Indian architect firm's design wins global award

Mumbai-based Sanjay Puri Architects’ design for a residential project ‘Terasa 153’ in Montenegro (a country in Southeastern Europe), has won the ‘World’s Best Future Projects Residential Building’ Award at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards 2012 held in Singapore.

The judging of the WAF Awards took place during the largest global celebration of architecture - the World Architecture Festival, which was held at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore in the first week of October.

Terasa 153, Montenegro is a future residential project located near the 600 year old town of Budva, where the patterns of the roofs in the old town were studied to be recreated to form an organic pattern translated into modules that are vertically stacked to create the eventual form of the building. This project draws its design from the inorganic character of historic development in the seemingly random stacked apartments and the varying angles of the balconies which allude to the variation of angular roofs typical of older traditional developments.

The building was selected by a jury of some of the world's most dynamic architectural and urban designers. It overcame competition from a shortlist of 14 entries.

The jury commended the project, saying “The project was selected for its original connection to context, inspired by the local architectural language transposed into a new built form. We often see strides made in affordable housing but the challenge yet to be met by these dense residential buildings is a sense of context which responds to the local culture. The innovation of housing is not matched in the extent and function of external spaces to match the density of the development.”

This is the 5^th year the World Architecture Festival Awards have been presented, and by the end of the three-day festival, 35 WAF Awards were given across the three main sections of Completed Buildings, Landscape and Future Projects.

Projects entered this year, against a challenging economic climate, reflect the festival’s theme of ‘Rethink and Renew’, highlighting the need for innovative and creative approaches to existing buildings and areas. The theme also questions whether it is time for architecture to rethink whether it is fulfilling its intended role, and is having a significant impact on those who ultimately use the resultant buildings and spaces.