CNN style Architecture | WAF Awards 2021: World’s best new architecture revealed

Serving as a community center and observation deck, Nordic Office of Architecture’s Nanchang Waves, in the Chinese city of Nanchang, features a double helix-inspired design. Courtesy Nordic Office of Architecture

The World Architecture Festival (WAF) has unveiled its prestigious shortlist of the best new buildings and landscape designs from around the globe.

The 200-strong list spans commercial, residential and cultural projects, including the sweeping open-air Chinese Culture Exhibition Center in Lanzhou and a plan to preserve Abu Dhabi’s oldest building, the Qasr Al Hosn Fort. In the Chinese seaside city of Sanya, meanwhile, a verdant mangrove park has been restored after three decades of pollution and development.

But smaller, farther-flung endeavors were also recognized. In the remote Swiss Jura Mountains, a whimsical green-topped spiral rises out of the landscape, housing a new museum by luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet. And off the coast of Iran, on Hormuz Island, a crop of colorful domed tourist residences aims to connect visitors to the local community.  –read more—