Click to enlargeWAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio. Image: Brett Boardman 1 of 10WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio. Image: Brett Boardman 2 of 10WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio. Image: Brett Boardman 3 of 10WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio. Image: Brett Boardman 4 of 10WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio. Image: Brett Boardman 5 of 10WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio. Image: Brett Boardman 6 of 10WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio. Image: Brett Boardman 7 of 10WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio. Image: Brett Boardman 8 of 10WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio. Image: Brett Boardman 9 of 10WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio. Image: Brett Boardman 10 of 10The Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio has been declared the World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) 2024. fjcstudio previously won Building of the Year in 2013, making it the first practice in WAFs history to win the award twice.This years Festival took place at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore from 68 November 2024. ArchitectureNowrounds up this years most recognisable winners from across New Zealand and Australia, starting with this years World Building of the Year awarded to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tmaki architects,fjcstudio.The world-renowned awards programme attracted 775 global entries this year, which were then shortlisted down to 461 projects. The awards festival taking place over two days, selected the very best projects from this shortlist using a Super Jury sourced from all over the globe, including editor of Architecture NZ,Chris Barton. Only 40-odd projects were category winners or received a Highly Commended award respectively. The remaining awards of Future Project of the Year, Landscape of the Year, World Interior of the Year and World Building of the Year went to a sole winner highlighting what a feat it is to be awarded in any of these awardcategories.World Building of theYearDarlington Public School in Australia byfjcstudioThe community school is located on the fringe of the city of Sydney, and has a strong connection to Aboriginal people embodied in itsredesign.The transformed school now seamlessly connects to its surroundings, offering glimpses of the inner courtyard from the main entrance, promoting a sense of privacy and community for the children, as well as providing facilities that are publicly accessible including the community hall, covered outdoor learning area andlibrary.WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio.Image: Brett BoardmanCollaboration took place with educational consultants and the school community to inform the brief, resulting in an inclusive learning environment by the architects. The redesign embraces the rich Indigenous culture through the artistic heritage of the school, conserving and displaying aboriginal artworks around the school to preserve stories of the country for future generations. A community garden with indigenous plants has also been created to teach students indigenous cooking andculture.The school continued to operate during construction, minimising time, cost and disruption. The building also embraces sustainability, with passive design elements such as sawtooth roofs angled to the sun, high-level glazing for indirect daylight, and protective curved screens for filtereddaylight.WAF 2024 World Building of the Year, Darlington Public School in Australia by fjcstudio.Image: Brett BoardmanAlessandro Rossi, Associate at fjcstudio commented: Its very humbling given the modest scale of the building its a little school project, so to have won against all the other big projects at WAF is a testament to the client and the community engagement that helped drive the design process. The real winners are the children who will spend time in the building - a place of enrichment for many years tocome.On behalf of the jury Paul Finch, Programme Director of the World Architecture Festival commented on: thevery highquality of several of this years finalists,not leastthe National Star Observatory in Cyprus, but the jurys unanimous decision was reached relativelyeasily.The result of the project is poetic, a building in which topography and landscape, inside and outside, form and materials, flow seamlessly in an unexpectedly delightful way. It is also an inspirational propositionabout the acknowledgement and reconciliation of historic difference a pointer to brighter, better futures forall.Warren and Mahoney receive three World Architecture FestivalAwardsThe New Zealand practice founded by the iconic architectural partnership of Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney took home three awards in total at WAF2024.A category winner in Completed Projects for Higher Education & Research is the purpose-builtWaimarie Lincoln University Science Facility (also a NZIA 2024 Canterbury Architecture Awards Winner).The trans-Tasman practice won two further WAF awards for the University Technology of Sydney, National First Nations College. The College received the prestigious WAFX Award for Cultural Identity.WAFX Award winners are selected from projects that best use design and architecture to tackle major world issues, including health, climate change, technology, ethics and values says organisers, and are chosen from the 2024 WAF Future Projects shortlist this year comprising 150 leading projects from all over theworld.Waimarie Lincoln University Science Facility by Warren and Mahoney (NZ), Winner Higher Education & Research, Completed Projects, WAF 2024.Image: Hamish MelvilleWaimarie Lincoln University ScienceFacilityHigher Education & Research, Completed Projects WinnerUniversity Technology of Sydney - National First Nations College by Warren and Mahoney in association with Greenaway Architects, OCULUS and Finding Infinity won Highly Commended in Future Projects, Education, and is also a 2024 WAFX Award Winner.Image: Warren and MahoneyUniversity Technology ofSydneyMori architecture in thespotlightQuay Stadium, announced earlier this year as a WAFX winner in the Cultural Identity category, is an unrealised project multinational practiceHKSdesigned in collaboration withBuchan,TOA ArchitectsandBoffa Miskell(landscape architects), with close consultation with Ngti Whtuarkei. The project received a Highly Commended in this years Awards under the Competition entriescategory.Founding director ofTOA Architects Nicholas Dalton, travelled to Singapore this year with Matekittahi Rawiri-McDonald having had two projects shortlisted this year, including Te Taumata o Kupe, which wasshortlisted for a WAF Special Prize for Best Use ofColour.Further celebratingAotearoasIndigenous architecture on a world stage was The P, a modern mass-timber structure on the University of Waikato campus in Hamilton by Architectus,Jasmax andDesignTribe in association. The inherentlyMoriarchitecture is inspired by and showcases Mori design technologies, culture and customs to create a bicultural gateway to thecampus.The P by Architectus, Jasmax and DesignTribe in association, Highly Commended Higher Education & Research, Completed Projects, WAF 2024.Image: Simon DevittThe P by Architectus, Jasmax and DesignTribe inassociationHigher Education & Research, Completed Projects HighlyCommendedAuckland Stadium at Quay Park, Te Tangaroa by HKS, Highly Commended Competition Entries, WAF 2024.Image: HKsAuckland Stadium at Quay Park,Te Tangaroa byHKSCompetition Entries HighlyCommendedNightingale Village wins GROHE HousingAwardNightingale Village in Australia by Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball, andKennedy Nolan was honoured with the 2024 WAF Award for Housing.The housing development, designed by the above five Melbourne practices, was led by architects with a focus on affordability and sustainability and has been widely lauded for creating community connections and beautiful neighbourhoods while remainingeconomical.Clare Cousins, founder of the eponymous practice was invited to speak in Wellington as part of last years New Zealand Architecture Awards, where she spoke at length about the rewards and challenges of working as a developer-architect on the Nightingale Villageproject.The Village, located in the trendy Melbourne suburb ofBrunswick, is now home to more than 200 families and community housing residents, and serves the architecture and urban planning community as a successful urban housingmodel.Nightingale Village in Australia by Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball, Kennedy Nolan, winner of the 2024 WAF Award for Housing.Image: Tom RossFind all 2024 World Architecture Festival winners atworldarchitecturefestival.com.See related ArchitectureNow articles onNew Zealand projects shortlisted for WAF 2024 and those that were up forWAFX or Special Prizes.