Nominees

By inserting four new floors as slabs branching off a feature staircase, Atelier Ten reclaims a cavernous Shanghai warehouse, transforming it into an office for 100 employees.

theatelierten.com

Dissolving the boundary between the waiting room and the platform is Nextstations’ solution to the problem of an isolated and underused train station in Shimanto. Modest but momentous interventions give the space a vibrant new lease of life.

nextstations.com

A dynamic design graphically reproduces the parts of the aircraft not experienced tangibly by customers enjoying the virtual flight of a Boeing 747. The interior playfully completes the experience offered by the simulator.

banozic.com

On the 17th floor, the serene space of theHilton Pattaya’s lobby and bar is dominated by a rippling fabric installation that evokes the pool outside, as well as the sea and sand of the beach below.

departmentofarchitecture.co.th

If museums are turning into supermarkets, why should department stores not turn into museums?’ Ben van Berkel explains the rationale behind the design of UNStudio’s Galleria Centercity, a department store in Cheonan, South Korea, where retail space is reclaimed as public space.

unstudio.com

A 1930s’ swimming pool is an unlikely setting for a luxury store like Hermès, but RDAI works the Art-Deco space by echoing its watery themes, reclaiming a forgotten part of the city. The project reflects the jury’s ‘unspoken preference’ for reuse.

renadumas.com

Maintaining the existing – very beautiful – view is Aspa’s aim in designing this rooftop bar and terrace in Lisbon. The single-storey glass structure and surrounding terrace allow the space to melt into its public environment.
asparquitectos.com

For the Singapore Biennale, Tatzu Nishi wraps a tiny (but functional) temporary hotel around a famous city landmark: the Merlion statue. Thereby prompting viewers to look at the landmark and its urban environment in a new way, and to give observers of every rank and station the opportunity to “own” a piece of art for a brief moment in time.

tatzunishi.net

A departure from anticipated airport blandness and the overused metaphors of flight, The Rock’s dramatically craggy structure shelters an intimate, cave-like interior, providing a public space with a sense of privacy.

studiopacific.co.nz
warrenandmahoney.com

With materials sourced entirely from demolition sites and labour provided by ex-prisoners, Doepel Strijkers Architects transforms an old Rotterdam wholesale co-op building into a contemporary waste-free office complex.

dsarotterdam.com

A graphic solution from Rafael de Cárdenas lifts a diminutive Christmas pop-up to a level incommensurate with its tiny size – and shows how a temporary interior can inject new energy (and fun) into an existing environment.

architectureatlarge.com

To make Techtile #3, an installation for Tokyo’s Gallery K, Nosigner uses aluminium foil to capture over 200 different ‘textures’ (from police badges to piano keys) collected throughout the city. Normally invisible textures become temporarily tangible.

nosigner.com

Working with Zwarts & Jansma Architects, Merkx + Girod breathes new life into Rotterdam’s Ahoy arena by stripping it back to essentials. The building is re-created as a wholly architectural experience that improves the quality of public space.

merkx-girod.nl

Thin spruce boards echo the interior of a traditional Japanese farmhouse while generating a vivid yet contemporary sense of place in a Niseko Ski Resort café.

design-spirits.com

Inside a dull-grey auditorium in Utrecht’s main exhibition centre, a spectrum of zestily coloured chairs glows against a white backdrop. Liong Lie’s LED lighting scheme takes full credit for the chromatic effect.

lionglie.com

A nondescript grey box on a beach in Heerhugowaard contains public toilets modelled on those used by members of the United Nations Security Council in New York, as reconstructed from smuggled mobile-phone images. The project’s has a dual identity: a contemporary art installation that doubles as a functional toilet.

nezuaymo.com

superflex.net

In transforming a disused military building into a boutique hotel – thus salvaging an almost forgotten historical space from China’s rapidly advancing development – Neri & Hu interprets luxury in an unprecedented way.

nhdro.com

An open ten-storey atrium, featuring floating cantilevered meeting pods that form a ‘meeting tree’, eradicates the boundary between public reception space and private working areas in the Sydney offices of banking group Macquarie.

clivewilkinson.com

For the open-plan office of a creative company in the Dutch municipality of Amstelveen, i29 opts for the exclusive use of grey felt. A traditional material with a long history and the perfect choice for this project, felt generates warmth, good acoustics and privacy.

i29.nl

Using simple materials to inventive effect, March Studio achieves three surprisingly different interiors in a trio of Aēsop stores (two in Paris and one in Melbourne). The stores are almost a logical consequence of one powerful concept: the creation of a graphically developed space involving one natural material, one technique and the seamless incorporation of the product line.

marchstudio.com.au