Sydney Cruise Terminal, Australia, designed by Johnson Pilton Walker Architects, has won the ‘World’s Best Transport Building’ award at the prestigious World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards 2013.

The judging of the WAF Awards is taking place during the largest global celebration of architecture - the World Architecture Festival, which is being held at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore this week.

Sydney Cruise Terminal is a new cruise facility located in Sydney Harbour, to serve Australia’s rapidly expanding leisure cruise industry. The design features a contemporary roof canopy draped from a historically significant gantry crane structure. The structure has been retained as a memory of the site’s previous use as a home port for the world’s first regular international containerized shipping service, commencing operations between Sydney and Europe in the late 1960s.

The building was selected by a jury of some of the world's most dynamic architectural and urban designers. It overcame competition from a shortlist of eight entries.

The jury commended the project, saying, “This simple, elegant assembly of components and the integration of new and historic, together with the use of material was splendid. The lightness of the project, and the way the walls meet the roof complements the cruise liners, as well as the structural solution, were very original.”

The judges highly commended CTA Morgan Station in Chicago, USA by Ross Barney Architects for its beautiful proportions and pioneering use of materials.

This is the 6th year the World Architecture Festival Awards have been presented, and by the end of the festival 32 WAF Awards will have been announced across the three main sections of Completed Buildings, Landscape and Future Projects.

Projects entered this year, against a challenging economic climate, reflect the festival’s theme of ‘Value and Values’ demonstrating the core factors that inform the relationship between perceptions of financial value and the values that architects typically hold regarding their work. The awards programme will culminate with the announcement of the coveted World Building of the Year Award, which will be selected by the festival’s super-jury. It will be chaired by Ken Tadashi Oshima of The University of Washington. The highly esteemed international judging panel also includes Ken Yeang - Llewelyn Davies Yeang; Patrick Bellew - Atelier Ten; Jeanne Gang - Studio Gang Architects and Dietmar Eberle - Baumschlager Eberle.

Paul Finch, WAF Programme Director, said: ‘This year’s festival is already proving to be the largest, most well-attended and most exciting event to date. The strength of the entries in this year’s awards has even surpassed the very high standards set in previous years, ensuring that each category is extremely competitive. Today’s category winners will now compete for the festival’s ultimate prize, The World Building of the Year award, and our super-jury will certainly face some tough decisions given the calibre of today’s winning projects.”

Previous winners of the World Building of the Year Award include Luigi Bocconi University, Milan, designed by Irish practice Grafton Architects (2008); Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa, designed by Peter Rich Architects of Johannesburg (2009); MAXXI (National Museum of the 21st Century Arts) in Rome, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (2010); Media TIC, designed by Cloud 9 Architects (2011); Gardens By The Bay, designed by Wilkinson Eyre, Grant Associates, Atelier One and Atelier Ten (2012).