World Architecture Awards: Singapore's 'vertical village' named building of the year

Two UK buildings, including the Olympic stadium, were also awarded prizes

The complex has 31 stacked residential blocks (World Architecture Festival)

A ‘vertical village’ in Singapore has been named the World Building of the Year.

Judges at the eighth annual World Architecture Festival, held at the prestigious Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore, awarded the top prize to The Interlace.

The village, designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture and Buro Ole Scheeren was praised for its “radical and alternative” approach to living in a tropical environment.

The Interlace was praised as 'radical' and 'alternative' (World Architecture Festival)

Festival director Paul Finch said the housing project was “blazing a trail with an example of bold, contemporary architectural thinking.”

“The project presents an alternative way of thinking about developments which might otherwise become generic tower clusters.”

The building contains 31 ‘stacked’ residential blocks and is six stories tall. Swimming pools, tennis courts, gardens and roof terraces are also featured in the village.

Other awards included the Future Project of the year award which was given to Vancouver House in Canada; the silhouette of which is said to resemble “a curtain being drawn aside”.

Vancouver House in Canada won the overall Future Project of the year award (World Architecture Festival)

The Olympic Stadium in east London also scooped the 2015 Future-Led Development prize on day one of the festival, with a judge praising that the building was “sustainable, efficient and respectful of London’s Olympic heritage”.

The future project for the Olympic stadium received a prize (World Architecture Festival)

Another UK prize went to the Wellington College Performing Arts Centre, in Berkshire which won the Future Projects Education award. According to judges, the centre has “a poetic relationship between the planned spaces and the existing building and landscape”, with the forest for a backdrop.

The performing arts centre at Wellington College received the 'schools' future project award (World Architecture Festival)

The 2016 awards will be hosted in Berlin, after being held in Singapore for the past four years.

The full list of winners:

Completed Projects:

House: Saigon House, Hochiminh, Vietnam, by a21studio

Civic and community: Cam Thanh Community House, Vietnam, by 1+1>2 International Architects

Mixed use: Casba, Australia, by Billard Leece and SJB Architects

Higher education and research: Toho Gakuen School of Music, Tokyo, Japan, by Nikken Sekkei

Office: HIGO, Japan, by nA Nakayama Architects

Housing: The Interlace, Singapore, by OMA/Buro Ole Sheeren

Shopping: Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu, Chengdu, China, by The Oval Partnership

Display: Brazilian Expo Pavilion 2015, Milan, Italy, by Studio Arthur Casas and Atelier Marko Brajovics

Future Projects:

Infrastructure: Cukurova Regional Airport Complex, Adana, Turkey, by Emre Arolat Architects

Masterplanning: Development Concept for the Historic Centre of Kalingrad, Russia, by Studio 44 Architects

House: Issa Grotto/Hill House, Vis, Croatia, by Proarh

Office: Reservoir, Rajasthan, India, by Sanjay Puri Architects

Health: Al Maha Centre for Children and Young Adults, Doha, Qatar, by HDR Rice Daubney

Leisure-led development: London Olympic Stadium Transformation, London, United Kingdom, by Populous

Culture: Museum of Painting and Sculpture, Istanbul, Turkey, by Emre Arolat Architects