, which was awarded the best structure of the year in incomplete buildings, was another project that attracted a lot of attention and I think deserved the award it received. I think that it brings a very innovative interpretation to the concepts of not building new structures, not demolishing and rehabilitation, which I find very interesting in today’s architectural debate.
