The World Architecture Festival has announced the 2012 shortlist for World Building of the Year. The Festival, now in its fifth year, will announce the winners in early October at the Marina Bay Sands (a nominee) in Singapore before an audience of thousands of architects. The shortlist pares down the hundreds of entries to between four and twenty nominees for each of thirty categories. Click through to see some of our favorites that made the shortlist.

Li Yuan Library. Huairou, China. Li Xiaodong Atelier. Category: Culture.

Images: Li Xiaodong Atelier

Martin Luther Church. Hainburg, Austria. Coop Himmelb(l)au. Category: Civic and Community.

Images: Coop Himmelb(l)au

Stacking Green. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Vo Trong Nghia. Category: House.

Images: Vo Trong Nghia

Shanghai Museum of Glass. Shanghai, China. logon urban.architecture.design. Category: New and Old

Images: Logon

Gardens by the Bay. Singapore. Grant Associates, CPG, Wilkinson Eyre. Category: Completed Urban Landscape.

Images via CONTEMPORIST

Nakahouse. Los Angeles, California. XTEN Architecture. Category: Villa.

Images: XTEN Architecture