( CNN ) -- The finest buildings in the world have been named at the World Architecture Festival in Singapore . At a glittering ceremony , Building of the Year was awarded to The Chapel in Vietnam , designed by a21studio . Future Project of the Year was won by 5468796 Architecture + Number TEN Architectural Group , for Art Gallery of Greater Victoria , Canada . The three-day Festival , now in its seventh year , saw hundreds of firms from more than 50 countries competing in 27 different categories , from Small Projects to Culture and Experimental . A total of 2,000 architects , designers , clients and press converged on the spectacular Marina Bay Sands Hotel , where in addition to awards ceremonies there were numerous lectures and conferences . 10 great architecture towns and neighborhoods . Asian architects on the rise . Victory for a21studio in the Building of the Year award was symbolic of an upsurge in competition entries from Asia , which had a significant impact on this year 's awards . Submissions from China , Malaysia and Vietnam increased by up to 140 % . They competed alongside more well-established firms like Aedas , Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster & Partners . Asian firms quickly made their mark in the first two days , with Vietnam firmly in the lead ; Vo Trong Nghia Architects , another Vietnamese firm , won three awards , including those for Future Projects Education and Hotel and Leisure . How China claimed the world 's greatest architectural hits . Other winners . Landscape of the Year went to the National Arboretum Canberra , Australia , designed by Taylor Cullity Lethlean and Tonkin Zulaikha Greer , and Small Project of the Year was awarded to The Pinch community library in China , designed by John Lin and Olivier Ottevaere . Two new awards were added to this year 's program . The Exterior Color Prize , which recognized the creative use of color , was awarded to Cook Robotham Architectural Burea for the Departments of Law and Central Administration , Vienna University of Economics and Business , Austria . The Wood Excellence Prize for the most exceptional timber project went to DSDHA for the Alex Monroe Studio in Snowfields , UK . Highlights of day one included the Culture category , which was won by Gustavo Penna Arquiteto & Associates for the Freedom of the Press Monument in Paranoá , Brazil , which resembles a huge , translucent triangle , lit from within and embedded in the earth . Biodesign : Why the future of our cities is soft and hairy . SGi Architects won the Religion category for La Ascension del Senor church in Seville , Spain , an angular , stone-and-steel structure containing three large `` voids '' . On day two , the New And Old category was won by Rethinking the Split House , designed by the Chinese architecture studio Neri & Hu Design and Research Office . Judges were impressed by the bold vision , which involved replacing the rear wall of a three-storey 1930s townhouse in with plate glass . Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners and Arup Associates won the Future Projects Experimental category with Skyfarm , an eye-catching concept design proposal for a vertical farm that enables the cultivation of crops in high-density areas . A full list of the winners can be found at the World Architecture Festival website . Africa 's most exciting architects . Is architecture dead ?
World Building of the Year 2014 went to The Chapel , Vietnam , designed by a21studio . More Asian firms competed than ever before , with several winning prizes . The biggest event in the architecture calendar has taken place in Singapore . Grand prize winners were announced in a glittering awards ceremony .