Vancouver House by BIG Bjarke Ingells Group was named the Future Project of the Year at the World Architecture Festival 2015, which celebrates the best of the world’s architecture that is yet to be completed.

The project negotiates a difficult site trisected by an overpass, with BIG’s response optimizing the conditions for its future inhabitants — in the air as well as on the street. As a result, it creates desirable spaces for living at its top, while freeing up a generous public space at its base. The silhouette of Vancouver House resembles a curtain being drawn aside, welcoming people as they enter the city.

Judges said of BIG’s Vancouver House: “This is a delightful project that generates an exemplar new urban typology, mitigating the destructive impact of the highway flyover and creating an opportunity from typically abandoned public space. It will impact positively on many future municipality and developer-led agendas for cities across the world.”