World Architecture Festival awards shortlist

I am not usually a fan of these commercially sponsored awards.  In the beginning, their worth was very dubious, both because it was hard to gauge the breadth of self-nominations, and even harder to put trust in their selection processes.  With the passing of time however, it has become clear that some very respectable firms are nominating very worthwhile projects, and those projects are rising to prominence in these awards as naturally as does cream to the top of milk.

Therefore it is with considerable gratification that I note the over-representation of Australian firms and their buildings, in the short list of almost all the categories of the awards.  If there is any bias at all, then it might be of interest that Australian architecture is more heavily represented in the built works than it is in the unbuilt future projects.

One of the more accessible comprehensive listings of the shortlisted entries is to be found at
http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/18/world-architecture-festival-shortlist-announced/