'Modest' Australian school awarded 2024 World Building of the Year

FJC Studio have made global architecture history, winning their second World Building of the Year award at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore.

The firm was awarded the prestigious accolade for the Darlington Public School in 2024 and for Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki in 2013. This makes FJC Studio the first practice in WAF history to win the top award twice.

On behalf of the jury, Paul Finch, the programme director of WAF, said the design team behind the winning project not only explored but also expanded the client's formal programme to encompass the perspectives and experiences of the local community and various users.

Upon receiving the accolade, FJC Studio associate Alessandro Rossi remarked, "It's very humbling given the modest scale of the building - it's a little school project, so to have won against all the other big projects at WAF is a testament to the client and the community engagement that helped drive the design process."

Elsewhere in the awards, fourteen Australian projects won a category or received a high commendation across both day one and day two. Australian educational facilities accounted for the highest volume of awarded and commended projects.