• • 13 July 2015
  • 
  •  Billy Mwangi
• Competitions , Architecture , Awards ,

The World Architecture Festival announced the shortlist for its 2015 awards. The awards program had more than 700 entires from architects and designers representing 47 countries.

All the finalists will be invited to present their project live at the festival in November at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore to a "super jury" that will include Sou Fujimoto, Peter Cook, and David Basulto. A winner for each of the awards' 31 categories will be selected and from this, an overarching World Building or Future Project of the Year award will be selected.

Below is a shortlist of the projects in Africa that made the cut. 

COMPLETED BUILDINGS 

Civic and Community

• Dakar Congress Center, Dakar, Senegal / Tabanlioglu Architects

The Dakar Centre just completed this year is an assortment of playful geometry by all words necessary. 

Steve Bright in Hailstorm was quoted saying ‘…there is always tension in good design; a tension between opposing forces represented by the creative and the prosaic, for design must work as few other artistic endeavors must work. It must work at many levels, at a practical level and at an imaginary level, with subtlety and obviousness, with clarity and suggestiveness, and with simplicity and complexity all intertwined in time and space’.

Dakar Congress Center -WAF Link

Hotel and Leisure:

• Sandibe Safari Lodge, Okavango, Botswana / Michaelis Boyd Associates

The Sandibe Safari Lodge in the Okavango Delta, Botswana completion in 2014 designed for &Beyond is a unique shelter for visitors to admire and stay the UNESCO world heritage site. It sits nestled amongst the natural African ecosystem. The lodge was designed by Nnick Plewman Architects and london-based Michaelis Boyd Associates where they adopted an organic form which draws its influence from animals that inhabit and carry their shelter with them, in this case, the elusive pangolin – Africa’s endangered armadillo.

Sandibe Safari Lodge, Botswana -WAF Link

Office

• 102 Rivonia - EY Head Office, Johannesburg, South Africa / Boogertman + Partners

Developed by Eris Property Group and designed by Boogertman + Partners, 102 Rivonia Road is situated within the heart of Sandton’s business district. The building consists of two conjoined towers, one of which is the new Head Office of leading international firm, Ernst & Young (EY) and the other a multi-tenanted 13 storey tower. The office development is a uniquely sculpted building that emanates timeless professionalism and creativity, unlocks the potential for an adaptable working environment, resonates with the heart and soul of the work environment and its immediate context and creates a rhythm that establishes itself within a uniquely African environment.

102 Rivonia - EY Head Office -WAF Link

Schools

• Bethel Secondary School Project, Burkina Faso, Africa / Article 25

Article 25 worked with a community in Burkina Faso to improve their existing school facilities, in a country with one of the lowest rankings in quality of education in the world. They designed and oversaw the construction of a school in Gourcy, the capital of Zondoma Province. When they first arrived, the school was incredibly overcrowded with 75 – 80 students in each class. In the afternoon, classrooms reached 35^oC, a temperature so uncomfortable many children often failed to attend classes. Despite this there was still a very high demand for places at the school, and in 2012 alone 100 children were turned away.

Bethel Secondary School Project, Burkina Faso -WAF Link

Sport

• Steyn City Clubhouse, Johannesburg, South Africa / Boogertman + Partners

Nestled in the heart of Johannesburg forming part of a 1000ha residential estate, Boogertman + Partners had the opportunity to change perceptions in golf club design in South Africa. Emphasis was placed on the latest technologies regarding lighting, heat reclaim and distribution, grey water utilisation, recycling and reuse of building material, greening of the architectural facades as well as the use of façade shading systems and performance glazing. 

The building is a constant reminder of the relationship to nature by taking the user to the edge where the connection with nature is apparent and unavoidable. The architecture for the Steyn City golf club house achieves within the city, a harmony and continuity with nature. This is a privilege conventionally reserved for buildings usually far removed, in an environment far outside the city limits.

Steyn City Clubhouse -WAF Link

FUTURE PROJECTS

Office

• Central Bank of Libya, Tripoli, Libya / Tabanlioglu Architects

This was part of the Honorable mentions for the design competition of Central Bank of Libya held in 2013 after more than two years past the Revolution of the 17th February. The Central Bank of Libya wished to establish their new seat being one of the key institutions of the reborn state of Libya. The design of a new building was to express the stability of growing Libyan financial and economic potential in a new, modern and flexible approach. 

Central Bank of Libya -WAF Link