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I was in Kiev last week for the inaugural Art Space Awards for interior design in the Ukraine, and a spectacular event it was, held in Kiev Opera House. The optimistic atmosphere among those present was very much like that of World Architecture Festival or the Aga Khan Awards - an acknowledgement of inspirational design [...]

Ed Vaizey, who really does have an interest in, knowledge of, and liking for architecture, has taken a welcome initiative. His review of the state of British architecture, intended to inform a debate about the desirability of a national architecture policy, will focus minds and raise the status of architecture in Whitehall, possibly to the [...]

Regulation can be a difficult thing, not least the rules surrounding the name or title ‘architect’. Here in the UK, we recently had a farcical situation where our regulatory body, the Architects’ Registration Board, told an architectural magazine that it could not refer to Renzo Piano as an ‘architect’ since he was not registered in [...]

All over for another year - and a hugely enjoyable three days it was as we celebrated WAF’s fifth anniversary in our new location, Singapore.
With more than 1,800 attending, this was our biggest audience since our launch in 2008, and it was great to see so many additional delegates from India, [...]

The fifth World Architecture Festival takes place in Singapore for the first time next week (3 to 5 October). We’re expecting a crowd of about 1,750, which will be the biggest audience since we launched in 2008.
So . . . many thanks to our partner sponsor, GROHE, who have given us great support over the [...]

This year’s Biennale is a great affair, and the opening provided an opportunity to see architects from across the world who have connections with our very own World Architecture Festival, past and present. On the opening day of the three-day press preview I bumped into Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, whose MAXXI Museum of XXI [...]

I had the pleasure of being a judge on this year’s President’s Design Awards in Singapore, a programme covering not just the built environment, but graphics, products, exhibitions, interiors and landscapes. With invited international jurors as well as locals, the PDA is a well-organized event which demonstrates the commitment of Singapore to the promotion of [...]

It is always a pleasure to see the entries for the World Architecture Festival Awards, especially when we see everything gathered together for our shortlisting day in July. The pattern for the rest of the awards programme emerges, as does the way we lay out the entries in the Festival Hall which this year is [...]

As you may have noticed, we have been celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee here in the UK. The BBC marked the occasion by inviting a panel of important people to name quintessential New Elizabethans. The list included only one architect (Norman Foster). Since any era is significantly defined by its buildings, it set me thinking [...]

Figueras were once again generous hosts for WAF’s Clerkenwell Design Week party in London, held in the company’s showroom, complete with jamon and Rioja. It is a year since the company opened in London and it has proved successful. Given WAF’s move to Singapore this year, it is perhaps more significant that Figueras, a Barcelona [...]