Dinesh Mehta
Located in Ras, in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, this school by Sanjay Puri Architects was designed to combat the region's hot climate. Built around a central courtyard, the design offers naturally ventilated corridors and shady pathways, while the angled walls deflect sunlight to reduce heat gain. Scroll through the gallery to see more finalists in this year's World Architecture Festival Awards.
John Gollings
In 2018, architecture firms BAU and GAA were selected to design Australia's first purpose-built LGBTQI+ center for the not-for-profit organization Victorian Pride Centre. The building's interiors combine concrete and exposed structural elements with timber, ceramics and fabrics to promote what the architects called "aesthetics of inclusion".
Anthony Richardson
The MPavilion program sees different architects invited to design a temporary structure at the Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne. Last year's commission, by Italian firm MAP studio, was envisioned as an "urban lighthouse", with sunlight reflected around the geometric structure by angular mirrored panels.
Krisda Boonchaleow
Bangkok-based firm Architects 49 Limited was shortlist for the Sasipawan Wisdom Center, a meditation center in Khao Yai, Thailand. The serene complex features a pagoda constructed from layers of glass sheets, as well as accommodation for monks and teachers at the retreat.
Hufton + Crow
This futuristic, solar-powered structure in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, will serve as a new home for the sustainability organization BEEAH Group. Plans for the building were first unveiled by the late architect Zaha Hadid in 2014, prior to her death, though the curvilinear design was only realized this year.
Ilya Ivanov
German firm Tchoban Voss Architekten says it was able to slash carbon emissions by combining wood and concrete in its design for EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin. The larger of the project's two buildings is now among Europe's largest freestanding "hybrid-timber" structures.
WAF
Design firm Antao was nominated in a landscape category for this children's activity park in China's Yunnan province. Situated next to a science museum, it offers play areas and interactive installations.
Ossip van Duivenbode
This bowl-shaped structure in the Dutch city of Rotterdam serves as a storage facility for the neighboring Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. But it is also open to the public, with architecture firm MVRDV describing its design as the "world's first publicly accessible art depot."
Willem-Dirk du Toit
Designed by Fender Katsalidis, this 48-floor building in downtown Melbourne, Australia, features a three-story "urban forest". Dubbed Paragon, the residential tower's diagonal grid surface was inspired by Celtic culture -- a nod to the historic Celtic Club that previously occupied the site.
Rafael Gamo
Designed by architecture firm Sordo Madaleno Arquitectos, the low-rise Valle San Nicolás clubhouse was intended to integrate with the surrounding landscape. The circular structure was built on a lake on the outskirts of Valle de Bravo, Mexico, with stone walls and wooden frames adding to its organic character.
Alsoliman Real Estate Co
Mohammed bin Abdullah Ibrahim Al Majid mosque by Alsoliman Real Estate Co. is set across an area of 3,650 square meters (over 39,000 square feet) in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.
Jin Weiqi
Designed by LUO Studio, this timber footbridge stretches across a waterway in Jiangmen, in China's Guangdong province. The arched shape allows fishing boats to pass beneath, while the bridge's covered internal corridor offers protection from the sun and rain.
Nic Lehoux
One of the more high-profile entries on this year's shortlist, the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, is home to two NFL teams: the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams. Designed by US firm HKS, the sleek stadium is covered by a free-standing translucent canopy that allows breeze to flow through to the covered 70,000 seat arena.
Louisa Nikolaidou
Shortlisted in one of WAF's residential categories, this villa on the island of Paros, Greece, overlooks the Aegean Sea. Architecture firm Studio Seilern's design features stone walls rendered with traditional white stucco and marble window frames inspired by the island's churches.
WAF
The Shuikou Mountain Workers Movement Memorial Museum honors the history of laborers and peasant workers in a mining area outside Hengyang, in China's Hunan province. Yang Ying Design Studio embedded its 4,000 square meter (43,000 square foot) building into hilly ground, giving it the appearance of being partially submerged by the landscape.
WAF
Chinese firm Turenscape's "Wastewater Cleansing Terraces" were designed to demonstrate an ecologically-friendly way to clean and recycle wastewater. It was built in Handan, Hebei province -- an area suffering from water shortages and the effects of pollution.
CNN  — 

A timber bridge in China, an art storage facility in the Netherlands and a Buddhist meditation center in Thailand are among over 250 buildings shortlisted in the annual World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards.

Hailing from over 50 countries, the finalists will be judged in categories spanning residential, commercial and civic architecture, before battling it out for the prestigious World Building of the Year title.

China accounted for more shortlisted projects than any other country, though organizers noted a marked increase in entries from India and Turkey.

Some of the high-profile structures on this year’s shortlist include Los Angeles’ new SoFi Stadium and the famed London music venue Koko, which underwent a $100 million revamp following a fire.

The awards will be judged live during WAF, which is being held November 30 to December 2 in Lisbon, Portugal, and is now in its 15th year. Further prizes will be given for landscape architecture and proposed future projects, while the world’s best interior designs will be named at the festival’s sister event, Inside World Festival of Interiors.

In 2021, World Building of the Year went to Copenhagen’s Amager Bakke, a waste-to-energy plant with a rooftop that doubles as a ski slope during winter. Previous winners have included the Zaha Hadid-designed National Museum of XXI Century Arts in Rome and the cooled conservatories at Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay.

Scroll through the gallery above to see a selection of entries on this year’s shortlist.