Now in their 17th year, the global WAN Awards are intended to celebrate outstanding architecture on an international scale. Every project entered in the WAN Awards is assessed by an expert panel of senior industry judges from across the world.
Read on to discover what the latest judges to join the panel have been working on recently themselves, and why they believe the WAN Awards are more important than ever.
Director and chief architect of CCTN Design, Hongtao Bo has extensive experience in urban renewal and development and breathing new life into industrial heritage buildings. Some of his firm’s recent projects include the transformation of the former Olympic park for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, Chang'an Mills; a culture and art centre in Jining, China with an inverted cone design inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and the repurposing of a 1950s factory building into the new Jiangxi Academy of Painting Art Museum. He believes the WAN Awards are vital to “inject confidence into our industry.”
An urban designer with a background in architecture and interior design, Meenakshi Bhagat (Kumar) is a founder and creative director at Maestro Design India. She is currently working on one of Saudi-Arabia’s giga projects, leading the sports and events related to the city's masterplan programme. She has also been heavily involved in stadiums and master planning for some of the world’s largest sporting events, including the FIFA World Cup 2022 and the Commonwealth Games. Her work also includes the world's biggest ever cricket stadium at Ahmedabad, India and the Kai Tak sports park in Hong Kong with Populous Design. Her focus is on place making for large crowds with permanent or temporary facilities and she is passionate about finding solutions to operational challenges through her design outcomes. She is also a co-opted member of Urban Design Group London.
Haobo Wei is chief architect and founding partner of West-line Studio. Haobo teaches architecture at Chongqing, Tiangong and Guizhou universities. He established West-line Studio, a previous Architecture Practice of the Year WAN Award winner based in Guiyang, Guizhou province in southwest China, over a decade ago.
Haobo believes the impact of emerging AI technologies on traditional design approaches is profound. He says: “Will our thinking be convergent or antagonistic, inclusive or exclusive? This is the challenge we face, but the exciting thing is that we may find new breakthroughs.”
He adds: “For a long time, the WAN Awards have witnessed the achievements and development of many outstanding architects around the world. Whether they are facing challenges or not, the WAN Awards reflect the endeavours of different firms at different stages, and demonstrates their exploration of the idea of 'being'. From another point of view, facing challenges may be an opportunity and motivation to stimulate the creativity of outstanding teams of designers.”