A new wave of Asian design is drawing global attention as eight standout projects from East and Southeast Asia appear on the World Architecture Festival (WAF) 2025 shortlist. From Beijing courtyards to nature-inspired city halls and eco-friendly pavilions, these works show how regional architects blend tradition, community, and sustainability. The developments offer timely ideas for Thailand’s built environment and public policy as the country pursues resilient, inclusive, and culturally rooted design.
WAF remains a premier stage for international architecture. This year’s shortlist features hundreds of works across completed buildings, future developments, and innovative interiors. Projects will be presented to a global jury in Miami in mid-November 2025, highlighting how design can address social, environmental, and cultural challenges.
For Thai readers, these Asian projects matter because architecture mirrors shared heritage while shaping responses to climate, urban growth, tourism, and evolving lifestyles. The shortlisted concepts prompt important questions: how can design connect people to local culture while advancing sustainability? How can spaces enhance daily life for residents, students, and visitors? And how is public space being reimagined to serve wider communities?
Common themes emerge across the eight highlighted projects: adaptive reuse of heritage, integration of nature with urban life, community-centered design, and the use of local materials for sustainable impact. In Beijing, WAY Studio’s Courtyard 35 reimagines tradition with an ethereal “cloud bridge” above a siheyuan. The sloping walkway creates shade, expands spatial experience, and fosters a dialogue between historic and contemporary living. The concept resonates with ongoing Thai discussions on preserving shophouse districts in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket, while infusing new life.
Singapore’s urban development is represented by The Singapore EDITION and Boulevard 88, a joint project by Safdie Architects. Located near Orchard Boulevard, the design stacks a boutique hotel beneath residential towers and connects them with skybridges and courtyards. The approach emphasizes vertical greenery and thoughtful separation of living and hospitality zones, reflecting Bangkok’s growing interest in vertical mixed-use development and serene, nature-forward urban life.
Taiwan’s House Valley in Taichung, by Soar Design Studio and Ray Architects, answers the challenge of dense urban living by creating modular, stacked spaces with courtyards. Natural ventilation reduces dependence on air conditioning—a timely lesson for Thailand’s hot, humid climate. This aligns with research on passive cooling and nature-integrated design in Southeast Asia.
Jakarta’s Chicken Hero Pavilion blends environmental advocacy with playful public space. Built from bamboo and plant-based materials, it functions as a community-friendly chicken coop and an educational landmark. Its cross-ventilation and upcycled components mirror local sustainability pushes and encourage residents to engage with local food systems.
The Poodom Deqin Meri Hotel on a Tibetan mountainside embraces brutalist forms while respecting its rugged setting. Designers sculpt angular windows to frame dramatic views, marrying durability with mountain aesthetics. The concrete exterior and bold geometry echo motifs now appearing in Thailand’s growing highland eco-tourism sector.
Vietnam’s Dong Na community house near Hoi An showcases bamboo engineering at scale. Led by Vo Trong Nghia, designers craft arches and domes from treated bamboo, echoing nipa palm forms and delivering a flexible, low-carbon communal space. Its emphasis on local materials and social function offers a model for rural learning and recreation centers in Thailand.
HEYTEA’s Daydreamer Program — Stacked Courtyard in Chengdu, designed by A.A.N. Architects, demonstrates a brand-led, minimalist approach that still delivers cultural immersion. The airy, multi-level store uses thuja trees to create a tranquil, Zen-like atmosphere. As Bangkok and Chiang Mai hospitality brands explore enhanced customer experiences through design, this model provides a reference for integrating local identity with contemporary retail.
Lastly, the new Tagaytay City Hall in the Philippines, by WTA Architecture and Design Studio, uses reddish timber beams to create a modern civic façade that balances authority with openness. The design invites community interaction while maintaining administrative clarity, offering lessons for Thai civic architecture as cities seek more engaging, multi-use public buildings.
Leading international judges emphasize that impactful architecture today must do more than look good—it must improve lives through sustainability, accessibility, cultural dialogue, and inventive problem-solving. The festival reinforces how design can catalyze positive community and environmental outcomes. Insights from the shortlist are already informing Thailand’s government design competitions and architecture education, guiding future curricula and policy discussions toward context-sensitive, bioclimatic, and participatory approaches.
Against Thailand’s tourism recovery, climate adaptation efforts, and cultural heritage awareness, these Asian exemplars offer practical cues for local stakeholders. The use of bamboo and native plants in public buildings, and the integration of community spaces in urban settings, could inspire fresh directions for Thai Smart City initiatives and public service redesigns. Developers and policymakers are urged to source sustainable, local materials and to champion community-driven design to minimize environmental footprints.
Thai architecture, already recognized globally for works like Bangkok’s ICONSIAM and Phuket’s Blue Tree Lagoon, faces similar questions: how to protect local character as cities grow vertically? how to ensure public and private spaces strengthen social ties, health, and quality of life? Academic leaders in Thai architecture advocate for deeper context-sensitive design, participatory planning, and bioclimatic solutions to keep the sector relevant.
As the awards season nears, anticipation centers on both the winning projects and how these design philosophies will influence policymakers, educators, architects, and community leaders across the region. For Thai readers—families navigating urban renewal, students exploring creative futures, business owners rethinking workspaces, and officials planning public investment—these Asian exemplars are not mere admiration. They are living laboratories offering lessons in stewardship, creativity, and collaboration.
Practically, Thai communities are encouraged to engage with locally significant projects, participate in public forums on urban development, and push for inclusive, environmentally sensitive design in cities and villages. Architecture students can draw inspiration from adaptive reuse, bamboo construction, and sustainable planning to deepen their skills. Most importantly, citizens can participate in dialogues about Thailand’s architectural future, ensuring it preserves heritage while advancing innovation and social well-being.
For more information on WAF and the shortlisted projects, consult the World Architecture Festival’s official materials and explore related analyses from trusted design outlets.