Winners of the 2014 ArchDaily Building of the Year Awards have been announced, chosen from hundreds of submissions by a judging panel of 60,000 architects over the internet.

The Awards are a peer-based, crowd-sourced architecture award, with ArchDaily’s readers filtering the projects featured on ArchDaily during the past year (2013) and voting what they believe is the best and should win.

According to ArchDaily’s editor in chief, David Basulto, the winning projects and buildings are different in scale and form, yet similar in their achievements.

“This group of buildings is unique in several aspects, in their spatial qualities and materials, yes, but also in terms of what they represent for the communities they serve,” says Basulto.

“Each of these projects, in their own special way, solve unique social/environmental/economic challenges.”

Winning the Housing category is the Tete in L’air by KOZ Architectes. Located in an old working class borough in the north of Paris, the original building was in poor condition, but the architects were inspired by the rich and dense social life of the development.

Tete in L'air by KOZ Architectes. Photography by Cécile Septet

The existing building has been revamped to accommodate apartments geared towards today’s living standards. It also features a double height porch to allow views to the garden from the street.

But the winning feature of this new build is the 100 per cent wooden construction.

“[This was] a strong conviction on our part as this material combines incomparable ecological and aesthetic benefits, but quite a feat in a country where all regulations and builder habits revolve around concrete construction,” note the architects.

“From ground to roof we had to invent new solutions to solve structural, acoustic or fire issues; a sort of high tech use of a low tech material, bringing the overall environmental performance to exceed…current standards.”

Tete in L'air by KOZ Architectes. Photography by Cécile Septet

Tete in L'air by KOZ Architectes. Photography by Cécile Septet

What results is a wood building that requires a high degree of discipline and stringency, but emanates a playful rhythm from the plug-in wood boxes that punctuate the façade and disrupt the rational constructive order.

48 North Canal Road by WOHA topped the Offices category this year, developed from a project brief that called for a new boutique office and reconstruction of a pair of heritage-listed shophouses in Singapore.

48 North Canal Road by WOHA. Photography by Patrick Bingham-Hall

Retaining the original floor levels with their low ceiling heights, the architects lifted up the open plan offices within the upper four floors to maximise floor plate size and provide higher head room. At the same time, this move has allowed more natural daylight to stream in from the sides.

Unlike a typical internalised courtyard, the main design strategy was to invert the shophouse typology by carving out valuable floor area to create an externalised and public pocket park at the heart of the office. Break-out areas and meeting rooms are organised around this park, allowing occupants to enjoy the greenery and light that it brings to the deep plan.

The fractal, triangulated geometry originated from the need to have splayed corners as the building is bounded by three roads. This requirement inspired a chiselled expression that takes the form of internal angled walls, and external slanted planes.

48 North Canal Road by WOHA. Photography by Patrick Bingham-Hall

48 North Canal Road by WOHA. Photography by Patrick Bingham-Hall

Full list of 2014 winners:

Housing

Tete in L’air by KOZ Architectes (Paris, France)

Offices

48 North Canal Road by WOHA (Singapore)

Hospitality Architecture

Tree Snake Houses by Luis Rebelo de Andrade + Tiago Rebelo de Andrade (Portugal)

Tree Snake Houses by Luís Rebelo de Andrade + Tiago Rebelo de Andrade. Photography by Ricardo Oliveira Alves

Tree Snake Houses by Luís Rebelo de Andrade + Tiago Rebelo de Andrade. Photography by Ricardo Oliveira Alves

Cultural Architecture

Danish National Maritime Museum by BIG (Denmark)

Danish National Maritime Museum by BIG. Photography by Rasmus Hjortshøj

Danish National Maritime Museum by BIG. Photography by Rasmus Hjortshøj

Refurbishment

Three Cusps Chalet by Tiago do Vale Arquitectos (Portugal)

Three Cusps Chalet by Tiago do Vale Arquitectos. Photography by João Morgado

Three Cusps Chalet by Tiago do Vale Arquitectos. Photography by João Morgado

Industrial Architecture

Antinori Winery by Archea Associati (Italy)

Antinori Winery by Archea Associati. Photography by Pietro Savorelli

Antinori Winery by Archea Associati. Photography by Pietro Savorelli

Houses

Binh Thanh House by Vo Trong Nghia Architects + Sanuki + Nishizawa Architects (Thailand)

Binh Thanh House by Vo Trong Nghia Architects + Sanuki + Nishizawa architects. Photography by Hiroyuki Oki

Binh Thanh House by Vo Trong Nghia Architects + Sanuki + Nishizawa architects. Photography by Hiroyuki Oki

Sports Architecture

Archery Hall & Boxing Club by FT Architects (Japan)

Archery Hall & Boxing Club by FT Architects. Photography by Shigeo Ogawa

Archery Hall & Boxing Club by FT Architects. Photography by Shigeo Ogawa

Educational Architecture

Braamcamp Freire by CVDB arquitectos (Lisbon)

Braamcamp Freire by CVDB arquitectos. Photography by invisiblegentleman.com

Braamcamp Freire by CVDB arquitectos. Photography by invisiblegentleman.com

Interior Architecture

Walmart Sao Paulo by Estudio Guto Requena (Brazil)

Walmart Sao Paulo by Estudio Guto Requena. Photography by Fran Parente

Walmart Sao Paulo by Estudio Guto Requena. Photography by Fran Parente

Healthcare Architecture

Alcácer do Sal Residences by Aires Mateus (Portugal)

Alcácer do Sal Residences by Aires Mateu. Photography by FG+SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

Alcácer do Sal Residences by Aires Mateu. Photography by FG+SG – Fernando Guerra, Sergio Guerra

Religious Architecture

Saint John Baptist Chapel by Alejandro Beautell (Spain)

Saint John Baptist Chapel by Alejandro Beautell. Photography by Efraín Pintos

Saint John Baptist Chapel by Alejandro Beautell. Photography by Efraín Pintos

Public Architecture

Newbern Town Hall by Auburn University Rural Studio (USA)

Newbern Town Hall by Auburn University Rural Studio. Photography by Timothy Hursley

Newbern Town Hall by Auburn University Rural Studio. Photography by Timothy Hursley

Commercial Architecture

Fuel Station + McDonalds by Giorgi Khmaladze (Georgia)

Fuel Station + McDonalds by Giorgi Khmaladze. Photography by Giorgi Khmaladze

Fuel Station + McDonalds by Giorgi Khmaladze. Photography by Giorgi Khmaladze

Images: http://www.archdaily.com

Geraldine Chua

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