Shanghai Houtan Park, China, designed by Turenscape, China, has won the ‘World’s Best Landscape’ award at the prestigious World Architecture Festival Awards (WAF Awards) 2010.
The presentation of the WAF Awards is taking place during the biggest global celebration of architecture - the World Architecture Festival, which is being held at the Centre Convencions International Barcelona (CCIB) this week.
The Shanghai Houtan Park project filters water through an intricate set of green terraces, controls flooding, uses the fertile land for seasonal crops, and offers a new recreational and civic space for the entire city.
It was chosen by some of the world’s most distinguished architects and renowned industry experts, beating off competition from a shortlist of 6 entries.
The judges selected Shanghai Houtan Park as unanimous winner, among a very high-quality group of projects, for its masterful use of design strategies to transform the polluted waterfront of the Huangpu River into a living system.
The judges said: “Shanghai Houtan Park is an inspiring high performance, but low maintenance design that could be applied to many polluted waterfronts worldwide.”
Speaking at the WAF Awards 2010 Paul Finch, WAF Programme Director, said: “World Architecture Festival brings international architecture to the forefront, against the backdrop of Barcelona’s breathtaking architecture. Yet again we received a huge response to the fiercely contested WAF Awards, with over 500 entries from 61 different countries. The geographical range and quality of this year’s designs were exceptionally high, with a great deal of entries from “new” economies, both by local architects and international practices. Our congratulations go to the winners for a project that is truly exceptional.”
The WAF Awards see unsung local buildings take on internationally acclaimed projects in what is the world’s biggest architecture contest. Unlike other architectural competitions, architects present their work in front of leading industry judges and a live public audience as they compete for the accolade of ‘World Building of the Year’.
This is the 3rd year the World Architecture Festival Awards have been presented. Previous winners include ‘World Building of the Year 2008’ - Luigi Bocconi University, Milan, designed by Irish practice Grafton Architects and ‘World Building of the Year 2009’ - Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa, designed by Peter Rich Architects of Johannesburg.
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