‘The Interlace’ crowned World Building of the Year 2015
Updated
5:00 AM EDT, Tue July 5, 2016
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The Interlace has been crowned the World Building of the Year 2015. Designed by OMA and Buro Ole Scheeren, is described as "one of the most ambitious residential developments" in the tropical island-state's history.
world architecture festival
Although it's also called a "vertical village," the Interlace stretches horizontally with 31 apartment blocks, each six stories tall and 70 meters long. Such design is seen as a radical move away from the "clusters of isolated towers" that is typical of housing in the region.
Courtesy World Architecture Festival
Though set in Singapore -- a highly-planned city-state -- the Interlace envisions itself as a "intricate network of living and social spaces intertwined with the natural environment."
Courtesy World Architecture Festival
Stacked in hexagonal arrangements around open courtyards, the scheme strives to create a "network of internal and external environments," mixing shared and private outdoor spaces on multiple layers.
world architecture festival
The project beat other category winners announced earlier at the festival, including a bamboo community center in Vietnam and a dome-shaped transport hub and retail space in Manhattan.
world architecture festival
World Architecture Festival Director Paul Finch praised the project as a trailblazer, saying it "presents an alternative way of thinking about developments which might otherwise become generic tower clusters."
world architecture festival
The Interlace is the eighth project to claim the illustrious title of World Building of the Year since the competition's inception in 2008. The festival has been held in Singapore for the past four years and will move to Berlin in 2016.