The WAF Manifesto

John Hill

22. February 2017

2016 WAF Building of the Year: National Museum in Szczecin – Dialogue Centre Przelomy (Photo courtesy of WAF)

Entries for the 10th edition of the World Architecture Festival (WAF), which will take place at Arena Berlin from 15 to 17 November 2017, are now open, accompanied by a manifesto "identifying key challenges which architects will need to address over the next ten years."

Per a statement from WAF, the manifesto's "challenges span diverse topic areas, including climate, energy and carbon; water; ageing and health; re-use; smart city technology; building technology; cultural identity; ethics and values; power and justice; and virtual worlds." The goal is "to generate research funding which will contribute towards work in universities and architectural practices investigating aspects of these subjects. The resultant research will be exhibited at WAF."

WAF director Paul Finch said about the manifesto:

In a period of profound change across the world, architects will play an important part in creating building, cities, public places and landscapes that respond to the challenges we have identified. There are immense amounts of research being undertaken across the profession which we hope we can draw attention to, and which we intend to support through publication, exhibition and funding initiatives.

These are big-picture initiatives which concern architects both individually and collectively, and we want WAF to play a part in promoting initiatives which are aimed at making life better.

Entries are now open for the WAF Awards in more than 30 categories. Early bird deadline is 27 April and final entry deadline is 18 May. Visit WAF to enter your project.