MIPIM 2006.

The MIPIM Architectural Review Future Project Awards, now in their fourth year, recognise the role that design quality plays in the creation of successful developments. This is not just a matter of designing a good building, but thinking about how it works in its urban (or sometimes rural) context; it is about thinking in the round. Featured on this page are the category winners. This year's judges were Simon Allford of Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, architect; Hinrich Schumacher of Ingenhoven & Partner, architect; Peter Stewart of PSCPA, planning and architecture consultant; and Roger Zogolovitch, architect and developer. Chairman was AR editor Paul Finch. The quality of the winning and commended schemes was at least as high as in previous years, possibly a little higher. If you are attending MIPIM (14 to 17 March, in Cannes), come to the AR symposium on the afternoon of Wednesday 15 March, and hear from the winning architects on what informed their design thinking. All the entries are exhibited in the Palais during the MIPIM show.

Overall winner, and winner of the masterplanned communities category sponsored by Lend Lease was Nabil Gholam Architecture and Planning, for Doha Gardens, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Client: Rikaz. This residential project in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, was designed by the Lebanese architect Nabil Gholam. It comprises 188 units on four hectares. This is, said the judges, high quality architecture, a very elegant design. One judge commented, 'You see a clarity in the presentation which makes you confident that the same clarity lies behind the design'. Another judge enthused: 'The design offers spaces between the buildings which create a sense of place and while you enjoy the generosity of space in the apartments you feel that even if planned at greater density, the basic proposition still worked and could be applied elsewhere'. Highly commended: Alsop Architects, Ian Simpson Architects, FAT, shedkm and de Metz Architects, for New Islington, Manchester, UK. Clients: Urban Splash, Manchester City Council and English Partnerships. Commended: Aedas, for West Kowloon Cultural Development, Hong Kong, China. Client: Sunny Development (Sino Land, the Wharf Holdings and Chinese Estates Holdings).

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The retail and leisure category, sponsored by Chapman Taylor, was won by The Jerde Partnership, for the Zlote Tarasy centre, Warsaw, Poland. Client: Ing Real Estate. The judges were struck by the bravura nature of this retail-led mixed-use development comprising 225 000sqm on 3.2ha. Intended as a contribution to the restoration of Warsaw's urban identity, the scale of this development echoes the scale of nearby buildings and preserves the locality's monumental character. It has a striking grid shell roof at its core supported on steel 'trees' which is surrounded by more conventional office and retail buildings. The judges wished to note that the merits of the scheme also meant that a notion of urbanism and regeneration implies the acceptance of large-scale internalised environments. Highly commended were T+T Design for Entre Deux, Maastricht, The Netherlands. Client: AM Development. Commended was Arkitekturavaerkstedet for the Covered Market, Copenhagen. Client: City of Copenhagen.

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Architect 3XN also won the offices category, sponsored by Zumtobel Staff, with a bank building in Middelfart, Denmark. Client: Middelfart Savings Bank. This Danish bank has all the conventional spaces including a public ground floor with tellers--and in this case a cafe, bookshop and estate agent. Other functions of the bank are accessed via almost processional staircases to three terraces set back to one side of the building. A roof based on a diagonal grid shelters this topography of office floors and provides almost clear views over the nearby harbour. Commended was Manuelle Gautrand Architects, for an office building in St-Etienne, France. Client: Cogedim and JFP Participation. Commended was Mario Cucinella Architects for the Malaspina Business Park, Pioltello, Milan. Client: Pirelli Real Estate.

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The residential category, sponsored by The Architects' Journal, was won by 3XN for its Nordhavnen-Residences, Nordhavnen, Copenhagen. Client: SQ. This housing proposal for docklands on the edge of Copenhagen comprises 22 000sqm conceived as 'a pile of plates'. The stack of plates effect is created by changing the orientation of each of the ellipses from floor to floor. The habitable floor plans remain circular in each building and have a common centre point. The buildings are on a deck, with parking below. Highly commended was Shedkm for Chimney Pot Park, Langworthy, Salford, UK. Client: Urban Splash, Salford City Council & English Partnerships.

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The local revitalisation category, sponsored by Kent County Council, was won by Arkitekturavaerkstedet/landskabsvaerkstedet for its New Garden Village, Fano, Denmark. Client: Fano Art Museum. This design proposes a new garden village in which the traditional roadside village is given new short streets off it as fingers so that each new house faces more or less open countryside. Varying in size from 25sqm to 350sqm with none exactly the same, the countryside elevations would have windows and timber panelling, while lime-washed plaster would face the street. Commended were FaulknerBrowns for the Wakefield Waterfront, West Yorkshire, UK. Client: CTP St James. And Helin & Co Architects for the conversion of the municipal prison in Kakola, Turku, Finland.

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The big urban projects category, sponsored by Argent, was won by Grimshaw for the Fulton Street Transit Center, New York. Client: Metropolitan Transportation Authority. This development (co-designed with Arup), now under construction, rationalises a conjunction of six interlinked stations that accommodate nine subway lines. This number will increase to 12 as a result of the streamlining that the new transit centre will bring. It will also establish new connections to commuter trains and ferries, contributing significantly to the regeneration of lower Manhattan. There were two commended projects. The first, by Schmidt Hammer Lassen, is the Spilados masterplan and CCH Building-Music Box, East Harbour, Reykjavik, Iceland. The second, by Dixon Jones, is the Exhibition Road project, London, UK. Client was the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea.

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Winner of the tall buildings category, sponsored by URS, was WOHA Architects, for The Met, South Sathorn Rd, Bangkok, Thailand. Client: Pebble Bay. The judges were struck by the relative simplicity of this proposal despite its significant scale. This design is for a building whose every horizontal surface is covered with planting. In addition, green creeper screens rise the full 230m of this 66 floor apartment building. It is arranged as two vertical slabs connected by service and access units with rooms facing either north or south. Cross ventilation is achieved by cutting big rectangular holes in the elevations so that flats have access to light and air on at least three sides. Commended was Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for the Al-Rajhi Bank HQ, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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The innovation category, sponsored by Estates Gazette, was won by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, for the Bridging the Rift Research Facility, Wadi Araba, Israel/Jordan Border. Client was the Bridging the Rift Foundation. The research labs are located around the lecture hall, dining room and library. In the harsh desert environment, a very heavy concrete heat sink wall encloses three sides with a side wide cavity under the ground level slab serving as a plenum for cool air which is drawn through the building by a tall vented chimney. The judges noted that environmental strategy is more convincing than any other they had seen. It is doing its job properly in every way. Commended were Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects, for the Manitoba Hydro Corporate HQ, Manitoba, Canada.

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