A film and animation institute in Thailand, a dinosaur museum in Australia, an observatory in South Africa and a golf clubhouse in Brazil are among 301 projects that were announced yesterday in the shortlist of the 2012 World Architecture Festival awards the world’s biggest architectural awards programme.

This year’s festival is being held in Singapore for the first time, prompting in a big increase in entries from Asia, particularly Australia and Singapore, but also from China, India and Japan.

Now in its fifth year, the WAF awards have attracted more than 500 entries from almost 50 countries. This year’s entries have come from as far south as New Zealand to as far north as Norway, with projects in countries including Angola, Azerbaijan, Equatorial Guinea and Brunei alongside entries from USA, UK and Scandinavia, which all have significant presence on the shortlist.

Projects entered this year, against a challenging economic climate, reflect the festival’s theme of ‘Rethink and Renew’, highlighting the need for innovative and creative approaches to existing buildings and areas, and questioning whether it is time for architecture to rethink whether it is fulfilling the role it should, and delivering for those it serves.

Buildings designed by global architects such as Woods Bagot, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and Foster & Partners feature among projects by smaller practices. Each practice will compete as equals when presenting their shortlisted designs live to international judging panels and festival delegates.

World Architecture Festival will take place in Singapore from 3 – 5 October this year, and will include conference sessions, seminars and an exhibition featuring all the awards entries. 

Paul Finch, WAF Programme Director, said: ‘The WAF awards programme is the centrepiece of a festival which has strengthened over the last five years as a truly global event. The awards have again attracted hundreds of entries from across the globe. We were not only impressed by high levels of flair, creativity and innovation in the entries, but also encouraged that our new venue in Singapore has led to an increase in Asian and Oceanic entries. We’re looking forward to meeting the architects that have been shortlisted at the festival in October, when they will present their projects to panels of industry experts as they compete in their categories.’ 
The awards are divided into three main sections: Completed Buildings, Landscape Architecture, and Future Projects (for designs in progress), with various award sub-categories. For a full breakdown of the WAF awards shortlist, please visit:www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/shortlist2012 

Notes to editors:
About the WAF awards:
The awards are divided into three main sections: Completed Buildings, Landscape Architecture, and Future Projects (for designs in progress), with the following categories in each section:
Completed Projects

• Civic and Community
• Culture
• Display
• Health
• Hotel/Leisure
• House
• Housing
• New and Old 
• Office
• Production/Energy/Recycling
• Schools
• Shopping
• Shopping Centres
• Sport
• Transport
• Villa

Landscape Projects
• Completed designs – rural
• Completed designs – urban
Future Projects

• Culture
• Education
• Experimental
• Health
• House
• Infrastructure
• Leisure led development
• Masterplanning
• Mixed use
• Office
• Residential

About the World Architecture Festival 2012
World Architecture Festival (WAF), the world’s largest, live, inclusive and interactive global architecture event, is returning for its fifth successive year. To celebrate this milestone, and to signal the evolution of the Festival as the world’s leading architectural event, this year’s festival will be held in a new destination, taking place in Singapore from 3rd to 5th October 2012.