Three Benoy projects have been shortlisted for World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards.
1. King’s Road, by the London studio, has been shortlisted in the Future Projects – Commercial Mixed Use category.
2. Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Port City by the Shanghai Studio, has been shortlisted in the Future Projects — Commercial Mixed-Use category.
3. Guangzhou Yangtian Electric Substation 220-kV by the Hong Kong Studio, has been shortlisted in the Future Projects — Infrastructure.
The World Architecture Festival (WAF) is an annual festival and awards ceremony and one of the most prestigious events dedicated to the architecture and development industry.
Shortlisted projects showcase exemplary contributions to the built environment reflecting this edition’s theme: Together.
King’s Road, London – to be presented by Jamie Webb and Catarina Cruz
Drawing inspiration from the site’s former use as a botanical nursery, the King’s Road project is marked by a seemingly suspended garden box that punctuates a refined fluted brick façade. This glass menagerie, inspired by the 19th century Wardian plant cases and showcasing botanical curiosities, becomes a sustainable beacon for the King’s Road.
Benoy’s vision for 81 – 103 King’s Road is for a unique sustainable mixed-use development; an open, green, light-filled space for people to come to work, shop, eat and relax, based around a verdant central courtyard.
The project offers the chance to create much needed public realm and re-introduce green spaces back to this part of the city. Inspired by its botanical past, the project incorporates elements and references to apothecary shelves, botanical influences and a transparent garden box element to act as a landmark for the scheme. Green elements are also interwoven through a sedum-tiered roofscape that responds to significant rights of light considerations for residents at the rear and sides. This introduces biodiversity into the scheme and green views for surrounding residents. The project is targeting BREEAM Outstanding for workplace. The project won a WAN award in 2021.
Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Port City — to be presented by Qin Pang
The project is located on Zhuhai Artificial Island. As a central hub, the artificial island not only enriches the transportation and connection between Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macao, but also greatly improves the efficiency of entry and exit via two ports. In this way, the project creates the ‘one-hour living circle’ between the three places.
Pang Qin, Director and Head of the Shanghai Office who worked as the Principal Project Designer, said: The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Artificial Island is the cornerstone connecting these three places. It is an important driver for the development of the whole one-hour living circle. The construction of Shimao on the artificial island adds energy and pace to this process. With conference and exhibition centres and hotels, as well as the commercial project and two ports, the artificial island will have a stable ecosystem with rich, functional urban populations. These elements will combine to underpin the overall construction and development of the Greater Bay Area, contributing to a new world-class destination.”
The Zhuhai Shimao Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Port City project consists of a shopping mall, hotel office cluster, international grade office cluster, luxury hotel cluster, cultural centre and exhibition centre. The commercial complex is arranged as a link between the Zhuhai port in the south, the Coastal Plaza in the north, and other surrounding functions. The hotel-style office cluster in enhanced by the beauty and tranquillity of the landscape on the east side of the site. The hotel cluster boasts unique views of the waterfront, while the office and exhibition functions are adjacent to the bus hubs, providing convenient transport access.
Guangzhou Yangtian Electric Substation — to be presented by Gregory Kovacs
Based on the goal of making new progress in four aspects, as put forward in the Guangzhou municipal government’s master plan to accelerate the regeneration of the old city, this substation competition is intended to resolve the problem of municipal public facilities through landscape and function enhancement, promoting their integration into the development of the urban landscape.
Gregory Kovacs, Design Director and Principal Project Director said, “We all know too well how such substations can become less than welcome, yet permanent, visitors in their neighbourhoods. How can this relationship be turned around to make these pieces of essential infrastructure a part of their neighbourhoods? Integrating them not only into the physical urban context but also into the social fabric? Our strategy was to capture some of the qualities of the tiny, abandoned village we found when we visited the site.”
Inspired by a phoenix’s rebirth, the new substation uses traditional local building materials to gradually emerge from the surrounding landscape like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Benoy used cladding boards to create a three-dimensional effect like a phoenix’s feathers, conveying a subtle and serene beauty in the change of light and shadow. The layered walls are like the heavy clouds of the Baiyun Mountain gently unfolding, bringing traditional local materials back to life in a new creation.
