The overall winner and winner of the Climate, Energy and Carbon prize was Boston’s The Hydroelectric Canal by Paul Lukez Architecture, for its “innovative approach to shaping economic and environmentally resilient self-sustaining communities”.
The project addresses the issue of rising sea levels and plans to use tidal changes and storm surges to generate power through advanced hydroelectric systems.
This draw of clean energy will be used to help low lying urban areas address the challenges of rising tides.
Other ecological benefits include shoreline revegetation for coastal habitats, intertidal pool expansion for rocky habitats and courtyard water recycling for stormwater management.
Winner of the Building Technology prize was Heidelberg, Germany’s Energie- ud Zukunftsspeicher im Energiepark by LAVA Berlin.
Energie- ud Zukunftsspeicher im Energiepark, LAVA Berlin.
The company developed an animated energy tower that replaces its 1950s version – both renewable energy storage and an educational destination for renewable energy. The tower’s exterior includes 20,000 diamond-shaped steel plates. The number of moving plates will indicate the number of households supplied by the renewable energy stored inside the tower.
Winner of the Water prize was Singapore’s Floating Ponds by Surbana Jurong Consultants.
Floating Ponds by Surbana Jurong Consultants
It is a systematic integration of water, nutrients and energy that can be applied to fish, vegetable or other agricultural products, creating a closed-loop, sustainable ecosystem.
This project reduces waste and makes use of available urban space, ranging from parks to unused roof space. Vertically stacked fish raceways will maximise production within limited land areas, and will bring food production closer to residents, encouraging them to take a proactive role in farming.
Stockholm’s Södra Skanstull by White Arkitekter was named winner of the Ageing and Health prize.
Södra Skanstull, White Arkitekter
White Arkitekter developed a masterplan to redevelop Södra Skanstull, a neighbourhood with obstructive overhead infrastructure in the south of Stockholm.
Diagonal pedestrian and cyclist boulevards, 65,000 square metres of space for culture, sports and offices, and 750 new apartments will be created and used to reduce noise and pollution, while improving public movement through the area. This project promotes walkability as a means of building a sustainable city of the future.
The WAFX Prize is part of the World Architecture Festival’s 10th anniversary celebrations. The festival will take place in Berlin in November.