Four Filipino Firms Make World Architecture Festival 2019 Awards Shortlist
534 shortlisted entries across 70 countries made for another strong showing at the upcoming 12th installment of the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Amsterdam. Four Filipino entries made it in four different categories: illustrious Filipino names Carlo Calma and Kenneth Cobonpue in collaboration with Buck Sia are joined by new blood, Alero Design Studio and John Ryan Santos and Partners, all first-time shortlisted entrants at the WAF. The Mactan Cebu International Airport’s T2 by Hong Kong’s IDA in collaboration with Budji+Royal Architecture and Design and Kenneth Cobonpue also got the judges’ nod under the Transport Category.
The Philippines has won WAF category and major prizes in 2018 and 2017. WAF judges recognized lone Filipino entrant BAAD Studio as 2018’s Highly Commended Future Project of the Year on top awarding them in their category, Future Projects: Civic and Community. In 2017, Alex Furunes and Leandro V. Locsin Partners won Small Project of the Year after bagging the Completed Building: Civic and Community category win.
Philippines
Completed Buildings: Religion Category
Cor Jesu Oratory, Cebu, Philippines
Designed by Kenneth Cobonpue with Buck Richnold Sia, Zubu Design Associates as architect-of-record
World-class furniture designer Kenneth Cobonpue dabbles into architecture in collaboration with Zubu Design Associates’ Buck Sia for a bamboo-clad, 3,000 seater oratory in their alma mater, Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu. Read the full story in our recently-released Build Build Build issue (Volume 2, 2019).
Cobonpue has made a name for himself in the realm of furniture design, garnering fans from the likes of actor Brad Pitt to designer Ross Lovegrove. He has collaborated with fashion label Vivienne Westwood for the 57th Salone del Mobile in Milan and recently made waves with his collaboration with Disney for a Star Wars-inspired furniture collection. Lead architect Buck Sia meanwhile has been making waves in his native Cebu with an angular take on tropically-responsive architecture under his firm Zubu Design Associates. Previous work covered by BluPrint include the Distorted Box House and their sensitive renovation work for DTI Cebu’s modernist regional headquarters.
Future Projects: Home Category
Infinity House, Makati City, Philippines
Carlo Calma Consultancy
A member of the illustrious Calma clan, which has blessed the Philippine design landscape with the likes of modernists Lor Calma and son Eduardo, Carlo Calma makes a name for himself with an unbridled, playful take on modernism, more akin to Gaudi than Mies, in his competition entry, Infinity House.
A creative that refuses to be bound by artistic disciplines, Calma has dabbled in interior design and the visual arts, having mounted multiple solo and group exhibitions from 2011 to 2014.
Future Projects: Civic and Community Category
Baliwag Community Center, Baliwag, Bulacan, Philippines
Alero Design Studio
Grand winner of BluPrint’s Furniture Design Competition in 2015, Jesy Cruz and his team at Alero Design Studio designed a 4,307-sqm community center for his hometown, Baliwag, Bulacan. The mixed-use space, the municipality’s first publicly-funded venture, will incorporate an indoor park with meeting pods, gallery halls, and promenades. The community center seeks to be the hub of innovation in Baliwag, providing the community a place conducive for trade, creativity, and self-expression.
Future Projects: Hospital
Sagip-Kanlungan: A Compact Hospital Model for Disaster-Prone Rural Philippines, Pangasinan, Philippines
Ar. John Ryan Santos of John Ryan Santos & Partners
ASEAN Wave
Three-time host to World Architecture Festival’s World Building of the Year, Singapore (Wilkinson Eyre’s Gardens by the Bay, OMA’s The Interlace and last year’s winner, WOHA’s Kampung Admiralty) nabbed spots in seven categories by local practices. Works by renowned foreign practices in Singapore also garnered shortlist nods, namely The Jewel by Safdie Architects (Transport Category) and DUO by Buro Ole Scheeren (Urban Landscape and Mixed Use Category).
ASEAN WAF stalwart Thailand, 2015 INSIDE Festival winner for Hypothesis’ Vivarium, makes another formidable showing this year with shortlist status in eight categories. Buro Ole Scheeren also scores a Completed Buildings: Mixed-Use category shortlist entry for their recently-completed Bangkok supertall, King Power MahaNakhon. Indonesia and Cambodia each netted one shortlist entry.
Singapore
Completed Buildings: Health Category
National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore (NUCOHS)
architects 61
Completed Buildings: Higher Education and Research Category
National University of Singapore School of Design & Environment, Singapore
Serie + Multiply Architects with Surbana Jurong and National University of Singapore School of Design & Environment
Completed Buildings: Mixed Use Category
Oasis Terraces, Singapore
Serie + Multiply Architects
Completed Buildings: Religion Category
Grace Baptist Church, Singapore
LAUD Architects
Novena Church (Church of St. Alphonsus), Singapore
cgnArchitects
Completed Buildings: School Category
My First Skool at Segar Gardens, Singapore
LAUD Architects
Future Projects: House Category
Huangshan House in Anhui, China by Park+Associates
Future Projects: Civic and Community Category
Commonwealth Lane: Death & The Community, Singapore
CIAP Architects and Ong & Ong (Landscape)
Thailand
Completed Buildings: Hotel and Leisure Category
Ahsa Farmstay, Mae Chan, Thailand
Creative Crews
Completed Buildings: Office Category
Bitwise Headquarters, Samutprakarn, Thailand
ASWA (Architectural Studio of Work – Aholic)
CC Office, Bangkok, Thailand
Creative Crews
Completed Buildings: Religion Category
Mary Help of Christian Church (Chaweng), Suratthani, Thailand
Juti Architects
Completed Buildings: Sport Category
Boost, Bangkok, Thailand
Hypothesis
Completed Buildings: Villa Category
ANAVILLA, Nakorn Si Thammarat, Thailand
FLAT12x
Future Projects: Health Category
Pink Park Village, Bangkok, Thailand
P Landscape
Future Projects: Home Category
Mulberry Grove the Forestias (Villas), Samutprakarn, Thailand
Foster + Partners (Thailand), DT Design, ITEC Entertainment, EEC Engineering Network, TK Studio
Future Projects: Masterplanning
The Forestias, Samutprakarn, Thailand
Foster + Partners (Thailand), DT Design, ITEC Entertainment, Atelier10, EEC Engineering Network, Grant Associates, TK Studio
Nong Fab Lng Terminal: The Harmonized Juxtaposition between Industry and Nature, Rayong, Thailand
TK Studio
Indonesia
Completed Buildings: Health Category
Pondok Indah Bintaro Jaya Hospital), Jakarta, Indonesia
Silver Thomas Hanley and Arkonin
Cambodia
Completed Buildings: Shopping Category
Furi Time Square Mall, Sihanoukville, Cambodia
White Matter Design Studio
The shortlisted firms will face off across more than 30 categories from 4 to 6 December 2019 at RAI Amsterdam, presenting to a live jury panel of over 148 architects and design professionals from more than 68 countries. Watch out for BluPrint’s live ASEAN coverage at World Architecture Festival 2019 and get an in-depth look at the shortlisted ASEAN entries in an upcoming special issue.
