World Architecture Festival 2013: the Future Project of the Year award at the World Architecture Festival has been given to a museum for China's maritime heritage, proposed in Tianjin.Brisbane studio Cox Rayner Architects' waterside scheme consists of five halls that radiate out to the harbour, which will each contain different exhibitions.
The National Maritime Museum of China will sit in front of a large plaza for outdoor events, marked by an observation tower also acting as the museum's energy plant. Completion is due in 2015.
"The project demonstrates a strong conceptual clarity," the WAF judges said. "In its response to the sea, the design evokes a strong sense of the maritime experience. It brings together vast collections of elements of China's rich maritime history and offers the visitor references to global maritime cultures. The jury looks forward to a realisation that maintains the integrity of the original idea."
Future Project of the Year is awarded to conceptual or proposed architectural schemes. AECOM's master plan for a gateway to Doha, Qatar, took the prize in 2012.
Other award winners at this year's event include the Auckland Art Gallery, which took the World Building of the Year title, and a botanical garden in Australia that scooped World Landscape of the year. At WAF's sister event Inside Festival, a tiled Barcelona apartment was picked as the best interior project.
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