2026 World Architecture Festival Switches from Miami to Fort Lauderdale

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World Architecture Festival is returning to Florida this November, but it won’t be in Miami. After staging its first U.S. edition there in 2025, WAF will take place November 18th through 20th, 2026 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale. Organizers have already named 416 shortlisted projects across completed buildings, future projects, interiors, and landscape.

The awards process is unusually public. Every finalist presents a project live for 10 minutes and then answers eight minutes of questions from three category judges. Those presentations happen in open crit rooms, so festival attendees can watch both the project presentation and the judges’ questions. WAF says hundreds of presentations will take place across 16 crit rooms during the first two days.

Of course, there’s also an interiors segment. WAF Interiors, formerly Inside World Festival of Interiors, has nine categories that cover hospitality, residential, retail, workplace, education, public buildings, restaurants, and temporary spaces. Category winners present again to the WAF Interiors Super Jury before one project receives the World Interior of the Year title.

416 Projects Made the 2026 Shortlist

This year’s shortlist covers completed architecture, interiors, landscape, and future proposals. The completed-building categories include housing, hotels and leisure, health, culture, education, offices, mixed-use development, creative reuse, transport, civic projects, sport, houses and villas, and several other building types. Future Projects can still be unbuilt when they enter the competition.

Completed buildings, landscape projects, and interiors entered for 2026 had to be finished between January 1st, 2025 and June 1st, 2026. WAF does not require Future Projects to have a completion date or to be constructed. The initial shortlist was selected from anonymous presentation boards before finalists were announced in July.

WAF Interiors Has Nine Categories

The 2026 WAF Interiors categories are Bars and Restaurants, Education, Hotels, Public Buildings, Residential, Retail, Temporary/Meanwhile Uses, Workplace Large, and Workplace Small. Offices larger than 1,000 square meters enter Workplace Large, while smaller offices and shared or bookable workspaces qualify for Workplace Small.

The Temporary/Meanwhile Uses category covers exhibitions, installations, pavilions, pop-ups, showrooms, and display spaces. Public Buildings includes museums, galleries, theaters, libraries, transportation buildings, religious spaces, government buildings, and other civic interiors. All nine interiors categories use the same January 2025 through June 2026 completion window as WAF’s completed architecture categories.

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Every Finalist Presents Live

A WAF finalist has 18 minutes with the category jury. The first 10 minutes are devoted to the presentation, followed by eight minutes of questions. Three judges review each category, and the audience can watch from the open crit rooms. Category winners are announced at the end of each day.

The winning projects from individual categories return on the final day for another round of presentations. Completed Building winners present to the World Building Super Jury, Future Projects have their own Super Jury, and WAF Interiors category winners compete for World Interior of the Year. Overall winners are announced during the gala Friday night.

164 Judges From 37 Countries Are Confirmed

WAF currently lists 164 judges representing 37 countries for the 2026 festival. The World Building Super Jury includes Fernando Menis, Grace La of Harvard GSD and LA DALLMAN, Marlon Blackwell, and Sanjay Puri.

The WAF Interiors Super Jury includes Johnny Chiu of JC. Architecture & Design, Martin Lesjak of INNOCAD architecture, Nigel Coates, and Yael Reisner. Future Projects will be judged by Cazú Zegers, Murat Tabanlioglu, Olga Bolshanina of Herzog & de Meuron, and Rene Tan. The Landscape Super Jury includes Jeff Huber, Jiinyi Hwang of Turenscape, Mary Bowman of Gustafson Porter + Bowman, and William Ti.

Water Is the Main Theme for 2026

WAF chose Water as the conference theme for its first year in Fort Lauderdale. The location makes the subject pretty literal. Fort Lauderdale has about 165 miles of inland waterways, and the festival program will examine how water relates to buildings, cities, infrastructure, energy generation, food production, flooding, drought, health, and hygiene.

The full conference schedule is still being published, although WAF has confirmed talks across a Main Stage and Festival Hall Stage. The festival also has a separate GROHE Water Prize, a student design charrette based on water, and tours that use Fort Lauderdale’s waterways as part of the program.

Two WAF Tours Take Place by Water Taxi

One private water-taxi cruise departs at 10 a.m. Wednesday, November 18th. The 90-minute route follows the New River and continues through parts of the Intracoastal Waterway, Port Everglades, and Middle River, with space for 40 people.

A second private cruise is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Thursday, November 19th, also with a 40-person limit. Premium festival tickets include one WAF Tour, and tour selections open after September 1st.

Several 2026 Special-Prize Shortlists Are Already Public

WAF runs a group of special prizes alongside the main architecture and interiors categories. The 2026 prizes include Best Use of Natural Light, Sustainability Prize, Best Use of Stone, Best Use of Colour, Small Project of the Year, and the American Beauty Prize. Projects come from the main WAF shortlist and compete in separate live judging during the festival.

WAF also runs WAFX for future projects that address major global issues, along with the GROHE Water Prize, Architecture Drawing Prize, Student Charrette, Architecture Book of the Year, and a 2026 40 Under 40 program focused on South America.

Studio Gang’s Harvard Treehouse Is on Two Special-Prize Lists

The David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University by Studio Gang is one of five finalists for the American Beauty Prize. The other four are Rose Apartments by Brooks Scarpa Huber, the National Museum of Forest Service History Conservation Legacy Center by Leers Weinzapfel Associates, the Class of 1986 Fitness and Wellness Center by DIGSAU + MJMA, and Chatham Residence by Desai Chia Architecture.

Studio Gang’s Harvard project is also shortlisted for Best Use of Natural Light. That eight-project list includes work by KPF, RSHP, VTN Architects, OHLAB, Batlleiroig, Magicline studio, and the team of RSHP, Hassell, and WW+P for the Metro Tunnel Project.

Eight Projects Are Shortlisted for Best Use of Colour

The Best Use of Colour shortlist includes Sydney Children’s Hospital Stage 1 and the Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre by Billard Leece Partnership, Green Square Public School and Community Spaces by BVN, University of Lisbon Students’ Residences by CVDB arquitectos, and 1 Broadgate by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.

Other finalists include the New Zealand International Convention Centre by Warren and Mahoney with Moller Architects and Woods Bagot, Line 5 Eglinton by Arcadis with Daoust Lestage, DIALOG, and NORR, NTT Pavilion by NTT Facilities, and General Secondary School No. 4 in Nuevo León. Winners of the special prizes will be announced during WAF in November.

Standard and Premium Tickets Are on Sale

WAF is selling two primary festival passes. The Standard Ticket includes Main Stage and Festival Hall programming, all live judging sessions, the exhibition, welcome drinks, partner events and workshops, and access to the WAF networking app. The current early-bird delegate price is £1,199 plus 7 percent U.S. tax through September 4th. The regular listed price is £1,399 before tax.

A Premium Ticket adds a seat at the Friday Gala Dinner and one WAF Tour. The early-bird rate is £1,749 plus 7 percent tax through September 4th, compared with the listed £1,949 regular price. WAF says roughly 1,800 architects, interior designers, developers, funders, contractors, and media attend the festival.

The Gala Dinner Takes Place Friday Night

The 2026 Gala Dinner begins at 7 p.m. Friday, November 20th at the Broward County Convention Center. World Building of the Year, World Interior of the Year, Future Project of the Year, and the other overall awards are announced that evening after the Super Jury presentations.

Individual gala seats currently cost £450 plus 7 percent tax, while a table of 10 costs £4,250 plus tax. Premium festival passes already include one gala seat. WAF notes that gala tickets are limited and sold separately from Standard festival passes.

World Architecture Festival 2026 runs November 18th through 20th at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale. The shortlist, judges, WAF Interiors categories, special-prize finalists, ticket pricing, theme, and several tours are confirmed now. WAF says the complete Water-themed speaker program will be published closer to the festival.

Written by the DesignDash Editorial Team
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