OBMI’s Once Upon a Forest Shortlisted in 2023 WAF Awards
World Architecture Festival (WAF) announces OBM Signature Installation from Dubai Design Week as finalist in Display Category for the 2023 Awards Program
OBMI is honored that our that OBMI’s signature installation, Once Upon a Forest, created for Dubai Design Week has been shortlisted the 2023 WAF Awards program for the completed displays category!
The World Architecture Festival (WAF) is an annual festival and awards ceremony, one of the most prestigious events dedicated to the architecture and development industry, dedicated to celebrating and sharing architectural excellence from across the globe. With the first event in 2008, WAF receives over a thousand projects submissions in the competition for the awards and more than 550 of these are shortlisted for live presentation at the festival.
Once Upon a Forest – A Space for People & Nature
The pavilion plays with perspective of our natural heritage and resilient ecology. Its organic feel takes from the mangroves forests which comprise so much of the spectacular landscape of the United Arab Emirates – bringing the natural mangroves wharfs into the heart of the design community of the 21st century. Within the extremely contemporary urban environment, the social space creates a contrasting, yet complementary, environment. Bringing together the natural form and that shaped by the hand of humankind, an ambiance and atmosphere is created to provide for thought, interaction, and conversation. Whether solitary reading and study, or lively discourse and the exchange of ideas, the space stimulates the mind and the spirit. It is a setting at once removed from, and part of, the active, progressive, and creative hub which is d3. Honoring the natural Just as nature is the cradle of humanity – offering protection from the elements, food and water, sunlight, and warmth – so the structure reflects, and honors, the natural world. Powered by natural occurring energy and constructed from local materials it is an organic form derived from, and inspired by, the land. In the words of Frank Lloyd Wright: “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” The multi-purpose pavilion turns into a travelling home for human necessities and achievements. It transforms into a mobile canopy enveloping the practical and the cultural, acting as a refuge and a place of inspiration. Initially a place for meeting, greeting, socializing and interaction in Dubai Design District (d3), as part of the emirate’s design week, the structure can then be dismantled and taken wherever it is most needed. Respite for mind and body The mind and body can take a brief holiday amidst the intimacy and serenity created under its shady floating canopies and within the interplay of shadows and illumination, with the delicate structure, enhanced by floating mangrove-inspired, giving an overall dreamlike cloud form.
See the full award submission [HERE] and the complete list of finalists [HERE] as announced by World Architecture Festival.
Congratulations to the OBMI design team and fellow WAF finalists who will go on to compete live at the festival at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on November 29th through December 1st where they will present their projects to the esteemed judging panels. Winners will be announced at the exclusive Awards Gala Dinner on December 1st.
To learn more about Once Upon a Forest, please contact [email protected].
