The much-anticipated 17th edition of the World Architecture Festival is set to start tomorrow, running from November 12 to 14, 2025 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Florida. This year’s theme, “Hearts and Minds”, reflects a focus on how architecture engages both emotional resonance and rational strategy.
The much-anticipated 17th edition of the World Architecture Festival is set to start tomorrow, running from November 12 to 14, 2025 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Florida. This year’s theme, “Hearts and Minds”, reflects a focus on how architecture engages both emotional resonance and rational strategy.
November 12, 2025
The much-anticipated 17th edition of the World Architecture Festival is set to start tomorrow, running from November 12 to 14, 2025 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Florida. This year’s theme, “Hearts and Minds”, reflects a focus on how architecture engages both emotional resonance and rational strategy.
Over three days, WAF 2025 will transform Miami into a vibrant hub of creativity and debate, featuring live judging sessions, keynote lectures, exhibitions, and networking events. What sets WAF apart is its unique format: shortlisted architects must present their projects live before panels of esteemed international jurors, blending competition with collaboration and dialogue.
The 2025 shortlist is among the most diverse in the festival’s history, featuring more than 450 projects across 65 countries. In the "Civic and community" category, standout contenders include the Yashobhoomi Complex in India, an exemplar for developing a mini-cityscape that thrives as a biodiverse, mixed-use urban establishment in the midst of a concrete jungle.
Another shortlist candidate is Courtyard 35 by WAY studio in Beijing, China.
The structure resembles a cloudscape insertion that mediates the relationship between nature, man, and man-made, to emphasize the spatial experience of the void, further enhancing its relationship with its surroundings, and adding to the urban fabric of Beijing.
In the "Transport" category, Sydney Central Station's renovation by Woods Bagot grabs attention with the implementation of open spaces such as the new Northern Concourse roof.
A heavy contender in the "Sport" category is the biophillic Sportarena Olympiapark Munich SAP Garden by 3XN. The SAP Garden, a new multi-purpose arena in Munich’s Olympic Park, officially opened on September 27, 2024. The 62,500 m² venue stands on the former Olympic Velodrome site beside Frei Otto and Günther Behnisch’s iconic stadium. Echoing the park’s democratic ideals, SAP Garden blends cutting-edge design with community spirit, creating a vibrant hub that unites sport, architecture, and public life.
Also competing in the "Sport" category, Canada’s first aquatic centre to achieve the Zero Carbon Building–Design Standard, the təməsew̓txʷ Aquatic and Community Centre, has opened in New Westminster, British Columbia.
Featuring a striking, landscape-inspired roof, the city’s largest capital project to date is designed as a welcoming hub where residents can gather, connect, and celebrate community life.
Monumental and classically inspired, the new Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (MSN) is organized horizontally and composed of two rectangular forms in contrast to the verticality of the Palace of Culture and Science. A monumental, classically inspired, double-symmetrical staircase at the heart of the Museum is flooded with natural light, offering a space for social interaction.
In the “Shopping” category, Wuhan Snow World by Jan Clostermann reimagines retail as an immersive blend of shopping, leisure, and sport within a snow-themed environment. The design harmonizes vast ski facilities with intimate, human-scale retail spaces, unified by a modular fractal façade that gives the complex its distinctive character and cohesive visual identity.
As the world’s most influential architects gather in Miami, WAF 2025 reaffirms its position not only as a competition but as a living dialogue on the evolving role of architecture in shaping global society.
