The 2016 World Building and World Interior of the Year were announced Friday 18 November at the World Architecture Festival and Inside Festival of Interiors in Berlin.

Australia had a chance to take both prizes with Francis Jones Morehen Thorp’s Waterfront Pavilion at Sydney’s Darling Harbour in the running for the Building of the Year title, and a project each from Woods Bagot and Smart Design Studio in the running for the Interior of the Year.

But it wasn’t to be for Australia, and it was an interior design for retail brand Heike in Hangzhou and a new National Museum in Szczecin, Poland that took out World Interior of the Year and World Building of the year respectively.

See pictures and judges’ comments on both projects below:

WORLD BUILDING OF THE YEAR

National Museum in Szczecin - Dialogue Centre Przełomy by Robert Konieczny + KWK Promes

Judges comments:

“This project enriches the city and the life of the city. It addresses a site with three histories, pre-World War II, wartime destruction, and post-war development, which left a significant gap in the middle of the city.

“This is a piece of topography as well as a museum. To go underground is to explore the memory and archaeology of the city, while above ground the public face of the building, including its undulating roof, and be interpreted and used in a variety of ways.

“This is a design which addresses the past in an optimistic, poetic and imaginative way.”

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WORLD INTERIOR OF THE YEAR

Black Cant System - HEIKE fashion brand concept store (Hangzhou, China) by Hangzhou AN Interior Design

Judges comments:

“Faced with a divided space, the designers inserted a black canted cube over the existing central stair, and effectively absorbed the programmatic elements into a poetic and sculptural whole.

“The store brand and architectural image work in harmony, with a sensitivity to surface and details.”

Architecture & Design Team

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