A new wave of Asian design ingenuity is capturing global attention, as the recently announced shortlist for the prestigious World Architecture Festival (WAF) 2025 highlights eight standout projects from East and Southeast Asia. These groundbreaking works—from courtyard homes in Beijing to nature-inspired city halls and eco-friendly pavilions—demonstrate how architects from the region are redefining the dialogue between tradition, community, and sustainability in contemporary spaces. Their inventive approaches signal important trends for Thailand’s own built environment and public policy as the nation seeks more resilient, inclusive, and culturally rooted architectural solutions.
The World Architecture Festival is widely regarded as one of the international architecture community’s most influential competitions. This year’s shortlist features 460 works, including 235 completed structures, 157 future developments, and 64 innovative interiors. Architects will present these projects live to a global jury in Miami from November 12 to 14, 2025, offering a revealing snapshot of how design can address urgent social, environmental, and cultural challenges.
For Thai readers, the inclusion of these cutting-edge Asian projects matters for several reasons. Architecture serves as both a reflection of shared heritage and a tool for responding to climate, urbanisation, tourism, and changing lifestyles—issues that are increasingly resonant in Thailand’s cities and provinces. The concepts and values explored by the WAF shortlist spark important questions: how can architecture connect people to local culture while promoting sustainability? How might creative design elevate daily experiences for citizens, students, or travellers? And how is public space being reimagined for the benefit of wider communities?
Among the eight highlighted Asian projects, several common themes emerge: adaptive reuse of heritage, blending nature with urban living, prioritising community needs, and harnessing local materials for sustainable impact. In Beijing’s historic hutongs, WAY Studio’s Courtyard 35 rewrites what it means to preserve tradition. Rather than freezing the past, the architects insert an ethereal “cloud bridge” into a classic siheyuan, literally elevating visitors onto the rooftops. This sloping walkway, described by the architects as “a journey of discovery and awareness,” provides shade, expands the spatial experience with its mirrored underside, and initiates an interactive conversation between old and new forms of living. This approach parallels ongoing debates in Thailand about the preservation and creative adaptation of shophouse districts in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket’s old towns.
Singapore’s urban prowess also features prominently with The Singapore EDITION and Boulevard 88 by Safdie Architects. Located in the heart of the Orchard Boulevard shopping district, this multi-use development integrates two residential towers atop a boutique hotel, interconnected via lush skybridges and sunken courtyards. Elements like the 43-meter pool, garden terraces, and separation of living and hospitality zones via innovative landscaping evoke the city-state’s commitment to “vertical greenery,” a topic that urban planners and developers in Bangkok—where vertical mixed-use is on the rise—are watching closely. According to leading practitioners from Safdie Architects, the design “reimagines high-density city life as an opportunity for tranquility and harmonious coexistence with nature.”
In Taiwan, House Valley in Taichung, designed by Soar Design Studio and Ray Architects, tackles a perennial regional challenge: how to reconcile dense city living with the desire for private, outdoor spaces. The house’s modular, stacked design creates gaps and courtyards that let sunlight and air naturally ventilate the interiors, reducing reliance on air conditioning—a lesson increasingly relevant as Thailand faces prolonged periods of heat and humidity. Studies cited in the International Journal of Housing Policy highlight the urgent need for passive cooling and more nature-integrated apartments and offices in Southeast Asian cities (reference).
Meanwhile, the Chicken Hero Pavilion in Jakarta is a delightful fusion of environmental advocacy and playful public space. Designed by RAD+ar and situated in Jakarta’s Urban Forest, the structure is both a community-run chicken coop and an educational landmark. Built with bamboo and dried park leaves, it uses cross-ventilation and upcycled materials to reduce environmental impact—strategies that echo Zero Waste Thailand’s push for more green public architecture (source). By encouraging urban residents to observe backyard poultry and even take home eggs, the pavilion aims to reduce food waste and boost neighborhood self-sufficiency.
Also on the shortlist, the Poodom Deqin Meri Hotel perches on a remote Tibetan mountainside, channeling brutalist influences while embracing the wild topography of its setting. Designers from BUZZ/Büro Ziyu Zhuang sculpted the building’s geometric forms to blend with Meili Snow Mountain’s jagged silhouette, carving angular windows to maximize views and daylight. The rough concrete exteriors meet local cultural expectations for durability and mountain aesthetics, a conversation also alive in Thailand’s growing highland eco-tourism sector.
Vietnam’s Dong Na community house, just outside the UNESCO-listed Hoi An Ancient Town, is a masterclass in bamboo engineering. Local design leaders from VTN Architects (Vo Trong Nghia) handcraft sweeping arches and domes from treated bamboo, echoing the shape of nipa palm trees and creating a multi-use space that can withstand tropical weather. Its communal spirit, low carbon footprint, and reference to local materials could inspire similar collaborative “social infrastructure” in Thailand’s expanding network of rural learning and recreational centers.
HEYTEA’s Daydreamer Program—Stacked Courtyard in Chengdu, China—demonstrates how commercial brands are merging minimalist architecture with sensory and cultural immersion. This concept store is designed by A.A.N. Architects. Its airy, multi-level open layout provides a contemporary spin on tea culture, using local thuja trees to create an atmospheric, Zen-inspired destination. With tea houses regaining popularity in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thai hospitality brands are already looking at how purposeful design can enhance customer experience while supporting local identity.
Finally, the new Tagaytay City Hall in the Philippines, designed by WTA Architecture and Design Studio, integrates reddish timber beams into its modern façade, echoing the vertical lines of surrounding pine forests. By alternating formal authority with welcoming, communal spaces, the building offers lessons for civic architecture—to balance protection and openness, something that is especially relevant as Thai cities experiment with municipal buildings that combine administrative and community functions.
Leading international faculty judges for WAF consistently stress that today’s most impactful architecture must go beyond surface-level aesthetics to improve lives—through sustainability, accessibility, cultural dialogue, and innovative problem-solving. As a spokesperson for the festival noted, “These projects demonstrate the power of architecture not only to delight but to catalyze positive change for communities, cities, and ecosystems.” Insights from this year’s shortlist are feeding into policy discussions in Thailand’s government-sponsored design competitions and architecture education curriculum (WAF official statement).
Against the backdrop of Thailand’s tourism recovery, climate adaptation efforts, and heightened public awareness of cultural heritage, these highlighted projects offer important cues for local stakeholders. For example, the innovative use of bamboo and local plants in public buildings or the integration of community spaces in urban settings may inspire fresh approaches in forthcoming Thai Smart City initiatives or government service redesigns. Further, both private developers and policymakers may be encouraged to increase the use of locally sourced, sustainable materials and community-driven design processes—reducing the environmental footprint of future projects.
Thailand’s architectural community, already internationally recognized for its own signature works like Bangkok’s ICONSIAM and Phuket’s Blue Tree Lagoon, faces similar questions: How to protect the spirit of local places as cities grow more vertical? How to ensure that public and private spaces strengthen social connection, health, and quality of life? Architect-educators from top-ranked Thai universities have argued for a stronger focus on context-sensitive design, participatory planning, and bioclimatic solutions as keys to the sector’s relevance in the years ahead (Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Architecture commentary).
As the final awards ceremony approaches in November, there is anticipation not just over which project will take home WAF’s highest honors but at how these design philosophies and models will be picked up, adapted, and debated by policymakers, educators, architects, and community leaders throughout the region.
For Thai readers—from families navigating urban renewal to students eyeing creative futures, business owners rethinking workplace design, or officials planning the next wave of public investment—these Asian exemplars are not merely sources of admiration. They are living laboratories, offering lessons on stewardship, creativity, and collaborative problem-solving.
Practically, Thai communities and stakeholders are encouraged to visit and support locally significant projects, participate in open forums on urban development, and advocate for inclusive, environmentally sensitive design in their cities and villages. Students in architecture and design fields can take inspiration from these examples, deepening their skills in adaptive reuse, bamboo engineering, and sustainable planning. Most importantly, all citizens can become more engaged in public dialogues about the future of Thai architecture, ensuring it continues to blend heritage, innovation, and social well-being as the country grows.
For more information on this year’s World Architecture Festival shortlist and to explore featured projects, visit the official WAF website and read the original highlight article by RADII at radii.co.