World Architecture Festival and Awards, WAF

The world's leading architecture event

The World Architecture Festival 2018 took place in Amsterdam at the end of November. We welcomed a record breaking number of delegates and saw more shortlisted practices present live at the festival than ever before. Congratulations to all the award winners see them all here.

WAF 2019 will take place on the 4-6 December at RAI Amsterdam. Register your interest for 2019 and be the first to know when early-bird award entries and delegate tickets go on sale.

What was on at WAF 2018

WAF 2018 Award winners

Watch WAF and INSIDE TV live from the festival!

The World Architecture Festival is dedicated to celebrating, sharing and inspiring outstanding architecture. It is the only architecture event where keynote talks from the industry’s most influential figures sit alongside live judging presentations from over 500 award finalists plus global networking and an international product exhibition.

Held in Amsterdam this year, the WAF awards sit at the heart of the festival, the only global awards programme where architects present their completed buildings and future projects live to a panel of internationally renowned judges and delegates from around the world. This year there are more award finalists to see, more presentations and prizes to be received, more delegates to network and more fringe activity than ever before. From presentations in the crit rooms, to conference sessions, to exclusive Amsterdam tours, plus multiple social events, now is your chance to book your festival ticket to enjoy all WAF has to offer! Click here to book.

Enter Now

Winning a WAF Award establishes you as a design leader and elevates your practice onto the worldwide stage, offering the opportunity to win more work.

Begin your entry for the 2018 World Architecture Festival Awards now.

2018 Categories

This year there are 35 categories available to enter across both Completed Buildings and Future Projects – you can enter a project into more than one category and there is no limit to the number of categories you can enter. From Civic to Experimental, House to Office there is a perfect category for you to enter your work.

2018 Judges

130+ judges representing 35+ countries have confirmed to judge live at this year’s World Architecture Festival! Only at WAF are you judged by your peers, your heroes and the industry’s power players all live. Take a look at the full list which includes David Adjay, Alison Brooks, Li Xiaodong and many more renowned architects and industry professionals.

2017 Winners Presentations

View the winning presentations from 2017 to see what it takes to win a prestigious WAF award including the World Building of the Year winning presentation!

2018 Entries Guide

Download the 2018 entries guide for further information on how to enter the WAF awards, including all categories and prizes, key dates and much more.

Sponsorship Opportunities

WAF is your opportunity to meet the world’s architectural elite, showcase your products, make contact with award winners and judges and increase your brand recognition on a global scale.

Find out how you can become a partner of WAF 2018.

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Judges

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Category Winners

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Presentations

2018 Keynote speakers

Across two stages, the World Architecture Festival programme will present key-notes, discussions and debates led by world-renowned architects who will look at some of the most critical challenges facing the architecture and design industry.

Sir David Adjaye, Adjaye Associates

Jeanne Gang, Studio Gang

Rem Koolhaas, OMA

Li Xiaodong, Li Xiaodong Atelier, Tsinghua University School of Architecture

View the 2018 keynote speakers

2018 Super Jury

Natalie de Vries

Lesley Lokko

Manuelle Gautrand

Frederick Cooper Llosa

Li Xiaodong

View the 2018 Judges

This was a real eye opener and a brilliant event in that everything happening around the world is brought to a single event. I was really impressed with the topics and speakers especially on how architecture see's the future of the world and the global issues that are being addressed.

Gansen Govender, Senior Project Manager, GHD

Winning the award is a great encouragement for what we have done, for refreshing ourselves, our architecture. After WAF, we have been well-known from around the world and it gives us chances to meet and talk to different people, this is very important to us, especially when we are always searching for doing something new.

Sanjay Puri, Founder, Sanjay Puri Architects

WAF is a wonderful mix of theory and the reality of everyday practice in the presentations, the jury-comments, the lectures, the debates and exhibitions. The excursions, parties and joined dinner offer excellent opportunities to network. WAF is the most inclusive cross-border event on the architectural horizon!

Brigitte Van Bakel, Principal Architect, Am

Founder Partner

Headline Partners

World Architecture Festival and Awards, WAF