The Interlace wins World Building of the Year

The Interlace has won the coveted World Building of the Year award at the World Architecture Festival 2015, considered the Oscars of the architectural world.

WAF Director Paul Finch lauded the project, saying “The Interlace is 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. It’s a proposition which is fertile”.

The project was awarded top honors after a live judging on November 6 by a “super jury” led by renowned British architect Sir Peter Cook, who was quoted by CNN as saying: “I think you look for a power of impact. The Interlace makes a major urban statement. It gives you a horizontal city with the interweaving of space and vegetation. It’s a game-changer…something you’ll remember and go, that was when somebody first did that thing, of these blocks in the sky, with gardens on them.”

The three day festival held at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, attended by 2,000 delegates from over 60 countries, crowned The Interlace with the top award, beating 16 other category winners from a total of 338 finalist entries after also winning the Completed Housing category.

“We’re honored to win this award in recognition of the social value and sense of community that our design creates. This project is a prototype for new qualities of dense urban living integrated with nature – it shows at a significant scale that something else than the status quo is possible.” says Ole Scheeren.

The Interlace, a 170,000 m2 residential complex in Singapore, conceived as a “vertical village”, features a network of living and social spaces within 31 apartment blocks stacked in a hexagonal arrangement around eight generous courtyards. The design turns vertical isolation into horizontal connectivity and reinstates the notion of community as a central issue in today’s society.