Architect Victoria $14.90 Official Journal of the Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Chapter Print Post approved PP 100007205 • ISSN 1329-1254 Edition 1 / 2023
VICTORIAN ARCHITECTURE AWARDS
We are proud of our role on
University of Melbourne Student Precinct
Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture
Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban
Photographer: Peter Bennetts
Nightingale Village
Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball and Kennedy Nolan
Photographer: Tom Ross
Bendigo Law Courts
Wardle
Photographer: Tim Griffith
Victorian Family Violence Memorial
MUIR+OPENWORK
Photographer: Peter Bennetts
Royal Exhibition Building - Promenade
Lovell Chen
Photographer: John Gollings
Viv’s Place
ARM Architecture
Photographer: Tatjana Plitt
Alba Thermal Springs & Spa Hayball
Carey Grammar Middle School Architectus
Escala, NewQuay Six Degrees Architects
We congratulate all of the Architects who have shortlisted this year and in particular those that included us into the project teams.
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Contents Architect Victoria Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Chapter Level 1, 41 Exhibition Street Melbourne, VIC 3000 ABN 72 000 023 012 Foreword 9 Victorian Chapter President David Wagner FRAIA Acknowledgements 10 Acknowledgement of Country Bradley Kerr RAIA 12 Awards committee and Chair of juries 13 Jurors and sponsors Medal 14 Victorian Architecture Medal Awards and prizes 18 Dimity Reed Melbourne Prize 22 Regional Prize 26 Heritage Architecture John George Knight Award Award Commendation Other entries 36 Commercial Architecture Sir Osborn McCutheon Award Award Commendation Other entries 44 Educational Architecture Henry Bastow Award Award Commendation Other entries 52 Interior Architecture Marion Mahony Award Award Commendation Other entries 60 Public Architecture William Wardell Award Award Commendation Other entries 68 Residential Architecture –Houses (Alterations & Additions) John and Phyllis Murphy Award Award Commendation Other entries 76 Residential Architecture –Houses (New) Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award Award Commendation Other entries 84 Residential Architecture –Houses (Multiple Housing) Best Overend Award Award Commendation Other entries 92 Small Project Architecture Kevin Borland Award Award Commendation Other entries 98 Urban Design Joseph Reed Award Award Other entries 104 Sustainable Architecture Allan and Beth Coldicutt Award Award Commendation 110 COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture Commendation 116 Maggie Edmond Enduring Architecture Award 120 EmAGN Project Award Other entries 126 Emerging Architect Prize 128 Bates Smart Award for Architecture in Media Advocacy Award State Award National Award Other entries
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FIND OUT MORE
This year saw a landmark moment in the Australian Institute of Architects awards history with the inception of the mandatory sustainability checklist as part of the standard requirement for all entries, after years of promoting energy efficiency and sustainability as bespoke categories. The sustainability checklist was developed by Jamileh Jahangiri and Gabrielle Pelletier and formed part of the NSW 2022 awards program.
The sustainability checklist has been used across the country throughout the awards program, thanks to the vision of our National Council and in recognition that action is necessary now. For those of you who entered the awards you will appreciate the breadth of thinking the checklist promotes: protection of land and ecological systems, siting and urban design, energy efficiency and consumption, selection of building materials and process and social issues. I hope that this checklist can find its way into our studios and guide our day-to-day design thinking in creating a built environment that responds to our community’s ever-changing needs, to respect and protect Country and the all-encompassing natural environment that sustains us.
The 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards program received 249 entries, with 130 of those shortlisted in the sixteen architectural categories. Juries select a premier or named award, as well as architecture awards and commendations. In previous years, only one of the existing eleven named awards was named after a female architect, Marion Mahoney, and two after male and female partnerships. This year it is an honour to announce that two of the previously unnamed awards will be named after eminent living female architects. From this year forth, we shall see the Maggie Edmond Enduring Architecture Award and the Dimity Reed Melbourne Prize awarded. Both architects will be well known to members, with Maggie being a founding director of Edmond Corrigan as well as winner of the inaugural 2003 Enduring Architecture Award for Chapel of St Joseph, Mont Albert North. Dimity Reed was the first female President of the Victorian Chapter of the Institute, and aside from running a successful practice, was also Victoria’s Housing Commissioner and instrumental in engaging young architects of the time in public housing projects. Congratulations to both Maggie and Dimity, who have paved the way for the many successful Victorian female architects of today.
In that context, I would like to add my congratulations to another Victorian architect, Kerstin Thompson, on winning the 2023 Gold Medal. Kerstin and her studio, KTA, have been producing high-quality work for decades, reinterpreting our engagement with heritage and context and creating spaces that are quieter but deeply thoughtful. Kerstin is the third Victorian winner of the Gold Medal in the last four years, which underlines the quality of work currently being produced in Victoria.
This year’s Maggie Edmond Enduring Architecture Award is awarded to Brambuk: The National Park and Cultural Centre by Gregory Burgess Architects (1990). We are grateful to Parks Victoria and the three Gariwerd Traditional Owners (Barengi Gadjin, Eastern Maar and Gunditj Mirring) for their support of the award. The distinctive work of Burgess’ practice has created a legacy across Victoria with Brambuk representing a pioneering project for engagement with Indigenous communities who selected and worked with Burgess. With our current nurturing of designing for Country, it is instructive to look back at how this project was developed through dialogue with Indigenous communities to become a built reality.
David Wagner FRAIA
This year’s winner of the Victorian Architecture Medal is University of Melbourne Student Precinct by Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban. Forging the collaboration necessary to pull together a built outcome with so many diverse partners is impressive but has also lent the precinct a sense of diversity and interest representative of the breadth of educational inquiry and the character of our broader contemporary community.
Congratulations to all 2023 award winners with a special thanks to our volunteer juries appointed by the Awards committee, chaired by Simon Knott with Ingrid Bakker as Chair of juries. Thanks also to Victorian Chapter staff, in particular our Awards coordinator Robyn Frank, for successfully managing the complex awards program. With the inception of the sustainability checklist, it will be interesting to reflect back on this year in the future to see how the profession’s thoughts and focus, as well as architectural design generally, progress from this moment.
09 Foreword Architect Victoria
Victorian Chapter President
Australian Institute of Architects
Victorian Chapter
Level 1, 41 Exhibition Street
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Boston Publishing
Level 1, 23 Manton Road
Oakleigh South, VIC 3167
1300 838 280
james@bostonpublishing.com.au
Managing editor
Robyn Frank
Editorial director
Emma Adams
Editorial advisor
Dylan Borg
Assistant editors
Elisa Persico
Matthew Sabransky
Awards coordinator
Robyn Frank
Art director
Kate Noseda
Creative direction
Annie Luo
Graphic designer
Rizla Herdaru
Publisher
Australian Institute of Architects
Victorian Chapter
State Manager
Daniel Moore RAIA
On the cover
University of Melbourne Student Precinct by Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban.
Photographer: Peter Bennetts
Printing Printgraphics
This publication is copyright
No part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, mechanical, microcopying, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the Australian Institiute of Architects Victorian Chapter.
Disclaimer
Readers are advised that opinions expressed in articles and in editorial content are those of their authors, not of the Australian Institute of Architects represented by its Victorian Chapter. Similarly, the Australian Institute of Architects makes no representation about the accuracy of statements or about the suitability or quality of goods and services advertised.
Warranty
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2023 Victorian Architecture Awards Acknowledgements
Acknowledgement of Country
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of Country, carers of the Lands, Waters and Skies of the continent now called Australia. I express gratitude to their Elders and Knowledge Holders whose wisdom, actions and knowledge have kept culture alive.
I recognise First Nations peoples ongoing connection and caring to Country, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.
I pay respect to Elders past and present, and extend this respect to all First Peoples with us on this platform.
Understanding the role architecture has played in the commodification of Country is important. Our industry’s primary responsibility is to shape and modify place. The unwillingness to understand the architecture of Country played a significant role in Terra Nullius. Country was sliced by cadastral plans. Fences removed or restricted access to Country. Aboriginal movement paths, naturally following the lie of the land, were straightened. Industry turned its back to the rivers, using them as dumping grounds or transport routes. Sensitive ecologies were destroyed. As architects, we have a long way to go to to reconcile with how our industry has historically and continues to impact Country and First Nations peoples. We can work together to
understand cultural responsibilities, to explore what Connecting with Country feels like, and to understand the difference between Designing with Country and Respecting Country. First Nations peoples have a responsibility to care for Country – Country is kin. As architects and built environment professionals working on and with Country, in some ways we share this responsibility. The shift in consideration to Country within our profession is both welcome and exciting, but it can only be considered as an optimistic beginning. I ask that you remember that no matter where we work, we are always on or within somebody’s Country. And, with this in mind, take note of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and “Walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.”
Bradley Kerr RAIA Quandamooka Victorian Chapter Councillor
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Map of Traditional Owners/Custodians as sourced from Victoria’s current Registered Aboriginal Parties. Accessed from Vicplan (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning) February 2023.
2023
Awards committee and Chair of juries
Simon Knott FRAIA
Ingrid Bakker LFRAIA
Melissa Bright RAIA
Matt Gibson FRAIA
Ann Lau FRAIA
Madeline Sewall RAIA
Committee chair BKK Architects
Chair of juries and committee member HASSELL
Committee member
Committee member
Studio Bright
Matt Gibson Architecture + Design
Committee member Hayball
Committee member
Breathe Architecture
Awards committee & Chair of juries
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Simon Knott FRAIA Committee chair
Melissa Bright RAIA Committee member
Matt Gibson FRAIA Chair of juries
Ann Lau FRAIA Committee member
Madeline Sewall RAIA Committee member
Acknowledgements
Ingrid Bakker LFRAIA Chair of juries
Awards chairs and jurors
Ian Alcazar RAIA Grad Billard Leece Partnership
Karen Alcock FRAIA MAArchitects
Lucia Amies RAIA Grad Lovell Burton
Jeremy Anderson RAIA Eldridge Anderson Architects
Julian Anderson RAIA Bates Smart
Yvonne Aralar RAIA Grad Architecture Matters
Scott Balmforth RAIA TERROIR
Storm Bell Affiliate RAIA BKK Architects
Marc Bernstein-Hussmann RAIA Melbourne Design Studios
Nigel Bertram FRAIA NMBW Architecture Studio
Kim Bridgland RAIA Edition Office
Jane Caught RAIA Heliotope
Lynn Chew RAIA Kerstin Thompson Architects
Veryan Curnow RAIA JCB Architects
Emma Chrisp RAIA Hayball
Anja de Spa RAIA Molecule Studio
Ryan de Winnaar RAIA Studio Bright
Thomas Essex-Plath RAIA Grad Chamberlain Architects
Hayden Federico RAIA BUCHAN
Kate Fitzpatrick RAIA Auhaus Architecture
Jessie Fowler RAIA Fowler and Ward
Aimee Goodwin RAIA Project 12 Architecture
Chris Haddad RAIA .................... Archier
Rory Hyde ............................ University of Melbourne
Gumji Kang RAIA Snøhetta
Rob Kennon RAIA Rob Kennon Architects
Ilana Kister RAIA Kirster Architects
Stephanie Kitingan RAIA Placement Studio
Sandra Law RAIA Law Architects
Ella Leoncio RAIA Chamberlain Architects
Elliot Lind RAIA Clare Cousins Architects
Sponsors
The 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards are proudly supported by —
James Loder RAIA Wardle
Hamish Lyon FRAIA NH Architecture
Amy Morrison RAIA Grad Elenberg Fraser
Maricel Marbus RAIA Grad dwp Australia
Sarah Mason RAIA Grad Kosloff Architecture
Jeremy McLeod FRAIA Breathe
Pamela McGirr RAIA Candalepas Associates
Justin Noxon RAIA NOXON
Jesse Oehm RAIA Grad Spectrum
Timothy John O’Sullivan RAIA Multiplicity
Liam Oxlade RAIA Grad NH Architecture
Dominic Pandolfini RAIA Pandolfini Architects
Monica Percudani RAIA Grad Fieldwork
Julie Pham RAIA Grad Stonehouse + Irons
Christine Phillips RMIT University
Wojciech Pluta RAIA Denton Corker Marshall
Mark Raggatt RAIA ARM Architecture
Ryan Russell RAIA Russell & George
Michael Roper RAIA Architecture architecture
Gemma Savio National Gallery Victoria
Harrison Smart RAIA Grad SSdH
Elliet Spring RAIA MGS Architects
Greta Stoutjesdijk RAIA ................ Candalepas Associates
Susan Syer RAIA ...................... Kennedy Nolan
Martina Tempestini RAIA LIMINAL Studio
Simon Topliss RAIA Warren and Mahoney
Darcie Vella RAIA Grad Kerstin Thompson Architects
David Wagner FRAIA Atelier Wagner
Keith Westbrook RAIA Cumulus Studio
Mia Willemsen RAIA Hassell
Riley Woosnam RAIA Grad JCB Architects
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Architect Victoria National Corporate Partners National Insurance Partner National Media Partner Preferred Photography Partner Major Partner - AV Magazine (Awards Edition) Major Partner - Victorian Awards Night State Partners Major national partners
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University of Melbourne Student Precinct • Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban
• Photographer: Peter Bennetts
Victorian Architecture Medal
The Victorian Architecture Medal is the highest honour awarded by the Victorian Chapter each year.
The Medal derives from the original ‘Street Architecture Medal’ introduced by The Royal Victorian Institute of Architects (RVIA) in 1926 as an award for the design of a building of exceptional merit. Today’s Victorian Architecture Medal is
selected by the jury chairs (or their jury proxy) from the field of Named Award overall winners in each category. The winner of the Victorian Architecture Medal is therefore judged to be the most outstanding project of the entire field of entries, a building of exceptional merit.
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Student Pavilion Elevations 1:400 @ A4 WEST ELEVATION Student Pavilion Elevations 1:400 @ A4 EAST ELEVATION WEST ELEVATION 0 10 20 40 100
The Office of the Victorian Government Architect is the State’s expert adviser for exemplary design in Victoria’s public places and buildings. We put quality design at the centre of all conversations about the shape, nature and function of our cities, buildings and landscapes. We want Victoria to be a place that our community is proud to call home.
Victorian Architecture Medal
University of Melbourne Student Precinct by Lyons with Koning Eizenberg
Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects
Aspect Studios and Glas Urban
Wurundjeri Country
The University of Melbourne Student Precinct is an exceptional project to be applauded for its significant contribution to the greater public realm of the city. This transformative project demonstrates the power of design to influence and direct behaviour, mood and receptivity. It reveals itself via direct engagement and evolving familiarity.
A deep understanding of human social dynamics is evidenced in the way the spaces are curated and relate to one another. Edges are holding and gently dissolving, sightlines are connecting across the vertical as well as horizontal dimensions. It is this permeability that deemphasises the private, offering a sense of vicarious learning and participation in the endeavours occurring throughout.
The master stroke is re-grounding the precinct to its original terrain, about which a curated set of habitats is constellated. This reclaiming of the underground stream lies at the heart of the development. It anchors settings for the diverse voices that are to be found at a university and amplifies the lineage
of voices in this place from deep time. Subtly articulating story from the past, the settings cradle the creation of story in the present.
The solution clearly reflects a mature and sophisticated co-design process. It is student-centred, champions the art of listening and has offered many voices their harmonised place in the whole. It is a model for both pragmatic and symbolic inclusion.
Practice team: Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban (Design Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: DCWC (Project Manager), Slattery (Cost Consultant), Irwin Consult/WSP (Structural Engineer), Lucid (Services Consultant), McKenzie Group (Building Surveyor), Aurecon (ESD Consultant), BCG (Facade Engineer), Dobbs Doherty (Fire Engineer), Schuler Shook (Theatre Planner), Marshall Day Acoustics (Acoustic Consultant), CHW (AV Consultant), Aspect Studios and Glas Urban (Landscape Consultant), Aspect Urban + Public (Wayfinding Consultant), Lovell Chen (Heritage Consultant), GTA Consultants (Traffic Consultant), Irwin Consult/WSP (Waste Consultant)
Builder: Kane Constructions
Photographer: Peter Bennetts
16 Victorian Architecture Medal
EAT,
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University of Melbourne Student Precinct • Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban
• Photographer: Peter Bennetts
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Nightingale Village
• Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard
Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins
Architects, Hayball and Kennedy Nolan
• Photographer: Tom Ross
Dimity Reed Melbourne Prize
The Dimity Reed Melbourne Prize recognises projects that have made a significant contribution to the city of Melbourne. All projects located within the urban growth boundary are eligible for
consideration. Projects may be of a built form, an urban design solution or an innovation that has influenced and improved the fabric of the city.
Jury chair report
It has been a pleasure to judge a series of projects that explore, challenge, and reinforce the identity and evolutionary growth of Melbourne in their significant and unique contributions to the city. The projects that we have highlighted through shortlisting, and in the awarding of the 2023 Melbourne Prize were those seen through the lens of community, narrative and city building, and within the lens of a city being an organic entity needing care and nourishment in order for growth and evolution to occur.
The level of entries presented to the Melbourne Prize jury was of a very impressive standard, and from these, there was engaged discussion on which projects should make it to the shortlist. There were a number of highly rated projects for the civic contribution they made to Melbourne and some absorbed conversations on how this contribution could be measured. The
potential and intention of each project, its impact and how farreaching it could be.
Once again, we see the immense value of the Institute jury process, where the inclusion of site visits allows for an honest and accurate appraisal of the submitted works, beyond the purely photogenic aspects. The site-visit process also brings with it one of the major perks of the jury role, which is the social connections made, reinforced between jury members. The rigorous debate, generosity, knowledge and experience brought to the conversation and shared between jury members between site visits is always a standout feature of the process
We congratulate all shortlisted projects together with the winner of the 2023 Melbourne Prize, all of which give back and enrich the city of Melbourne, both now and potentially within a living city, for generations to come.
Category sponsor
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The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, incorporating the Melbourne School of Design (MSD), is a creative and people-oriented built environment faculty at the University of Melbourne, Australia’s leading research-intensive university. Together with our students we are working towards sustainable and inclusive homes and cities that nurture Country.
Kim Bridgland RAIA Jury chair
Greta Stoutjesdijk RAIA Juror
Ilana Kister RAIA Juror
Storm Bell Affiliate RAIA Graduate juror
The Dimity Reed Melbourne Prize
Nightingale Village by Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball and Kennedy Nolan
Wurundjeri Country
Nightingale Village begins and ends with community. The collective of architects behind this project began their journey seeking to redefine the expectations of developers, architects and what it means to provide housing. This community of architects has opened the gate for a new community of residents to seed what was previously an urban backwater into the gravitational centre of an emergent neighbourhood.
The joy in this project is the continual sharing and gifting of resources. A series of individuated buildings, each with its own exceptional level of care and ingenuity, help to create a sense of vibrancy and diversity. However, the total worth of the whole is so much more than the sum of its individual parts, where overlapping vertical gardens, central voids full of light and life, pedestrian lanes, and street parks, allow the shared habitation of every corner.
Nightingale Village is a powerful catalyst to build community, prioritise social, economic and environmental
sustainability. This project is not a group of standalone residential developments, like many through inner Melbourne, but an entwined shared environment that will change the way developers and architects visualise and contribute to our environment today and for generations to come.
Practice team: Nick James (Design Architect), Michael Roper (Design Architect), Daria Selleck (Project Architect), Mark Austin (Design Architect), Andrew Maynard (Design Architect), Mark Stranan (Design Architect), Jeremy McLeod (Design Architect), Madeline Sewall (Project Architect), Frances McLennan (Graduate of Architecture), Bettina Robinson (Project team), Fairley Batch (Project team), Bonnie Herring (Project team), Ali Galbraith (Project team), Emily McBain (Project team), Giles Freeman (Project team), Marie Penny (Project Team), Mark Ng (Project team), Patricia Bozyk (Project team), Renee Eleni Agudelo (Project team), Sarah Mealey (Project team), Shannon Furness (Project team), Clare Cousins (Design Architect), Oliver Duff Project Architect), Tara Ward (Project Architect), Candice Chan (Project Architect), Laura Norris-Jones (Project Manager), Luc Baldi (Project Director), Rob Stent (Design Director/Architect), Bianca Hung (Director (Interiors), James Luxton (Project Architect), Gianni Iacobaccio (Senior CAD Technician), Robert Mosca (Project Architect), Yuyuen Low (Architect), Saifee Akil (Architect), Ela Rajapackiyam (BIM Technician), Patrick Kennedy (Principal), Rachel Nolan (Principal), Michael Macleod (Director), Victoria Reeves (Director), Elizabeth Campbell (Project Architect), Tamara Veltre (Project team), Oliver Monk (Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: Hansen Partnerships (Urban Planner), WT Partnerships (Quantity Surveyor), WSP (Engineer), Steve Watson & Partners (Building Surveyor), Access Studio (Access Consultant), WSP (ESD Consultant), Umow Lai (ESD Consultant), Olax Pty Ltd (Wayfinding), Tree Logic (Arborist), GTA Consultants (Traffic), Leigh Design (Waste Management), Openwork (Landscape and Urban Design), Amanda Oliver Gardens (Landscape Consultant), Eckersley Garden Architecture (Landscape Consultant), Fontic (Project Manager), Hansen Partnership(Town Planner), Breathe (Urban Design), Andy Fergus (Urban Design), Hip v Hype Sustainability (ESD Consultant)
Builder: Hacer Group
Photographer: Tom Ross
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The Dimity Reed Melbourne Prize
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Nightingale Village • Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball and Kennedy Nolan
•
Photographer: Tom Ross
22 Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre • Kosloff Architecture
• Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Regional Prize
The Regional Prize recognises projects that have made a significant contribution to Regional Victoria. All projects located outside the urban growth boundary are eligible for consideration. Projects may
Jury chair report
The jury was impressed with the quality and diversity of entries for this year’s Regional Award. With a total of 36 entries, a long list of 18 was selected for presentation to the jury, from which a final shortlist of eight was chosen. The jury travelled 1800 kilometres over four days to see an outstanding variety of commercial, civic and education projects in their regional settings.
These site visits formed an important part of the process, offering an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the projects and their context. The shortlisted projects shared a laudable understanding and sense of place, with a focus on community connection and engagement through architectural endeavour. A common thread was the commitment to exploring the brief and social context, delivering outcomes well beyond client expectations.
Several projects were impacted by supply issues during the pandemic, but notably the client and consultant teams collaborated with great creative energy to overcome the obstacles, often a challenging issue in smaller regional areas with less
be of a built form, an urban design solution or an innovation that has influenced and improved the fabric of the region.
resources. This year’s regional projects often embodied a strong connection to culture and place through their sensitive integration with the local fabric.
Often reaching beyond the realms of site boundaries, projects activated adjacent landscapes and spaces thereby sharing their benefits more broadly. Offering notable levels of sustainability, and an awareness and recognition of Country and Traditional Owners, projects generally displayed a commitment to both a socially and environmentally sustainable future.
The jury wishes to acknowledge that there were many projects deserving award recognition, and we commend their collective contribution and architectural excellence. Their dedication has resulted in significant and meaningful new environments that have established themselves as places of great value within their regional communities. The jury wish to congratulate all entries in the Regional Award, in particular the shortlisted projects and this year’s category winner, the Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre by Kosloff Architecture.
Category sponsor
23
Since 1935, Haymes Paint has been dedicated to providing all Australians with quality and innovative paint and coating solutions. Today, the business, led by the third generation of the Haymes family, employs over 420 team members and is available through 350+ stockists Australia-wide. We are still Australian Made and Owned and based in Ballarat, where we began.
Justin Noxon RAIA Jury chair
Keith Westbrook RAIA Juror
Ella Leoncio RAIA Juror
Maricel Marbus RAIA Grad Graduate juror
Regional Prize
Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre by Kosloff Architecture
Eastern Maar Country
Set within the urban context of southwest TAFE’s CBD campus, the new Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre by Kosloff Architecture is an outstanding addition to regional Victoria and is this year’s winner of the Regional Award.
The new centre springs from the passionate and collaborative vision of client, community, and architect. Sensitively set within the adjacent heritage buildings, a contemporary threestorey extension is deftly stitched to the 1868 orderly room by a new grand stair and glazed link. The extension is cloaked in an enveloping veil that peels open to reveal the city and landscape beyond, while a series of delightful spaces activate the surrounding campus offering a significant contribution to the city.
Exceptionally detailed and beautifully crafted, the design skilfully combines both a strong civic engagement with a quiet personal experience. Building on the heritage narrative, the richly layered design is imbued with resonance and joy, becoming a welcoming and engaging living room for the campus and community.
Championing learning and education for all ages, the Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre is an inspiring new regional hub of vision and excellence that has lifted the aspirations of the city and region.
Practice team: Julian Kosloff (Design Architect), Stephanie Bullock (Design Architect), Lance van Maanen (Project Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: TSA Management (Project Manager), Kosloff Architecture (Interior Designer), GLAS Urban (Landscape Consultant), Bryce Raworth (Heritage Consultant), SY Structures (Structural Engineer), SY Structures (Civil Consultant), Umow Lai (AV Consultant), Umow Lai (Fire Engineering), Umow Lai (ESD Consultant), Resonate (Acoustic Consultant), Studio Semaphore (Signage and Wayfinding), Quantum Traffic (Traffic Consultant), Philip Chun (Building Surveyor), Philip Chun (DDA)
Builder: Nicholson Construction
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Regional Prize
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Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre • Kosloff Architecture
•
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
26 Queen Victoria Markets Shed Restoration AD, HI • NH Architecture with Trethowan Architecture
• Photographer: Dianna
Snape
Heritage Architecture
This category is for any built conservation project or study developed in accordance with the Australia ICOMOS Burra Charter, or any adaptive reuse of a heritage structure.
Jury chair report
There is great excitement when something that has always been in front of us, turns around and surprises. This year’s winners provided this excitement in spades.
Our jury followed the Burra Charter’s guidance in understanding place and assessing cultural significance in history, science, aesthetics and society, including spirituality. How did that get built? Why does it look like that? What is being repaired? Whose story is being served if we keep this grand dame (or old dog) going? Who are we forgetting?
The projects with tough back-of-house demands, impressed us. If the work was under the hood and we couldn’t easily see it, if it employed rare craftsmanship, if there was contemporary ingenuity that supported tradition, if it boosted its neighbourhood – we favoured it.
The shortlist was robust and the generosity of seasoned
architects giving us personal tours was humbling. We all responded to projects that operated within the metaphorical constraints of a cranky internal combustion engine but had a secret turbo charge.
This year’s winners exhibit a variety of impressive achievements including: the research and development of new systems that are invisible and in plain sight, innovative approaches to structure and fire separation, elevating the atmospheric quality of a location, long-overdue acknowledgement of pre-Colonial heritage, meticulously detailed as-built documentation, upskilling tradespeople with old craft techniques, logistical constraints which would be calamitous if wrongly performed and the stamina of enduring various bureaucratic hurdles that pertain to heritage. What you get – is more than what you see. Congratulations to all winners and those shortlisted.
Category sponsor
27
Pamela McGirr RAIA Jury chair
Mark Raggatt RAIA Juror
Dr Christine Phillips Juror
The Heritage Council of Victoria recognises and celebrates Victoria’s cultural heritage, providing advice on the protection and conservation of historically important places and objects. We value Victoria’s heritage as an asset to be enjoyed and appreciated, and are proud to sponsor the 2023 Award for Heritage Architecture.
Harrison Smart RAIA Grad Graduate juror
Queen Victoria Markets Shed Restoration A - D, H - I by NH Architecture with Trethowan Architecture Wurundjeri Country
The great strength of NH Architecture with Trethowan Architecture’s restoration of Sheds A-D and H-I at the Queen Victoria Market is in the invisibility of its outcome. It is a clever future-proofing solution that celebrates the vibrancy of this much-loved market space.
The restoration’s primary objective was to repair and refurbish the open-air sheds while improving the market experience for all stakeholders. The challenge of the brief was to achieve this outcome without closing the market, resulting in a staged and in-situ solution.
Extensive stakeholder consultations enabled traders and the public to provide input and shape the project’s direction. The project team focused on upgrading services and restoring the structural elements to enhance the shed’s longevity along with providing a new, insulated roof that creates a sustainable outcome within the historic market precinct.
The jury was greatly impressed by the seamless integration of the outcome, preserving the chaos of the market while providing traders with improved access to
power, water, and mobile food storage units that were co-designed with the traders. The project successfully balances the restoration of significant architectural heritage with the needs of contemporary market operations setting a new benchmark for future restoration projects located within bustling urban environments.
Practice team: Nick Bourns (Project Director), Tiffany Tan (Project Lead), Mark Stephenson (Heritage Director), Claire Miller (Senior Heritage Consultant), Renee Riley (Senior Heritage Consultant), Gareth Wilson (Senior Heritage Consultant), Thuyai Chung (Project Team), Grace McKellar (Project Team), Michael Hughes (Project Team), Jenna Dunt (Project Team), Michael Strack (Project Team), Pip Hodge (Project Team), Astrid Jenkin (Project Team), Guled Abdulwasi (Project Team), Devin Pullyblank (Project Team), Ali Rahimi (Project Team), Adam Sznyter (Project Team), Matthew Lochert (Project Team), Grant Mclagan (Project Team), Richard Le (Project Team), Sabrine Koo (Project Team), Thomas Sheehan (Project Team), Vincent Biscocho (Project Team), Nicole Warwick (Project Team), Dale Schlosser (Project Team), Liam Oxlade (Project Team) Consultant / Construction team: Trethowan Architecture (Engineer), Mott MacDonald (Engineer), Du Chateau Chun (Building Surveyor), Architecture and Access (Accss Consultant), WSP (Waste Consultant), Extent (Archeologist), Red Fire (Fire Engineer), Tract (Town Planner)
Builder: McCorkell Constructions
Photographer: Dianna Snape
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The John George Knight Award for Heritage Architecture
The John George Knight Award for Heritage Architecture
29 Queen Victoria Markets Shed Restoration AD, HI • NH Architecture with Trethowan Architecture •
Photographer: Dianna Snape
Award for Heritage Architecture – Conservation
Fitzroy Town Hall Ceiling Conservation by Conservation Studio Australia Wurundjeri Country
The restoration of the Fitzroy Town Hall Ceiling is marvellous. This project represents an outstanding example of how multidisciplined, insightful and researchbased conservation can bring an important heritage site back to its former glory.
The Fitzroy Town Hall is a culturally significant building in Melbourne. Its elaborate plaster ceiling was in dire need of restoration, having suffered significant water damage and resulting mould contamination. The team remediated water ingress by introducing a siphonic drainage system. The original ceiling in the Council Chamber was a painted paper on hessian lining nailed and glued to timber boards. Covered in the 1930s due to water damage, this ceiling was removed to reveal a beautiful but deteriorated paper ceiling.
The restoration work involved conserving, stabilising and restoring 24 ceilings, which were progressively deteriorating, resulting in the temporary closure of the Main Hall and Council Chamber. Three main stabilisation methods were employed, including
pinning the plaster ceiling back to existing joists, spray application of resin adhesive, and stitching the moulded ceiling embellishments using copper wire. The restoration project showcases the successful combination of traditional and modern conservation techniques, resulting in the preservation of cultural heritage and an important landmark for future generations.
Practice team: Harrison Jess (Project Architect), Fabiola Solari (Graduate of Architecture), Ned McDonald (Graduate of Architecture), Cara Banks (Graduate of Architecture), Dan Blake (Graduate of Architecture)
Consultant / Construction team: Robert Bird Group (Structural Engineer), Melbourne Quantity Surveyors (Quality Surveyor), International Conservation Services (Materials Conservator)
Builder: Stokes Rousseau Pty Ltd and Ivy Constructions Australia Pty Ltd
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
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Award for Heritage Architecture
Award
for Heritage Architecture – Conservation
Prahran Arcade Facade Conservation by RBA Architects and Conservation Consultants
Wurundjeri Country
The earthquake in 2021 that damaged buildings in Chapel Street, also threatened to shear off the highly ornamented facade of the nearby Prahran Arcade, a fabulous example of the 19th-century shopping arcade, built at the end of Melbourne’s land boom.
The building was still magnificent with ruinous grandeur before RBA Architects and Conservation Consultants’ beautiful restoration, the tours of duty with various embattled tenants, nailed to it like war medals. It is testament to the ambitious but failed vision of a rare breed for the time – a private female speculator. The building literally struggled to get steam going (Turkish Baths were proposed) and the banks foreclosed it within seven years. Dan Murphy established his wine cellar there. But decades of neglect gave it a seedy vibe – good enough for storage, artist studios, and movie sets with menace in the plot.
The jury was impressed with the specially developed render, the craft of hand-pulled plasterwork, and the creative use of a balcony floor to structurally pin the facade back to the building.
We often bemoan that quality of buildings lost to spreadsheets – the “they don’t make them like they used to” sentiment. This owner believes the numbers say otherwise. Investing in the restoration of this grand dame is good for business. We can’t wait to see what he does next.
Practice team: Roger Beeston (Design Architect), Deirdre Heffernan (Project Leader), Phillipa Hall (Design Leader), Margaret Nicoll (Conservation Technician), Lachlan McMullin (Graduate of Architecture), Meher Bahl (Graduate of Architecture)
Consultant / Construction team: Design Project Group (Structural Engineer), Glowing Structures (Lighting Consultant)
Builder: Abode Restoration
Photographer: Thurston Empson
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Award for Heritage Architecture
Award for Heritage Architecture – Conservation
Royal Exhibition Building - Promenade by Lovell Chen Wurundjeri Country
Visitors to the Royal Exhibition Building (REB) can enjoy spectacular elevated views from the UNESCO World Heritage Building for the first time in 100 years, thanks to Lovell Chen’s recent restoration efforts. Designed by Joseph Reed for the 1880 and 1888 international exhibitions, the REB is a magnificent Victorian landmark. The main building is the only international survivor of a Great Hall from a major industrial exhibition of the period.
Lovell Chen, renowned for their ongoing restoration work on the REB, recently reinstated the 360-degree roof promenade deck and conducted conservation works on the south facade and drum dome.
Many structural and conservation challenges were met along the way. A cupola was remarkably removed in one piece to install a new lift and steel stair in the west pavilion, where the original lift had been, and Lovell Chen made the bold decision to significantly increase the size of the original promenade to ensure its future viability.
It is a great responsibility to work on a UNESCO World Heritage Building, but
Lovell Chen’s skill and deep understanding of the building has led to a thoughtful response that will no doubt be enjoyed by many future visitors to the Royal Exhibition Building.
Practice team: Kai Chen (Design Architect), Anne-Marie Treweeke (Project Architect), Milica Tumbas (Project Principal), Maxwell Bracher (Architect), Stuart Hanafin (Architect), Iulia Vrancianu Danila (Architect), Dan Blake (Architect), Natasa Vuletas (Documentation), Harry Jess (Architect), Peter Lovell (Director, Principal Heritage), Anita Brady (Senior Heritage Consultant)
Consultant / Construction team: WSP (Structural Engineer, Civil Consultant, Fire Engineer), Arup (Electrical Consultant, Mechanical Engineer, Hydraulic Consultant, ESD Consultant, Lighting Consultant), du Chateau Chun (Building Surveyor, DDA Access), Marshall Day Acoustics (Acoustic Consultant), Plancost Australia (Quality Surveyors), Ontoit (Project Manager - Design), Lovell Chen (Heritage Consultant)
Builder: HBS Group Pty Ltd
Photographer: John Gollings
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Award for Heritage Architecture
Award for Heritage Architecture – Creative Adaptation University of Melbourne Student Precinct by Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban
Wurundjeri Country
The University of Melbourne Student Precinct mediates several generations of buildings constructed between 1888 and 1972. Addressing Grattan Street, the original 1888 building was appended by multiple structures, most notably the 1939 Frank Tate building designed by Percy Everett. The ERC and Doug McDonell buildings were added in 1968, including an elevated plaza and monumental staircases linking the ERC and 1939 Buildings. The plaza submerged Frank Tate.
The jury were impressed by the deft interpretation and adaption of this complex urban condition into a coherent company of spaces. The informed conception of First Nations cultural heritage is evident in various aspects of the project, including the Welcome Ground and Welcome Terrain that flow throughout the precinct, and central Tanderrum Space reinstating the water story of the original Bouverie Creek.
The student precinct’s urban response replaces the elevated concrete plaza with solid ground that respects and preserves the heritage structures. The old
gymnasium in Frank Tate opens up into a double-height market-hall space, creating new perspectives and uses in the old building.
Similarly, the selective demolition and purposeful additions to the 1888, ERC and Doug McDonnell budlings suggest a methodology for campus interventions to celebrates the journey of discovery that characterises the University of Melbourne.
Practice team: Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban (Design Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: DCWC (Project Manager), Slattery (Cost Consultant), Irwin Consult/WSP (Structural Engineer), Lucid (Services Consultant), McKenzie Group (Building Surveyor), Aurecon (ESD Consultant), BCG (Facade Engineer), Dobbs Doherty (Fire Engineer), Schuler Shook (Theatre Planner), Marshall Day Acoustics (Acoustic Consultant), CHW (AV Consultant), Aspect Studios and Glas Urban (Landscape Consultant), Aspect Urban + Public (Wayfinding Consultant), Lovell Chen (Heritage Consultant), GTA Consultants (Traffic Engineer), Irwin Consult/WSP (Waste Consultants)
Builder: Kane Constructions
Photographer: Peter Bennetts
33 Award for Heritage Architecture
Commendation for Heritage Architecture – Conservation
Doherty House by RBA Architects and Conservation Consultants
Country: Bunurong
The restoration of Doherty House in Tarneit is a significant achievement in Victoria’s heritage preservation. The remnant fabric was perilous, destroyed by fire in 1969, rubble walls rotating outwards, and missing lintels readied for catastrophic collapse. An exhaustive analysis of the ruins enabled vegetation removal and repair work. The approach combined traditional and digital conservation techniques. The result maximised fabric retention, cultural heritage value, and set the stage for potential adaptive re-use, providing a striking interpretive feature in an otherwise unimpressive suburban development.
Builder: Abode Restoration
Photographer: Thurston Empson
Commendation for Heritage Architecture – Creative Adaptation
Albert Park Primary School Performance Hub by Searle x Waldron Architecture
Country: Bunurong
The 1884 Wesleyan Church at Albert Park Primary School is an absolute gem of a project. A simple move of reversing sightlines across an amphitheatre-planned building solved several problems for the school. Searle x Waldron Architecture removed ad hoc additions, polishedup window hardware and created a singular piece of joinery that functions as seating, rehearsal room and amenities. The incredible thing, that this perfectly functional outcome also accomplishes, is hardly glamourous – fire separation with a previous non-complying boundary condition. A genius solution for a public school on a shoe-string budget.
Builder: Eastern Property Services
Photographer: Peter Bennetts
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Commendation for Heritage Architecture
Other entries for Heritage Architecture
Shortlisted • Ackmans House • Rob Kennon Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Shortlisted • Melbourne Holocaust Museum • Kerstin Thompson Architects • Bunurong Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Shortlisted • Star of the Sea CollegeHeritage Wing • PMDL McGlashan Everist • Bunurong Country • Photographer Emily Bartlett
Shortlisted • Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre • Kosloff Architecture • Eastern Maar Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
•
Redevelopment of Federation University SMB Building ‘A’ • BSPN Architecture • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer
Rhiannon Slatter
Mary Street House • Edition Office • Bunurong Country • Photographer Rory Gardiner
Moonee Valley Tote • Field Office Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Pier Carthew
Myross House, Ascot Vale • Emma Tulloch Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership East Melbourne • DesignInc Melbourne • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Other entries for Heritage Architecture
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Darebin Intercultural Centre • Sibling Architecture • Wurundjeri Country
Photographer Peter Bennetts
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Delatite Cellar Door
• Lucy Clemenger Architects
• Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Commercial Architecture
Projects in this category must be built primarily for commercial purposes, generally falling within BCA Classes 3b, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
Jury chair report
This year entries for the Commercial Architecture category demonstrate a breadth of project typologies, including wineries, boutique office buildings, health spas and Gin distilleries. Comparative analysis was therefore a complex process and site visits an imperative.
What connected these diverse projects was the exemplary nature employed by the architects to produce highquality design outcomes within the parameters of commerciality. The strength of ideas, the use of materials and the execution of the final built form appeared not to be constrained by the client, budget, or the need for the project to operate successfully in a commercial environment.
The jury reflected on the contextual range of projects beyond the remit of the traditional commercial city centre.
Several shortlisted entries where from regional Victoria where climatic conditions, sustainability and landscape played a pivotal role in the design thinking. They also acknowledged a growing appreciation within the profession of the responsibilities of working on Country and the influence of First Nations histories. The jury endorses these sentiments and recognise them as a continuing and positive step forward for everyone in the design industry.
Jury deliberations were thorough, inclusive, and robust; however, the awards evaluation criteria remained a steady compass to ensure we navigated toward the right decisions. We congratulate the awarded and commended projects and suggest the future of commercial architecture in the postCOVID era is looking optimistic.
Category sponsor
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Hamish Lyon FRAIA Jury chair
Amy Morrison RAIA Grad Graduate juror
Wojciech Pluta RAIA Juror
Martina Tempestini RAIA Juror
Colours available in Australia through
The inspired colours in this swatch were sourced from the Natural Colour System (NCS). Access to this colour range is available in Australia through Taubmans.
Taubmans does not claim that the colours or paints used in this award-winning project were produced by Taubmans.
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S 4050-Y80R
S 5020-G50Y
S 1000-N
S 3030-Y40R
The Sir Osborn McCutheon Award for Commercial Architecture
Delatite Cellar Door by Lucy Clemenger Architects
Taungurung Country
The remarkable commercial success of this beautifully designed Delatite Cellar Door is a testament to the exceptional relationship between the client and architect.
Throughout their visit, guests are immersed in a multisensory experience that unfolds with each passing moment.
Sitting gracefully in the landscape, guests are invited on a gentle ascent through the magnificent surroundings to the building. Moving through the space, every opportunity is seized to connect to the environment, as demonstrated through the external portal that frames Mount Buller in the background, creating an imaginary threshold to the cellar experience.
The spaces unfold effortlessly, displaying exquisite, understated details that make use of the skills of local craftsmen and locally sourced materials. This reflects the tireless commitment of both the client and architect to sustainability and their respect for the land, fostering a seamless relationship with nature in line with their business philosophy.
The interiors successfully create a welcoming domestic atmosphere where visitors can pause to take in the view and warm and welcoming space.
The client’s generosity in sharing their stunning asset with the local community is reflected through the spatial organisation of the building and landscape. This is enhanced through the versatility of the space allowing the opportunity for music festivals and local farmer’s markets to take place on the premises in future.
Practice team: Lucy Clemenger (Design Architect), Tilde Sheppard (Project Architect), Aykiz Gokmen (Graduate of Architecture), Lily Nie (Graduate of Architecture)
Consultant / Construction team: The O’Neill Group (Structural Engineer), Alpine Building Permits (Building Surveyor), DBQS (Quality Surveyor), Enrate (Energy Assessor)
Builder: Easton
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
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The Sir Osborn McCutheon Award for Commercial Architecture
Award for Commercial Architecture
Encore Cremorne by Fieldwork Wurundjeri Country
Through a meticulous process of moulding the volume of the space, Fieldwork’s Encore Cremorne project responds to the challenging brief of delivering an office tower, with an outstanding example of urban integration.
The 20th-century brick building is carefully retained and restored, with inserted punctual openings to facilitate the new commercial activities housed within the structure. Above, the new development is composed of seven floors with a superb, pleated glass and brick facade that reflects and deconstructs the surrounding environment through a play of reflections and lights.
The volumes gracefully dance and sway, guided by delicate modulation, hollowing out at the corners, offering respite to the dense urban fabric. The wells of light they create beckon the sunlight to delicately permeate through to the narrow laneways.
The relationship between the historic ground-level building and the new volumes is masterfully harmonised, transcending their differing scales, through the carving of the interstitial spaces. The well established, jungle-like gardens at various levels of the building provide an extraordinary experience for tenants. Likewise, the generous communal areas immersed in greenery offer spaces for both conviviality and focused work.
Practice team: Joachim Holland (Design DirectorArchitect), Tim Brooks (Project Architect), Kara Kim (Architect), William Anderson (Architect), Shin Kil (Architect) Consultant / Construction team: Monno (Developer), Contour (Town Planner), Reddo (Building Surveyor), Bryce Raworth (Heritage Consultant), Openwork (Landscape Architect), Green Factory (ESD Consultant), Mim Design (Interior Designer), Architecture & Access (DDA Consultant), Webber (Structural Engineer), Webber (Civil Consultant), OMNII (Fire Engineer), Traffix (Traffic), Leigh Design (Waste Management), RWDI (Wind Engineering), Protest (Geotechnical), Stantec (Services Consultant)
Builder: Hacer Group
Photographer: Tom Ross
Award for Commercial Architecture
JCB Studio by Jackson Clements Burrows Wurundjeri Country
JCB has successfully reimagined a postpandemic, flexible working space that fosters collaboration and creativity.
The studio, located in the bustling streets of Richmond, is an outstanding example of an adaptive reimaging of a warehouse that coexists with long-standing neighbourhood businesses.
The design approach recognises the transient nature of this fast-developing part of the city with a commitment to sustainability. Every effort has been made to preserve as much as possible, integrating new components specifically with their lifecycle in mind. The building’s original envelope and structure are maintained, together with the sawtooth roof and the timber flooring. The new laminated timber beams, particle board, steelwork and trusses are off-the-shelf items to be disassembled and reused in case of future demolition. All furnishings
are beautifully detailed and manufactured, modularly designed to be easily flatpacked and transported elsewhere.
Materials such as stainless steel used at times to structurally reinforce, elevate the details and accentuate the orange colour (a romantic and nostalgic reference to the history of the practice), weaving a compelling narrative that unfolds throughout the spaces.
The project successfully creates a central introspective yet collaborative space, isolated from the noise of the main road, while maintaining a constant connection with the surrounding context of its perimeters. This is exemplified through the self-owned and managed cafe. Open to the community, it activates the adjacent lane and rear entrance to embrace the vibrant street art of the area, ultimately enhancing the building’s unique and dynamic atmosphere.
Practice team: Jon Clements (Design Architect), Tim Jackson (Design Architect), Graham Burrows (Design Architect), Chris Botterill (Project Architect), Alison Palmer (Interior Designer), Tess Wrigley (Interior Designer), Chloe Hinchliffe (Interior Designer), William Christian (Project Architect), Adelle Mackey (Interior Design), Akiko Bamba (Design Team), Ben Pitman (Design Team), Eulalie Trinca (Interior Design), Mathew George (Design Team) Consultant / Construction team: ADP (Electrical & Fire safety), Griepink & Ward (Mechanical), Reddo Building Surveyors (Building Surveyor), AVI Technology (AV Consultant), Dataline (Comms), Light Project (Lighting Consultant), Gincat (Fire Engineering)
Builder: BD Projects, LEEDA Projects
Photographer: Shannon McGrath
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Award for Commercial Architecture
Commendation for Commercial Architecture
CONO Business Park by Particular Architects
Country: Wurundjeri
CONO Business Park presents a remarkable achievement in elevating the industrial typology. Thanks to a well-considered street interface, the constant consideration and integration of human scale, and thoughtful organisation of units, the project succeeds in creating a welcoming and vibrant space for the diverse working population. It simultaneously fosters engagement within the surrounding community and businesses operating in the near proximities.
The quality finish of the concrete, considered details, climbing green walls, and the hand-painted super graphic all contribute to a level of refinement that is atypical for this type of development.
The architect has successfully demonstrated the value of good design by fostering a positive relationship with the client, resulting in a space that delivers both a successful commercial outcome and the positive wellbeing of those who work and visit here.
Builder: MBD Momentum Building & Development Pty Ltd
Photographer: Serena Galante Photography
Other entries for Commercial Architecture
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Commendation and Other
entries for Commercial Architecture
Shortlisted • Alba Thermal Springs & Spa • Hayball • Bunurong Country • Photographer Henry Lam
Shortlisted • Escala, NewQuay • Six Degrees Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Alex Reinders
Shortlisted • Four Pillars Gin Distillery • Breathe • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Anson Smart
Shortlisted • Zero Gipps • SJB • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Aaron Puls
180 Flinders • SJB • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
55 Southbank Boulevard • Bates Smart • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
ANMF House • Bayley Ward • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Earl Carter
Carlton Football Club Elite Training Facility and Administration Building • Populous • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Chris Matterson
Other entries for Commercial Architecture
Embrace Women’s Health • Leon Lopata Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Mark Munro
Kew Office • Kavellaris Urban Design • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Veeral Patel
Latrobe Valley Gov Hub • WMK Architecture • Gunaikurnai Country • Photographer Tatjana Plitt
Levantine Hill Estate Winery • Fender Katsalidis • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Willem Dirk du Toit
Melbourne Connect • Woods Bagot •
•
The Workplace Kane Built • ARM Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Shannon McGrath
Sound Stage 6, Docklands Studios • Grimshaw • Wurundjeri Country •
St Hubert’s Cellar Door • Cera Stribley • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
The Sebel Yarrawonga, Silverwoods Resort • COX Architecture • Yorta Yorta Country •
Wurriki Nyal Civic Precinct • COX Architecture • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
Xero HQ 260 Burwood Rd • Idle Architecture Studio • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Jaime Diaz-Berrio
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Other entries for Commercial Architecture
Wurundjeri Country
Photographer Trevor Mein
Photographer Dianna Snape
Photographer Tommy Miller
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Delatite Cellar Door
• Lucy Clemenger Architects
•
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
44 University of Melbourne Student Precinct •
Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture
Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect
Lyons with Koning
Studio, Greenaway
Studios and Glas Urban • Photographer: Peter Bennetts
Educational Architecture
Projects in this category may be any preschool, primary, secondary or tertiary educational facility and/or joint research facilities in
which an educational institution is a significant partner. Education projects may not be entered in the Public Architecture category.
Jury chair report
It’s been a bumper crop for educational architecture in 2023, with a record 31 projects entered. This includes 15 public schools, eight private schools, five university projects, two kindergartens and an early learning centre. In terms of budget, scale and complexity, there is a substantial gulf between a kindergarten and a university campus, making the jury’s task particularly challenging.
The unprecedented number of entrants in the education category can be largely explained by the sizeable investment in government schools over the past decade. It has been seven years since the establishment of the Victorian School Building Authority, and we are beginning to see the fruits of a new generation of school designers shining through.
The jury was immensely impressed by the high quality of learning environments on show. Architects are meeting the brief and striving to achieve so much more for the students and teachers of Victoria. Perhaps counterintuitively, it was often
those projects bound by tight budgets and challenging sites that demonstrated the greatest ingenuity and delight. Naturally, the jury was looking for architecture that offered something beyond the brief. We were not disappointed. This year’s winners are brimming with ideas: Sibling’s deconstruction of the corridor into a joyful enfilade of student lounges for Box Hill North Primary School; Kennedy Nolan’s externalised circulation, connecting classrooms with nature for Macleod College; the robust adaptability of Six Degrees’ vertical school at Carlton Gardens Primary; Project 12’s superbly reduced and composed palette for Meadows Primary School; Fieldwork + Brand’s campus within a building, delivering exceptional learning environments on a constrained and challenging site. And of course, the new student precinct at the University of Melbourne, a project that demonstrates the full transformative potential and social riches that great architecture has to offer. There is much to celebrate here.
Category sponsor
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Michael Roper RAIA Jury chair
Sarah Mason RAIA Grad Graduate juror
Emma Chrisp RAIA Juror
Simon Topliss RAIA Juror
S 1030-Y10R
Colours available in Australia through
S 1005-Y10R
S 2502-Y20R
S 3020-G50Y
The inspired colours in this swatch were sourced from the Natural Colour System (NCS). Access to this colour range is available in Australia through Taubmans.
Taubmans does not claim that the colours or paints used in this award-winning project were produced by Taubmans.
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The Henry Bastow Award for Educational Architecture
University of Melbourne Student Precinct by Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban Wurundjeri Country
The University of Melbourne Student Precinct resolves myriad forces – urban, social, cultural, historical, geographical – into a richly layered campus that is both vibrant and robust. There is a seamlessness to the precinct with its roots in the design team itself: many architectural voices singing from the one song sheet without ever sacrificing their individual expression.
Seamlessness in all things: between the city and the campus; urban grids and natural waterways; the interior and exterior realms; Indigenous and colonial narratives; upper and lower levels; urban and human scales; and between student-run and university-controlled spaces.
Despite the many challenges inherent in the complexities of the site, stakeholders, and the brief, the design team have managed to transcend mere pragmatics to deliver a campus that is energised, joyful and deeply expressive. It is seamless, yet never at the expense of texture, diversity or authenticity. In fact, it is in the deep exploration and
celebration of the precinct’s many threads that resolutions have been found: their commonalities and tensions expressed and resolved. A microcosm of what a city could be and ought to be. Accommodating. Inclusive. Delightful.
Practice team: Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban (Design Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: DCWC (Project Manager), Slattery (Cost Consultant), Irwin Consult/WSP (Structural Engineer), Lucid (Services Consultant), McKenzie Group (Building Surveyor), Aurecon (ESD Consultant), BCG (Facade Engineer), Dobbs Doherty (Fire Engineer), Schuler Shook (Theatre Planner), Marshall Day Acoustics (Acoustic Consultant), CHW (AV Consultant), Aspect Studios and Glas Urban (Landscape Consultant), Aspect Urban + Public (Wayfinding Consultant), Lovell Chen (Heritage Consultant), GTA Consultants (Traffic Consultant), Irwin Consult/WSP (Waste Consultant)
Builder: Kane Constructions
Photographer: Peter Bennetts
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The Henry Bastow Award for Educational Architecture
Award for Educational Architecture
Box Hill North Primary School by Sibling Architecture
Wurundjeri Country
Box Hill North Primary School by Sibling Architecture embraces the opportunity to transform a simple brief for a primary school building into a spirited and playful set of spaces that hold opportunity in every corner. Sibling Architecture’s distinct hand has translated to a project that offers delightful day-lit and inspiring learning environments that will capture the imagination of students.
The building, which is framed by eucalypts and brick villas, greets the community with a formal language that is borrowed from its context to create a familiar and homely space for the school community.
Sibling Architecture has demonstrated how small moves can deliver big impact. A conventional fourby-two arrangement of eight classrooms is enhanced by the rotation of each north-south pair. This gentle shift offers a
generous result: what would ordinarily be a central circulation spine is transformed into a zigzag of layered pockets for retreating, making, and doing.
The jury were delighted by the expansive volume of the interior spaces as well as the playful geometry of the brick and metal building fabric. The project is exemplary in its careful articulation of all architectural elements to create a spirit of generosity within a small footprint.
Practice team: Nicholas Braun (Design Architect), Alice Edmonds (Project Architect), Eleanor Peres (Graduate of Architecture), Andrea Lam (Graduate of Architecture) Consultant / Construction team: Argall (Structural Engineer), Cundall (Services Consultant)
Builder: Simbuilt
Photographer: Tope Adesina
Award for Educational Architecture
Centre for Higher Education Studies by Fieldwork + Brand Architects
Wurundjeri Country
At the Centre for Higher Education Studies (CHES), Fieldwork +Brand Architects have deftly navigated a myriad of easements and the challenges of an incredibly tight Chapel Street site to create a considered and delightful vertical school for the state government’s accelerated learning program.
CHES presents measured and robust facades to the Chapel Street and rear elevations – corrugated precast planter boxes and carefully shrouded windows. However, in the interior is where the true joy is revealed. At ground level, clear planning leads to a carefully landscaped social courtyard at the base of a dramatic and light-filled atrium. On such a tight site, both architect and client should be applauded for the spatial relief this provides the interiors.
On the upper levels, the collaboration with Ben Cleveland to
develop the formal and informal learning settings has led to thoughtful and wellconsidered outcomes. The central atrium is wrapped with a series of purposeful breakout spaces and nooks. Classrooms are light-filled, and the facade planting mediates views to the neighbours.
The interior palette and detailing are refined and cohesive, Victorian Ash, utilised in the hybrid structural system, has been celebrated throughout. It was abundantly clear the architects revelled in the rhythms and rules they set themselves.
Practice team: Joachim Holland - Fieldwork (Design Director - Architect), Farnia Askari - Brand Architects (Project Director - Architect), Gerard McCurry - Brand Architects (Director - Architect), Laurence Robinson - Brand Architects (Director / Educational Planner - Architect), Tim BrooksFieldwork (Project Architect), Philip Weatherlake - Brand Architects (Senior Architect), Bridget Lensen - Fieldwork (Architect), William Anderson - Fieldwork (Architect), Simon Lobianco - Fieldwork (Architect), Theo Roseland - Brand Architects (Graduate of Architecture), Sofia Ward - Brand Architects (BIM Documenter)
Consultant / Construction team: Engaging Spaces (Education Consultant), Openwork (Landscape Architect), Marshall Day (Acoustic Consultant), PLP (Building Surveyor), Equal Access (DDA Consultant), Cundall (ESD Consultant), Wilde and Woolard (Quality Surveyor), WGA (Structural Engineer), WGA (Civil Consultant), Cundall (Services Consultant), Eco Results (Waste Management). Mel Consulting (Wind Engineering), Audio Visual (UT Consulting), BCA (Fire Engineering), Geo Aust (Geotechnical)
Builder: Figurehead
Photographer: Tom Ross
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Award for Educational Architecture
Award for Educational Architecture
Macleod College by Kennedy Nolan Wurundjeri Country
Kennedy Nolan’s Macleod College Science Centre breathes fresh air into this existing campus, with a contemporary response expressing a clear vision and confident identity. Strategic demolition unlocks opportunities for connections and courtyards, creating a highly legible and compelling campus, refreshing the public interface and inviting future development.
Working hard within constraints and consistently seeking opportunities for generosity, purposeful specialist teaching spaces are delivered with joyful highlights. Releasing circulation from corridors, breezeways cleverly allow porosity, inviting occupation and supporting the broader vision for a connected campus. Delightfully permeable bathrooms welcome light and air indoors.
Responding to the materiality of the existing 1970s buildings, the soft
tonal external palette references the native bushland and settles comfortably into the surrounding landscape. A confident complimentary interior palette offers an inviting and uplifting interior. Bullnose-roof forms and curves create dynamic form, with considered details enabling clean simple lines.
Deftly articulated, this project feels effortless. Smart decisions have been made to provide texture and warmth within a robust palette. This astute care given to material selection, form and spatial planning provide great value. This project presents a highly engaging contemporary environment for learning, providing an optimistic template for public schools to come.
Practice team: Patrick Kennedy (Design Architect), Rachel Nolan (Design Architect), Susan Syer (Design Architect), Hilary Duff (Project Architect), Elizabeth Campbell (Project Architect), Danny Truong (Project Architect)
Commendation for Educational Architecture
Consultant / Construction team: Brogue Consulting Engineering (Structural Engineer), BRT Consulting Engineers (Services Consultant), Simon Ellis Landscape Architects (Landscape Consultant), Urban Digestor (ESD Consultant)
Builder: JR & BL Kendall Pty Ltd
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Country: Wurundjeri
Embracing student requests for pink Lego and a giant slide, this project packs a lot into a tight site, delivering high efficiency with playful moments. Order is prioritised to deliver value, enabling an open ground plane and a series of inviting light-filled perimeter classrooms. Persuasive versatility is demonstrated by the successful loose-fit top floor. Breeze blocks and perforated screens add a lyrical overlay, mediating edges and framing external views. This project is commendably bright and robust with compelling adaptability.
Builder: CCB Envico
Photographer: Nick Love
Country: Wurundjeri
At Meadows Primary School, Project 12 Architecture puts the needs of their client first and foremost – providing rational and calm architecture that fosters student academic, social, and emotional requirements. In doing so, they have created a simple and elegant outcome that puts the school’s needs before design ego. The well-crafted exteriors are balanced with a hard-working internal plan. The corridors quietly delight with playful use of colour and natural light. There is integrity in the approach throughout, and the result is highly commendable.
Builder: Alchemy Construct
Photographer: Rory Gardiner
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Award and Commendation for Educational Architecture
Carlton Gardens Primary School by Six Degrees Architects Meadows Primary School by Project 12 Architecture
Other entries for Educational Architecture
Shortlisted • Carey Grammar Middle School • Architectus • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
Shortlisted • Ivanhoe Grammar Sports & Aquatic Centre • Mcildowie Partners • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Shortlisted • Melbourne Connect • Woods Bagot • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Shortlisted • Sandringham Primary School Rebuild • Peter Elliott Architecture + Urban Design • Bunurong Country • Photographer John Gollings
Shortlisted • VSBA New Schools 2022 Bundle B • McBride Charles Ryan in association with Kerstin Thompson Architects • Bunurong, Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dan Preston
Alatus • fjmtstudio • Bunurong Country • Photographer John Gollings
Altona North Primary School • Workshop Architecture • Bunurong Country • Photographer John Gollings
BiraBira Early Learning Centre • R ARCHITECTURE • Bunurong Country • Photographer Tatjana Plitt
Cowes Primary School • Project 12 Architecture • Bunurong Country • Photographer Hamish McIntosh
Cranbourne Secondary College • Bourke and Bouteloup Architects • Bunurong Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Monash College • Lyons with NMBW Architecture Studio, Studiobird, Glas Urban, Gilby + Brewin • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Mundaring Childcare Centre • Michael Carr Architect • Bunurong Country • Photographer Elizabeth Schiavello
New Teaching Spaces & Student Housing at Year 9 Clunes Campus, Wesley College • WBa • Dja Dja Wurrung Country • Photographer Fred Kroh
Newcomb Primary School • Workshop Architecture • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer John Gollings
Port Melbourne Secondary College • Billard Leece Partnership • Bunurong Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Redevelopment of Federation University SMB Building ‘A’ • BSPN Architecture • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Rhiannon Slatter
Sacred Heart College - Innovation Precinct • PMDL McGlashan Everist • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Barefood Media
Star of the Sea College - Heritage Wing • PMDL McGlashan Everist • Bunurong Country • Photographer Emily Bartlett
The Roslyn Otzen Sports & Wellbeing Centre • Sally Draper Architects with Mitsuori Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
Victoria University City Tower • Jackson Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer John Gollings
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Other entries for Educational Architecture
Other entries for Educational Architecture
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Other entries for Educational Architecture
VSBA New Schools 2023 Bundle A • ARM Architecture • Bunurong, Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Shannon McGrath
Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership East Melbourne • DesignInc Melbourne • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Year 9 Yuulong Campus, Ballarat Clarendon College • WBa • Eastern Maar Country • Photographer John Gollings
Wellington Child and Family Centre • AOA Christopher Peck • Bunurong Country • Photographer Veeral Patel
Wurun Senior Campus • GHDWoodhead and Grimshaw • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
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Three Springs Architectural Interiors
• KGA Architecture
• Photographer: John Gollings
Interior Architecture
Projects in this category must be interior spaces and environments within a new building or the refurbishment of an existing building.
Jury chair report
2023 was a big year for the interior architecture category with 38 submissions presented over two days, leaving all other juries in their wake. Interior architecture is an interesting jury to sit on as it covers a very wide array of projects. Every building has an interior and as such is eligible – universities, schools, science labs, residences, galleries, wineries, law courts… did l miss anyone?
We are the smorgasbord category.
The jury took a generous approach, leaning towards embracing the opportunity to visit projects as it’s the act of seeing a building in the flesh that makes the architectural awards so relevant. In total twelve projects were visited, which saw us criss-crossing Melbourne and driving for hours into the Victorian countryside. On these journeys interesting discussions were held.
Subjects ranged from the architect’s approach, the resolution, nuances, failings and successes, relationships between architect, builder, client, supplier, and trades were thrown around as we headed to the next town and project.
What is interior architecture as opposed to interior design or interior decoration? What is it we are looking for, looking at, taking, or not taking into consideration? Should the exterior be an influence on an interior jury? Well then, you’ll have to put your hand up for next year’s awards, get on to a jury and wait until you are driving around the countryside with a group of your peers.
Ultimately, we had the privilege of visiting projects that had been beautifully conceived, considered and detailed.
Category sponsor
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About Space Lighting is a trailblazer in the world of design, illuminating with unparalleled brilliance since 2009. Our expertise in the lighting industry has earned us a reputation for boldly pushing boundaries. With every project, we aim to leave a lasting impression; our innovative lighting solutions shape the future of design.
Tim O’Sullivan RAIA Jury chair
Ryan Russell RAIA Juror
Stephanie Kitingan RAIA Juror
Darcie Vella RAIA Grad Graduate juror
Colours available in Australia through
The inspired colours in this swatch were sourced from the Natural Colour System (NCS). Access to this colour range is available in Australia through Taubmans.
Taubmans does not claim that the colours or paints used in this award-winning project were produced by Taubmans.
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S 2050-Y50R
S 4020-B50G
S 2010-R40B
S 0520-Y
The Marion Mahony Award for Interior Architecture
Three Springs Architectural Interiors by KGA Architecture
Bunurong Country
Great projects step up to the mark. This project steps up, over and keeps marching. A breadth of detail is constant while reimagining itself at every turn. A variation on a theme, à la Bach’s Goldberg variation. Everything returns, reassembles and splinters back to a central theme within all its splendour, all its audacity, a clear and coherent language is maintained.
What appears at first as distinctly voracious space is quickly followed by the underlying awareness that each space is responding to and communicating with the next. A hidden storyline communicated through vein of stone, repletion of tile, detail, the play of light and shadow, colour and form. This is not a piece of architecture that wraps its intentions into its interior, this is interior architecture that leaches out to engulf the exterior.
Time nor taste shall weary it. It is not fashionable now, nor will it be in fifty years. The sheer devotion to this project, by this architect, transcends all of this. In a hundred years, it will still ring as true as it does right now. It is the work of a single practitioner drawing upon a wealth of collected thoughts and responses to form
and space. It talks of place, of making, and of the joy of this rich tapestry of life and celebration worthy of the named award.
Practice team: Kristin Green (Project Architect), Kristin Green (Design Architect), Roxanne Esagunde (Architect Assistant), Tony Green (Senior Consultant), Louis Nuccitelli (Graduate of Architecture), Amy Evans (Graduate of Architecture)
Consultant / Construction team: Quatrefoil Consulting Pty Ltd (Structural and Civil Engineer), Connor Pincus Group (Services and Mechanical Engineer), BDC Building Design Compliance Pty Ltd (Building Surveyor), Bluebottle (Lighting Consultant), Kinetic Sets (Metal Consultant)
Builder: Frank Victoria Pty Ltd
Photographer: John Gollings
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The Marion Mahony Award for Interior Architecture
Award for Interior Architecture
Bass Coast Farmhouse by Wardle Bunurong Country
Bass Coast Farmhouse is an example of contemporary Australian architecture that deftly balances innovative design with poetic craftsmanship. As you enter, the ground plane deconstructs and moulds to contours of the shifting land, dissolving interior and exterior thresholds. This is referenced internally through a change in material underfoot, continually linking the occupant to their surrounding context.
Characterised by a sequence of repetitive elements, the interior takes on a monastic quality – dark timbers are paired with a series of low-hanging wall lights which infuse the space with an unhurried characteristic; views of the sweeping coastal landscape are carefully framed, while shuttered windows overlooking the central courtyard invite a sense of introspection.
The ingenuity of these windows lies in their operation – each shutter is
operated by turning a handheld wheel some 80 cycles, harnessing the kinetic energy of the user to generate electricity in order to open and close, marrying the agricultural with the innovative.
It is a deliberate shift from the automated to the sensory – serving as a reminder to slow down, and take it in. This, along with a restricted use of detailing to cohesive elements, evokes simplicity inherent to the farmhouse.
Practice team: John Wardle (Design Architect), Diego Bekinschtein (Project Architect), Megan Fraser (Project Architect), Andrew Wong (Design Architect), Luca Vezzosi (Project Architect), Adrian Bonaventura (Graduate of Architecture), Maya Borjesson (Project Architect), Chloë Lanser (Project Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: OPS Engineers (Structural Engineer), OPS Engineers (Civil Consultant), Griepink & Ward Air Conditioning (Building Services), Nissl Eichert Heating (Building Services), Burra Electrical (Electrical Consultant), Greensphere (ESD Consultant), Ark Angel Pty Ltd. (Geotechnical and Bushfire Consultant), SWA (Building Surveyor), Prowse Quantity Surveyors (Quality Surveyor), Jo Henry Landscape Design
Award for Interior Architecture
(Landscape Consultant), The Sustainable Landscape Company (Landscape Contractor), Beveridge Williams (Land surveyor)
Builder: Overend Construction
Photographer: Trevor Mein
Science Gallery Melbourne by Smart Design Studio
Wurundjeri Country
Science Gallery by Smart Design Studio provides an integrated and dynamic solution to the exhibition and gallery design typology. Impeccably detailed and exceptionally adaptable, the interior merge function and form seamlessly allowing for the re-use of custom designed exhibition panels and recycling of used exhibition materials. A unique galvanised steel-clad access floor anchors the project, surrounded by a gridded exhibition system echoing the descriptions found in fluid dynamics.
Human-centric elements emerge within this interior, explored in the simplest of detail from a handrail stanchion or a subtle shift in texture. The rooms or spaces merge from one to the next with storage elements embedded throughout being both functional and sculptural. It is a gallery that delights upon visitation and skilfully showcases an eclectic series of events and exhibitions in constant evolution.
As an interior, it extends an invitation to come back and explore some more. Joyful, colourful and effortless in its execution yet complex and precise in its operation, the Science Gallery achieves what the gallery aims to showcase, an exploration in the collision of science, art and innovation.
Practice team: William Smart (Creative Director), Nicole Leuning (Project Architect), Inacio Cardona (Designer), Clayton Doueihi (Graduate of Architecture), Donatus Gurnito (Architect), Natalie Hardbattle (Designer), Angus Hardwick (Designer), Jason Haworth (Designer), Maggie Lum (Designer), Jarrod Van Veen (Graduate of Architecture), Alena Smith (Interior Designer), Aaron (Interior Designer), Q Tran (CGI Artist)
Consultant / Construction team: Aecom (Acoustic Consultant), Morris Goding (Access Consultant), Arup (AV Consultant), Steve Watson & Partners (Building Surveyor), Arup (Electrical Consultant), Arup (Fire Engineer), Arup (Hydraulic Consultant), Steensen Varmiong (Lighting Consultant), Arup (Engineer), Root Partnership (Project Manager), WT Partnership (Quality Surveyor), Woods Bagot Melbourne Connect (Base Building Architect), Arup (Structural Engineer), Arup (Services Consultant)
Builder: Lend Lease Build
Photographer: Trevor Mein
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Award for Interior Architecture
Hermon by WOWOWA Architecture
Commendation for Interior Architecture
Somers House by Kennedy Nolan
Country: Wurundjeri
WOWOWA Architecture’s Hermon presents a nuanced play of colour, texture, and materiality, creating a soft extension to the back of a generous Federation house. Gently blurring the lines between old and new, even small and subtle insertions of joinery into the existing rooms play an important role in providing an elegant occupation of the spaces. Soft light dances, bounces even. The interior is also drawn outside through a series of small pavilions that compliment and blur the lines between interior and exterior.
Builder: Basis Builders
Photographer: Martina Gemmola
The Mental Health Beds Expansion Program at McKellar Centre by NTC Architects with BG Architecture
Country: Bunurong
This home embraces ideas of ageing in place and universal accessibility. To do so requires design rigour, the architects clear in their exploration of spatial zoning and flexibility while creating a colourful and textural home for an evolving family. The house feels like a warm embrace as you enter through a central bridge, with the interiors complementing the rich tonal landscape beyond. Finishes are intended to age and wear as the family itself grows, ages and evolves.
Builder: Bartlett Architectural Construction
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Country: Wadawurrung
Responding to the Royal Commission into the mental healthcare system, this project not only addresses the physical constraints of such a demanding building type, but whole heartedly embraces its greater intent, providing a place that cares, nurtures and protects. With the resultant building wrapping around a series of landscaped and accessible courtyards, warm, textural, light-filled, understandable in its layout while robust and protective in its built form. It is domestic in scale and feel as opposed to institutional.
Builder: Lendlease
Photographer: Dianna Snape
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Commendation for Interior Architecture
Other entries for Interior Architecture
Shortlisted • Darebin Intercultural Centre • Sibling Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Shortlisted • Delatite Cellar Door • Lucy Clemenger Architects • Taungurung Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Shortlisted • Glen Iris House • Pandolfini Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Sharyn Cairns
Shortlisted • JCB Studio • Jackson Clements Burrows • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Shannon McGrath
Shortlisted • University of Melbourne Student Precinct • Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Shortlisted • Wurun Senior Campus • GHDWoodhead and Grimshaw • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
Alba Thermal Springs & Spa • Hayball • Bunurong Country • Photographer Willem Dirk du Toit
Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections (ACGRC) and Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades (CRAFT) • Spowers • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Kate Berry
Bendigo Law Courts • Wardle • Dja Dja Wurrung Country • Photographer Tim Griffith
BioFab3D • L2D Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Marty Turnbull
Camillo House • Blair Smith Architecture and Clare Hillier - CS Studio • Bunurong Country • Photographer Kate Shanasy
Carey Grammar Middle School • Architectus • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
Char House, Point Lonsdale • Hede Architects • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Ben Wrigley
Charter Hall Workplace Melbourne • COX Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Shannon McGrath
IAG Melbourne • COX Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Nicole England
Mary Street House • Edition Office • Bunurong Country • Photographer Rory Gardiner
McCormick Technical Innovation Centre • L2D Architects • Bunurong Country • Photographer Katya Menshikova
Mirvac Melbourne Office • Mirvac Design • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Nicole England
Monash College • Lyons with NMBW Architecture Studio, Studiobird, Glas Urban, Gilby + Brewin • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Moonah Tree House • Kirby Architects • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Jack Lovel
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Other
entries for Interior Architecture
Other entries for Interior Architecture
Slattery Melbourne • Elenberg Fraser • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Jack Lovel
St Martins Lane • Matt Gibson Architecture + Design and Kestie Lane Studio • Bunurong Country • Photographer Timothy Kaye
The Sebel Yarrawonga, Silverwoods Resort • COX Architecture • Yorta Yorta Country • Photographer Andrew Sissons
The Workplace Kane Built • ARM Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Shannon McGrath
Victorian Academy of Teaching and Leadership East Melbourne • DesignInc Melbourne • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Viv’s Place • ARM Architecture • Bunurong Country • Photographer Tatjana Plitt
VSBA New Schools 2023 Bundle A • ARM Architecture • Bunurong, Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Shannon McGrath
Warren and Mahoney - Melbourne Studio • Warren and Mahoney in association with Greenaway Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Shannon McGrath
Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre • Kosloff Architecture • Eastern Maar Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Werribee Sensory Lab • Bourke and Bouteloup Architects • Bunurong Country • Photographer Nick Carlino
Wurriki Nyal Civic Precinct • COX Architecture • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
Yarra Ranges Council Civic Centre Redevelopment • H2o architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
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Other entries for Interior Architecture
60 Bendigo Law Courts •
Wardle • Photographer: Tim Griffith
Public Architecture
Projects in this category must be predominantly of a public or institutional nature generally falling within BCA Class 9. However, this category does not include projects falling within the definition
Jury chair report
It has been an impressive year for Victorian public architecture. In 2023 there were 28 entries of immense diversity and typology. The jury feels privileged to have gained access to and intimate knowledge of an array of community centres, healthcare facilities, libraries, and cultural tourism, rail, aged care, court and museum projects.
The key themes which underscored excellence included transformative and positive social impact on communities, depth of First Nations engagement, resolution of complex briefs and programs, low-carbon 100% electric buildings with intelligent sustainability embedded throughout, clarity of concept and execution, civic generosity, sensitive interface and connection with context, and economic sustainability including local makers and material content.
Many of these projects have been delivered through challenging pandemic conditions. They required quick turn-around
of Educational Architecture or any BCA Class 9b building used primarily for educational purposes.
times, working under pressure to deliver to deadlines and budget with high-quality outcomes and success which the jury commends. Many have also required years of hard work to nurture client, stakeholder and community relationships with highly successful and meaningful outcomes. The jury congratulates all entrants for their tireless effort and genuine commitment to public architecture.
It was difficult for the jury to arrive at a shortlist of 11 projects given the large number and high calibre of project entries. We then had the deliberation and challenge of the winners list. After much enjoyable discussion and debate, we were assisted by the core evaluation criteria to delve deep and assess the merits of each project and decide the most outstanding in the field.
In a strong field, the Public Architecture Jury applauds the awarded and commended projects for delivering thoughtful and courageous designs to create meaningful contributions and change to Victorian communities.
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Veryan Curnow RAIA Jury chair
Jeremy McLeod FRAIA Juror
Scott Balmforth RAIA Juror
Monica Percudani RAIA Grad Graduate juror
Taubmans has been a proud architectural coatings brand in Australia since 1897. Your local Taubmans team supports the industry with high-quality paint and colour support for residential and commercial projects. Backed by global coatings leader PPG, we work every day to develop and deliver the coatings that customers trust.
Category sponsor
Colours available in Australia through
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1500-N
S
S 5500-N
S 4030-Y40R
S 2050-R80B
The inspired colours in this swatch were sourced from the Natural Colour System (NCS). Access to this colour range is available in Australia through Taubmans.
Taubmans does not claim that the colours or paints used in this award-winning project were produced by Taubmans.
The William Wardell Award for Public Architecture
Bendigo Law Courts by Wardle
Dja Dja Wurrung Country
Wardle have wrestled a complex brief and program, dealing with challenging societal issues, and carefully shaping the new Bendigo Law Courts into a beautiful gift to the city and the people it serves.
The building shifts and moves to respond elegantly to its surrounding built context, to find the right scale for the street and to capture moments and frame curated vignettes and views for the occupants within. The interiors offer equity, empathy, and a softness and kindness to people who may be exposed to levels of vulnerability and stress.
Deep engagement with the Dja Dja Wurrung Traditional Owners has led to a project that responds to both its pre- and post-colonial history and its context with meaning, richness, and pride.
Delivering on a bold environmental sustainability agenda, the building is 100% electric powered by 100% renewables, ready for Net Zero Carbon operation. A lifecycle assessment was employed to reduce the whole-of-life carbon by an incredible 55%. The building achieves the utmost care to procure materials locally, from local trades and to solve an innovative
facade system that reduces material usage and works as a beacon to reconciliation and longevity.
Practice team: John Wardle (Design Architect), Meaghan Dwyer (Design Architect), Kah-Fai Lee (Project Architect), Megan Darbyshire (Project Architect), William Rogers (Project Architect), James Loder (Project Architect), Sharon Crabb (Interior Designer), David Churcher (Graduate of Architecture), Barry Hayes (Facade Specialist), Allan Burrows (Project Architect), Jeff Arnold (Interior Designer), Ariani Anwar (Project Architect), Patrick Bullen (Project Architect), Michael McMahon (Graduate of Architecture), Alan Ting (Design Architect), Kristina Levenko (Design Architect), Stefan Mee (Design Architect), Adam Kolsrud (Structural Lead), Stuart Mann (Documentor), Nicola Bowman (Project Architect), Stephanie Pahnis (Project Architect), Maya Borjesson (Project Architect), Anna Caish (Project Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: WSP (Structural Engineer), WSP (Civil Consultant), Introba (Services Consultant), Aspect Studios (Landscape Consultant), Marshall Day (Acoustic Consultant), RBA (Heritage Consultant), Urbis (Planning), Meinhardt Bonacci (Façade), Morris Goding (Access Consultant), Buro North (Wayfinding), Andrew Long & Associates (Archaeological & Indigenous Consultant), PLP (Building Surveyor), WSP (Traffic & Pedestrian Modelling), Bower Architects (Peer Review), Arup (Threat Analysis)
Builder: Kane Nicholson Joint Venture (KNJV)
Photographer: Tim Griffith
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The William Wardell Award for Public Architecture
Award for Public Architecture
Dianella Community Centre by Canvas Projects
Bunurong Country
Dianella Community Centre is an integrated hub that delivers programmed services while simultaneously providing informal spaces that support community building.
An unassuming form and setback prioritises recreation and gathering spaces on its corner site. Simple and clever, youths are enticed into the centre in their own time. On approach, the deep fascia and expressive timber soffit are a welcoming human-scaled gesture. Inside, the timber ceiling grid extends to give warmth to the central community area and programmed spaces. The heart of the interior is the community’s living room. The reception desk is not prominent, so visitors enter from multiple entrances without feeling overlooked. The life of this flexible linear space is even more meritorious for the absence of physical separation between
the unprogrammed spaces and the childcare service at each end.
Environmental initiatives include north-facing clerestory windows with overhangs for winter light, rainwater harvesting and 100% electricity. It also delivers meaningful social sustainability outcomes through the support of education programs, local makers markets, art showcase units and an amphitheatre hosting performance and movie nights. In a strong field, this modest project stands tall as a model for community centres, delivering considered and humble architecture to the Tarneit community.
Consultant / Construction team: OPS Engineers (Structural Engineer), Simpson Kotzman (Services Consultant), Outlines (Landscape Architect)
Builder: Melbcon
Photographer: Tom Blachford
Award for Public Architecture
Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre by Kosloff Architecture
Eastern Maar Country
Kosloff Architecture’s vision is attentive, generous and transformative, combining the adaptive reuse of the heritage Orderly Room with a three-storey addition to enhance facilities for the local community and TAFE campus at the heart of Warrnambool.
An inventive threshold connects both buildings via a study stage, bridge and internal light-filled laneway, which creates a rich urban connection to unify the centre with the campus and city. It offers the community an exceptional level of accessibility, inclusivity and exchange for learning, activities and ideas.
An ambitious sustainability agenda ensures a 100% electric facility with substantial retained and local material content. The care given to the Orderly Room Collection is immediately evident; a sublime space of grand proportions is articulated by tactile
surfaces, natural timbers and soft furnishings which offers a comfort of human scale for the enduring enjoyment of civic life.
The Learning and Library addition is compelling and beautifully detailed, mediating its context with a thoughtful scale and palette. The structural solution is clever, the concrete curves of the facade appear weightless in contrast to the heavy heritage context. Wall to window ratios provide an efficient thermal envelope, allowing for intimate occupation within the facade depth between framed views and regulated daylight.
Practice team: Julian Kosloff (Design Architect), Stephanie Bullock (Design Architect), Lance van Maanen (Project Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: TSA Management (Project Manager), Kosloff Architecture (Interior Designer), GLAS Urban (Landscape Consultant), Bryce Raworth (Heritage Consultant), SY Structures (Structural Engineer), SY
Structures (Civil Consultant), Umow Lai (AV Consultant), Umow Lai (Fire Engineering), Umow Lai (ESD Consultant), Resonate (Acoustic Consultant), Studio Semaphore (Signage and Wayfinding), Quantum Traffic (Traffic Consultant), Philip Chun (Building Surveyor), Philip Chun (DDA)
Builder: Nicholson Construction
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
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Award for Public Architecture
Award for Public Architecture
Melbourne Holocaust Museum by Kerstin Thompson Architects Bunurong Country
The realisation of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum is simultaneously sensitive and powerfully symbolic. Imbued with an ongoing mission to provide a memorial and learning centre, it promotes human dignity with the aim to combat racism and prejudice.
A humane architectural language and materiality define the museum’s centralised circulation. The museum heart thoughtfully envelops visitors in tactile timbers and soft light. Moments of vertical connection evoke reverence and the clever manipulation of natural light through openings and reflective surfaces provide relief from the museum’s exhibits, as well as facilitating opportunities for contemplation and contextualisation. The museum is successful in its balance of the pragmatic, poetic and sustainable. The intricate clay- and glass-brick facade celebrates notions of resilience, identity and connection to community while responding to complex security and programmatic requirements. The building achieves an efficient thermal envelope and is 100% electric. The facade reclaims the heritage building as an artefact, grounding the museum to its unique history and public memory.
The subdued reimaging of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum elevates its contents and sensitively mediates
connection between visitors, exhibits and programs, and the immediate context. It renews its civic role in educating the public and influencing the milieu of contemporary Melbourne.
Practice team: Kerstin Thompson (Design Architect), Kelley Mackay (Director of Projects), Claire Humphreys (Principal Associate), Tobias Pond (Principal), Anne-Claire Deville (Project Lead), Martin Allen (Associate), Hilary Sleigh (Architect), Jasmine Placentino (Architect), Tamsin O’Reilly (Visualisation), Sophie Nicholaou (Architect), Karina Piper (Architect), Ben Pakulsky (Architect), Scott Diener (Architect), Lauren Garner (Architect), Paul Lau (Visualisation), Thomas Huntingford (Graduate of Architecture), Leonard Meister (Student of Architecture) Consultant / Construction team: DPPS Projects (Project Manager), Adams Engineers (Civil & Structural Engineers), Cundall (Services Consultant), PLP (Building Surveyor), Hellier McFarland (Land Surveyor), Tract (Landscape Consultant), One Mile Grid (Traffic Consultant), Bryce Raworth Conservation (Heritage Consultant), Cundall (Acoustic Consultant), SJB Planning (Town Planner), Focused Fire (Fire Engineer), Napier Blakely (Quality Surveyor), Leigh Consulting (Waste Management), Inhabit (Façade Engineer), Before Compliance (DDA Consultant), Pop & Pac (Wayfinding/Signage Consultant), Thylacine (Exhibition Designer), Jolson Architecture & Interiors (Memorial Designer), M.I.P. Security (Security Consultants - Israel), Michelson Protech Security & CSG Security (Security Consultants)
Builder: McCorkell Constructions
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Commendation for Public Architecture
Country: Wurundjeri
This project not only provides lasting amenity at the new civic-scaled Moreland Station and the contextually rich and engaging Coburg Station, but also resolves a clear and cohesive design language at each station which bookend two kilometers of linear park including generous public amenity, increased greening, recreation, walking and cycling paths by Tract.
Wood Marsh Architecture has taken a technically complex infrastructure project and delivered it with elegance, playfulness, and rigour.
Builder: John Holland Group
Photographer: Peter Clarke
65 Award and Commendation for Public Architecture
Bell to Moreland Level Crossing Removal Project by Wood Marsh Architecture
Berengarra Aged Care by Lyons
Commendation for Public Architecture
Queenscliff Ferry Terminal by F2 Architecture
Country: Wurundjeri
On a restricted site, interconnected buildings and pocket gardens descale this institutional facility to the adjacent residential neighbourhood. A sense of comfort and practicality is expressed through design detailing and furniture selection. Balancing the clinical care demands with attention to domestic familiarity inside and out, this is compassionate and dignified architecture.
Builder: Icon
Photographer: Dianna Snape
Other
entries for Public Architecture
Country: Wadawurrung
F2 Architecture have embarked on a courageous journey to create a bold addition at the end of the Queenscliff Foreshore Reserve. The new ferry terminal offers a sense of intrigue, anticipation and excitement for passengers travelling across The Heads of Port Phillip Bay. Its heroic scale, finesse, and robust sense of shelter around the high-quality facilities within provide a heightened destination and amenity for the community and tourists alike, with sensitive landscape integration and a revegetated coastal dune.
Builder: Kane Constructions Pty Ltd
Photographer
Shortlisted
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Shortlisted • Budj Bim Cultural Landscape • Cooper Scaife Architects • Gunditj Mirring Country • Photographer Tess Kelly
Shortlisted • Lilydale and Mooroolbark Railway Stations • BKK Architects, Kyriacou Architects, Jacobs, ASPECT Studios • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Shortlisted • Nunawading Community Hub • fjmtstudio • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer John Gollings
• The Mental Health Beds Expansion Program at Northern Hospital • NTC Architects and NH Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Shortlisted • Victorian Heart Hospital
• Conrad Gargett + Wardle • Bunurong Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Anam Cara Geelong • Tectura Architects • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Katya Menshikova
BASScare, Morgan Glen Iris • Smith + Tracey Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Ben Glezer
Brimbank Aquatic and Wellness Centre • Williams Ross Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
: Tim Griffith
Commendation and Other entries for Public Architecture
Other entries for Public Architecture
Central Goldfields Art Gallery • Nervegna Reed Architecture • Dja Dja Wurrung Country • Photographer John Gollings
Gippsland Performing Arts Centre, Traralgon • Jackson Architecture and Katsieris Origami: Architects In Association • Gunaikurnai Country • Photographer John Gollings
Glenroy Community Hub • DesignInc Melbourne • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Gunditj Mirring Keeping Place & Business Centre • Phillips/Pilkington Architects • Gunditj Mirring Country • Photographer Terry Hope
Melbourne Park Function and Media Centre, CENTREPIECE • NH Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer
Kristoffer Paulsen
Murrenda Residential Aged Care Home • STH • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Chris Matterson
Simpson Health Centre, Watsonia, Victoria • Jacobs Group (Australia) • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Gallent Lee
St Vincent’s Care Services, Kew • Smith + Tracey Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Chris Matterson
Terrara Park Pavilion • Katz Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer John Best
The Mental Health Beds Expansion Program at McKellar Centre • NTC Architects with BG Architecture • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Wonthaggi Hospital • Lyons • Bunurong Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Wurriki Nyal Civic Precinct • COX Architecture • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
Yarra Ranges Council Civic Centre Redevelopment • H2o architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
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Other entries for Public Architecture
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Sunday • Architecture architecture
• Photographer: Tom Ross
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Projects in this category must be residential in nature, generally falling within BCA Class 1a, and must include renovations or alterations or additions to an existing building, whether or not the
building was residential in nature in the first instance. Projects with up to two self-contained dwellings may be entered in this category.
Jury chair report
The Residential Alterations and Additions category included many delightful and beautiful renovations delivered by highly skilled architectural and builder teams. There were entries by practitioners who have finely honed their craft over time and developed real expertise in this type of project. Most of the projects were in the inner suburbs, within complex urban conditions with close neighbours, and frequently involved retention and reworking of heritage fabric, generally of the unlisted type. The value placed on Melbourne’s existing buildings by architects and clients alike, and the care with which these structures have had their lives extended through sharp analysis, reframing and reprogramming, was inspiring and often ingenious. Even though this category comprises private residences, the jury was interested in projects that gave something back to the city, enabling retention and enhancement of the qualities of streetscapes, landscapes and built forms interfacing with the
public realm, which everyone can enjoy. Many of the shortlisted projects were modest in scale and footprint, working carefully with what was found to rearrange and reconfigure life within, revealing latent opportunities and moments of delight with simple and economical design moves. This approach of working inventively and efficiently with existing conditions was a fundamental criteria in our initial assessment. The awarded projects all took this further, revealing new possibilities that go beyond the expected norms of a typical house. Flexibility, ambiguity and openness to new ways of living mean that each of these projects can be understood as prototypes. There is also the manner of working with material and detail; the craft of architecture is high in these projects. This does not always mean the most exotic or expensive approach to detailing, but rather the most appropriate resolution of new and old techniques that provides balance and allows a genuine resonance between the new expression and what came before.
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McKay Timber is a family owned company with a rich history of more than 70 years. We are a sawmill processing timber for use in building, interior applications and furniture. Our products are distributed to the Tasmanian, Australian and International markets.
Nigel Bertram FRAIA Jury chair
Chris Haddad RAIA Juror
Aimee Goodwin RAIA Juror
Julie Pham RAIA Grad Graduate juror
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The John and Phyllis Murphy Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Sunday by Architecture architecture
Wurundjeri Country
The only clue that anything has changed from outside is a fresh coat of yellow paint on the door and balustrade, two tonnes of yellow subtly announcing some sort of curious intent. On entering through the familiar single-storey terrace threshold, an unexpected materiality of large external precast pavers on the floor completely reframes what is possible within a standard Melbourne terrace allotment. The spaces of this building hug close to the ground, and the surprisingly warm concrete pavers continue throughout, linking and extending inside and out. Surrounded and overlooked by taller buildings, with no street setback and directly abutting a tough rear lane. The interior world is a complete oasis, where realities of the city are made to effortlessly float away. The occupants are immersed in breeze and greenery that is gently running wild. In a block of only 165 square metres, a rich variety of spatial types and experiences is provided: expansion, compression, intimacy, openness, conviviality and solitude. This is a house for writing and reading alone, but we can equally imagine the whole thing
as a party. The architects have intensely channelled the specific sensibilities and life experiences of their clients to create a house where visitors can also immediately feel at home.
Practice team: Michael Roper (Design Architect), Nick James (Design Architect), Angus Hamilton (Project Architect), Daria Selleck (Project Architect) Builder: Grenville Architectural Construction Photographer: Tom Ross
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The John and Phyllis Murphy Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Armadale House by Neeson Murcutt Neille Wurundjeri Country
Stepping past the high fence and onto the site, it is not apparent that any alteration or addition has been undertaken. The form of the double-fronted, two-storey Victorian manor house appears intact, its heritage details restored. The careful removal of existing fabric and delicate insertions, which have been made throughout the house, only becomes clear as you begin your journey within.
The project is economical in its planning and restricted use of materials. The architects appreciated that the existing house was large enough, and the client’s programmatic brief has been carefully inserted within the footprint of the existing building. The kitchen forms the social hub of the home, with key living spaces and functions radiating from this central point. Sculptural skylights and carefully placed openings provide ample light within and emphasise connections
with the established garden, offering a sense of surprise and delight.
A high level of skill and craft is apparent in the detailing throughout. A new folded steel staircase, illuminated from above, appears to almost float within the existing hallway. Folded steel is used again to form openings, establish datums and cohesively tie building elements together. The considered additions and insertions are in constant dialogue with the quality, scale and quiet grandeur of the existing home. The final result is seamless and beautifully understated.
Practice team: Rachel Neeson (Design Director), Stephen Neille (Design Director), David Coleborne (Project Lead), Ben Dixon (Graduate of Architecture)
Consultant / Construction team: Metro Building Surveying (Building Surveyor), SDA Structures Pty Ltd (Engineer), Fiona Brockhoff Design (Landscape Consultant)
Builder: ProvanBuilt
Photographer: Tom Ross
Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Helvetia by Austin Maynard Architects Wurundjeri Country
Helvetia emerges as a beacon of thoughtful architectural reinvention. Once a dark Victorian terrace, twice reconfigured and long in disrepair, it has been reimagined through a series of subtle yet transformative interventions. The surgical removal of problematic central spaces and a playful pivot towards the side laneway has led to a spatial metamorphosis, introducing multi-level gardens, improved connection to the outdoors, flexible spatial zoning, and a theatrical entry experience.
A true exercise in sustainability, the renovation champions reuse over demolition. The existing brick structure is not discarded but revitalised and repurposed, preserving the building’s history while bestowing a new vitality. Internally, the removal of partitioning walls creates openness and adaptability. A generous lightwell, etched out of the
building’s core, bathes the interior in natural light. The home’s layout embraces the rhythms of its inhabitants, creating an urban haven that is playful and practical. Every detail, from re- glazing of the restored bay window to the reimagined balcony terrace, contributes to an elevated living experience.
This project is a testament to the restrained yet impactful decisions of Austin Maynard Architects. Seamlessly integrated into the streetscape, Helvetia’s curious details, like the fishpond entry, curved downpipes and subtle graphics, ignite intrigue and hint at an architectural treasure waiting to be discovered.
Practice team: Andrew Maynard (Design Architect), Mark Austin (Design Architect), Ray Dinh (Project Architect) Consultant / Construction team: Co-Struct (Engineer), Code Compliance (Building Surveyor)
Builder: Weiss Builders
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
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Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Mary Street House by Edition Office
Bunurong Country
Surrounded by 19th-century built form, a sculptural object is presented via layers of a wall on the boundary, a wall set back within the site, and extrusion that turns with a soft curve beyond. On a challenging busy corner intersection, an existing home becomes a sanctuary that is artistic and entertaining, with sculpted masonry walls as a tolerant barrier between the line of public and private. The new elements offer a balance of acoustic and visual privacy that are generous to the public frontage while continuing its gesture to serve the occupants within.
A high level of tectonic and material control is carefully added to the existing bones of the house. As we enter through the old front door, hints of alterations appear before being greeted by the warmth of wood and moments of curated natural light. Transitioning past a tranquil courtyard, the masonry walls of
the living space journey back outdoors, where a new extruded volume appears at the rear. The upper-level- sleeping quarters present a generous form that resolves and respects the complex surrounding built form through strategic alignment and careful leaving of gaps. This design provides an exemplar living environment balancing internal stillness and contemplation with a generous frontage to the constant moving scenes beyond the boundaries of the site.
Practice team: Kim Bridgland (Design Architect), Aaron Roberts (Design Architect), Erin Watson (Project Architect) Consultant / Construction team: Measure Consulting Engineers (Structural Engineer), Amanda Oliver (Landscape Consultant), Detail Green (ESD Consultant)
Builder: Format Group
Photographer: Rory Gardiner
Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Wrong Champ by WOWOWA Architecture
Country: Wurundjeri
The chance for an architect to design their own home is one which offers a unique opportunity to test ideas and hone their craft, and this project provides a robust, subtle, and clever outcome. Every element has been carefully considered, from the appreciation of the local grain and character of Fitzroy to embracing and working with the existing features and quirks of the house. The design will be able to change and respond to the occupants needs over time. Rooms and uses are adaptable. Joinery elements and storage are carefully planned. Everything has a place, but can shift, subject to the mode of living required. The final outcome makes a highly considered contribution to the neighbourhood at a micro-scale.
Builder: Built by Guild Pty Ltd
Photographer: Tom Ross
Country: Wurundjeri
Wrong Champ is a vibrant sanctuary, harmoniously blending tradition with contemporary design. The architects elegantly expand an arts-and-crafts inspired Californian bungalow, introducing light-filled courtyards and cathedral-like windows. More than a home, it’s a thoughtfully curated space for collections, with a complex Mediterranean colour palette breathing life into every corner. The reuse of stained glass and detailed ornamentation reflects a deep respect for its heritage. More than a stunning backdrop for a collection of precious items, the project celebrates the client’s individuality within the architecture itself, resulting in a striking testament to the power of thoughtful, client-centred design.
Builder: Topp Constructs
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
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Award and Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Fitzroy House by Andrew Child Architect
Other entries for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Shortlisted • Fitzroy North Terrace • Clare Cousins Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Tess Kelly
Shortlisted • Garden Tower House • Studio Bright • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Rory Gardiner
Shortlisted • Haines Street • Foomann Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Willem Dirk du Toit
Shortlisted • Point Lonsdale House • Solomon Troup Architects • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Timothy Kaye
Ackmans House • Rob Kennon Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Bright-On House • FIGR Architecture Studio • Bunurong Country • Photographer Tom Blachford
Butterfly House • Lara Architects • Bunurong Country • Photographer Tim Mullane
Coburg Frieze • Mihaly Slocombe • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Tatjana Plitt
Deventon • Jolson • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Lucas Allan
Gradient House • Powell & Glenn • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Sharyn Carins
House for a Landscape Designer • Matt Gibson Architecture + Design • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Lyons House • Moloney Architects • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Ben Hosking
Malvern Residence • LSA Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Urban Angles
Merri Creek • Alexandra Buchanan Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Tom Ross
North King • Ben Callery Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Jack Lovel
Northside House • Wellard Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Neville Street • Mark MacInnis Architect • Bunurong Country • Photographer Yvonne Qumi Pinnell & Long House • Harrison and White • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Luke Ray
Other entries for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Newington Residence • atelier wagner • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Pi-Pad • mcmahon and nerlich • Bunurong Country • Photographer Shannon McGrath
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Other entries for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
75 Other entries for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Raheen 3 • Bates Smart • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
This is Kelly, Northcote • Pepper & Well • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Oliver Lagasca
St Martins Lane • Matt Gibson Architecture + Design • Bunurong Country • Photographer Shannon McGrath
Trade Winds • Josh Crosbie Architects • Eastern Maar Country • Photographer Trent Perrett
Sargood Edge • Shelley Roberts Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Nicole England
Tiara House • FMD Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
That Old Chestnut • FIGR Architecture Studio • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Tom Blachford
76 spring creek road farm house • architect brew koch
• Photographer: Thurston Empson
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Projects in this category must be residential in nature, generally falling within BCA Class 1a, and must be new builds. Projects with up to two self-contained dwellings may be entered in this category.
Jury chair report
Congratulations to the 2023 Residential Architecture – Houses (New) entries for an impressive array of houses that ranged in size and budget, found in urban, suburban, rural, and coastal contexts.
The jury was excited at the return of 27 in-person presentations. Projects ranged from compact, 145 square metres to large farmhouses of 1070 square metres, all with their individual narratives of the impacts of COVID-19 and lockdowns. We were presented with primary and secondary homes for living, working and respite with more than half of the entries from outside the Melbourne metropolitan area.
We visited 12 exemplary projects over three days that demonstrated new models and possibilities in their conceptual approach to client briefs. Challenges ranged from providing universal access on steep sites and negotiating privacy and daylight within tight inner-city sites, to providing shelter and robust off-grid homes within harsh rural environments.
The value and significance of fostering a partnership and
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collaboration of trust and respect in active dialogue with clients, consultants, builders and trades was a common thread through all submissions in driving the success of a project.
The overall submission quality was high, provoking robust discussion among the jury of project merits and in their demonstration of skill and excellence, there were two standout projects. In our decision of the 2023 category winner, the jury arrived at a resounding conclusion that spring creek road farm house by architect brew koch makes a significant contribution beyond our profession. The house exemplifies a clear conceptual foundation borne of its context, arrived at through restrained execution.
A sustainable approach to dwelling tuned to climate and ecology, the project is sensitive to purpose in the reciprocity of occupation. For the jury, this home is uplifting and hopeful, inciting provocations of homes and dwelling that challenge our profession to consider architecture that is more than sustainable, looking to outcomes for a regenerative future.
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Partridge delivers consulting engineering services across a number of disciplines, namely Structural, Remedial, Event, Hydraulic, and Civil engineering services. Partridge has provided these engineering services since 1982 across offices in Sydney, Melbourne, and Newcastle, with a reputation for delivering innovative solutions via a genuinely collaborative approach with architects and other stakeholders. Partridge approach each project with creativity, ingenuity, and passion.
Rob Kennon RAIA Jury chair
Lynn Chew RAIA Juror
Jeremy Anderson RAIA Juror
Lucia Amies RAIA Grad Graduate juror
Colours available in Australia through
The inspired colours in this swatch were sourced from the Natural Colour System (NCS). Access to this colour range is available in Australia through Taubmans.
Taubmans does not claim that the colours or paints used in this award-winning project were produced by Taubmans.
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S 3040-Y50R
S 1515-Y40R
S 1005-Y10R
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Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New) spring creek road farm house by architect brew koch
Wadawurrung Country
In referencing Martin Heidegger’s 1954 lecture Building Dwelling Thinking, “the essence of building is letting dwell”, architect brew koch posit that architecture and dwelling exists in a broader context of purpose, time and place. spring creek road farm house is a house that does not command its site, but instead nourishes it. The house speaks to its purpose as a temporal place of dwelling, where human existence and occupation are intrinsically tied in relationship with land, water and fire.
On approach, the house presents as a protective shed with its back to the south-westerly winds. It unfolds to reveal its domestic side; north-facing entry verandah floating above the grasslands. Inside, the volume folds walls and program, enabling flexibility for occupants to move seasonally throughout the home. Glimpses of grassland views offer moments of joy and serve as a reminder to the purpose of dwelling.
Precisely designed and crafted as a kit of legible, dismountable parts, the architecture is a series of separate elements, of near misses, that speak to the
vulnerability of the almost extinct grassy volcanic plains of western Victoria. Through lessons of listening, watching, learning and improving, this project demonstrates an assured rigour in conceptual approach and execution. It is a house that delights in the incidental and ephemeral idea of occupation, inviting us to reimagine perceptions of dwelling on and with the land.
Practice team: Dr Peter Brew (Design Architect), Simone Koch (Design Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: Nick Karatatis - Akritidis Group Building Consultants (Building Surveyor), Sohrab Behshad, T D & C Pty Ltd (Structural Engineer)
Builder: GD Property & Construction Pty Ltd
Photographer: Thurston Empson
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Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Merricks Farmhouse by Michael Lumby with Nielsen Jenkins Bunurong Country
Merricks Farmhouse is an exemplary interrogation of the Australian farmhouse vernacular as a place of refuge, shelter and comfort of home.
Nestled into the hillside of a panoramic property overlooking the vineyards of the Mornington Peninsula, a courtyard plan provides protection from the elements. Spilling out from beneath a singular gabled-roof form, spatial volumes are shaped with the rise and fall of the natural ground floor plane to achieve distinction between private and public zones. Sculpted, skylit roof forms provide a subtle light quality to the otherwise diffusely lit interiors with expansive views to the coastline beyond.
The omnipresent central courtyard contains a lush, landscaped garden that breathes light, air and connection into the internal spaces, and provides refuge from the often-harsh coastal environment. The
relationship to landscape is maintained throughout with secluded garden views afforded to every room.
There is a richness and rigour to the palette of materials: muted concrete block in the heft of the walls, and generous glazed views framed by charcoal ceilings and light shafts. The care in detailing and quality of the build speaks volumes to the collaborative partnerships and trust garnered between client, architect, builder and landscape designer.
Practice team: Lachlan Neilsen (Designer), Michael Lumby (Designer), Morgan Jenkins (Design Architect) Consultant / Construction team: Westera Partners (Structural Engineer), Perrett Simpson (Structural Engineer)
Builder: ATMA Builders
Photographer: Tom Ross
Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
AB House by Office MI—JI
Country: Wadawurrung
Office MI—JI have successfully executed a beach house design rich in playfulness and delight, while eschewing convention.
Situated on a coastal site, the project overcomes challenges posed by surrounding development and stormwater flooding. A framework of steel columns shields and elevate the house. Within this grid, the plan is expertly zoned to encourage interaction between distinct programmatic elements.
Utilitarian materials are used resourcefully throughout, and detailing is rigorous, allowing the building to open and close as needed throughout the year.
Builder: David Webb Building Solutions
Photographer: Ben Hosking
Bass Coast Farmhouse by Wardle
Country: Bunurong
Bass Coast Farmhouse is a skilful abstraction of form – a striking farmhouse silhouette comprising a gabled-steel roof, weathered timber walls and shutters to form a protective enclosure against harsh coastal surrounds.
Perched over the rising edge of a sanddune, the house unfolds from within to reveal a shielded central courtyard connecting to outdoor undercroft below. Internally, sustainably sourced timber is used extensively, crafting spaces of warmth and respite. Completely off-grid, the house demonstrates assiduous artisanship and a profound understanding of home and family retreat.
Builder: Overend Construction
Photographer: Trevor Mein
Award and Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
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Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Mori House by MAArchitects + Aires Mateus
Country: Bunurong
Mori House adeptly reinterprets the beach shack paradigm through a cross-cultural lens. A singular crucifix gesture divides the corner site into four distinct landscapes varied in function and privacy, with an added pair of satellite bungalows accommodating fluctuations of guests. Fundamental passive principles are exploited to maximise daylight, crossflow breezes, and self-harvesting resources from a roof-terrace to view ocean and sky. Robust in its tectonic exactitude and material restraint, the muted concrete carapace serves as backdrop to the rich looseness in beachside occupation and multi-generational living.
Builder: Neometro Projects
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Other entries for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
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Commendation
Other
Residential
and
entries for
Architecture – Houses (New)
Shortlisted
Shortlisted • Casa di Campo • Neil Architecture • Bunurong Country • Photographer Tom Blachford Shortlisted • Glen Iris House • Pandolfini Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Rory Gardiner Shortlisted • Off Grid House • Archier • Taungurung Country • Photographer Thurston Empson Shortlisted • Somers House • Kennedy Nolan • Bunurong Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell Shortlisted • The Courtyard Garden House • Delia Teschendorff Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
• Three Springs Residential Gallery • KGA Architecture • Bunurong Country • Photographer John Gollings Shortlisted • West Bend House • MRTN Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts Char House, Point Lonsdale • Hede Architects • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Ben Wrigley
Other entries for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
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Other entries for Residential Architecture
Houses (New)
–
Darebin House • Molecule Studio • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Harold • Coy Yiontis Architects • Bunurong Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
Moonah Tree House • Kirby Architects • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Jack Lovel
Peninsula House • Wood Marsh Architecture • Bunurong Country • Photographer Timothy Kaye
HA HA HAUS • FIGR Architecture Studio • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Tom Blachford
Judo House • Nervegna Reed Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer John Gollings
Ocean Winds • Josh Crosbie Architects • Eastern Maar Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Goorambat House & Shed • Austin Cafra Austin Architects • Yorta Yorta Country • Photographer Jack Mounsey
Horizon Beach House • Crosier Scott & Associates • Eastern Maar Country • Photographer Josh Driscoll
Nakari • Andever • Bunurong Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Silvertop House • Ben Callery Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Marnie Hawson
Hardiman Street • ODR Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Armelle Habib
Local House • Zen Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Park House - Northcote • DiMase Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
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spring creek road farm house • architect brew koch
• Photographer: Thurston Empson
84 Kerr Street Residences
Architects
• Kerstin Thompson
• Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing)
Projects in this category must be residential in nature and comprise of or include two or more self-contained dwellings (whether or not the building includes uses for other purposes).
Jury chair report
The shortlisted projects this year ranged from small infill-housing to Australia 108, Melbourne’s tallest building. It is always difficult to compare projects with such diverse briefs, budgets and scales. The photos tend to show housing as an object, but it is a container for living. The site visits were critical to gain a better understanding of the value of each entry.
In 2023, we saw the realisation of a number of projects delivered under alternative delivery methods including, build to rent, build to rent to sell, social housing, and architecturalled collaborative development models. Projects were often pared back and nuanced, with a focus on internal amenity and community building.
Landscaping was dominant in many projects. Rather than a device to hide poor buildings, it was an integral part of the design fabric. Providing biodiversity, visual relief and defining exterior space making it more usable and varied.
This was a highly varied category where comparisons of
buildings are made which perhaps shouldn’t be compared. We found it pleasingly difficult to separate a group of strong projects and congratulate all entrants on the work they submitted. The three award winners offered varied responses to the challenge of delivering higher-density housing in a commercial environment. Nightingale Village took the delivery structure of five architects and delivered a diverse precinct with apartments full of joy and surprise. This project will be a benchmark for what can be achieved in this market and hopefully can be used by other developers and real estate agents to elevate housing generally. Fieldwork’s project at 38 Albermarle Street, Kensington, is one of the first build-to-rent-to-buy projects in Victoria. Robust and repetitive, the internal courtyard embraces its constraints. Kerstin Thompson Architects’ generous, idea-led Kerr Street Residences is another subtle benchmark for how we can redefine apartment living in Victoria and beyond, designed with experience and care.
Category sponsor
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Cosentino Group is a global, family-owned company founded in Almeria, Spain that produces and distributes high value, innovative and sustainable surfaces for architecture and design. Cosentino’s brands are leaders in their respective segments such as Silestone®, Dekton® and Sensa by Cosentino®, technologically advanced surfaces, which allow the creation of unique designs for the home and public spaces.
Karen Alcock FRAIA Jury chair
Kate Fitzpatrick RAIA Juror
James Loder RAIA Juror
Thomas Essex-Plath RAIA Grad Graduate juror
The
Best Overend Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing)
Kerr Street Residences by Kerstin Thompson Architects
Wurundjeri Country
Austere from the exterior and barely perceivable from the street, Kerr Street Residences by Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA) addresses the issues of this complex site with what appears to be a simple solution. But simplicity is a journey of complexity.
KTA challenged the council on conventional heritage responses, building the upper extension aligned with the face of the heritage below rather than setback and wedding caked. This manoeuvre allowed the apartments to be pushed to the perimeter to create a generous courtyard shared by the project’s occupants and those of the apartments to the west that had previously looked on to the roof of the original warehouse.
KTA worked with Simon Ellis on the landscape, creating a dense oasis of native grasses and trees in a contiguous planter, shaped to define a series of small at-grade courtyards. A place to sit, do some work in the sun or contemplate the day all within the eyesight of their homes effectively giving each home an extra room.
All the units are cross-ventilated with glazing to the courtyard and exterior.
Some have verandahs to the walkways with screens for privacy, and others have seats. These gestures encourage engagement and temper the views into the apartments beyond. The generosity of the courtyard avoids the need for screening and gives beautiful transparency in and out of the homes. There is so much life here.
The main courtyard is complemented by a rooftop area with clotheslines, barbeques and other shared amenities. Locating these on the roof allows the community to enjoy the views but also means the ground-level courtyard can be unencumbered with a focus on aspect rather than intensive use. The client trusted KTA to deliver them a longterm investment – financially and for the occupants and they have been rewarded. This is an exemplary housing project.
Practice team: Kerstin Thompson (Design Architect), Kelley Mackay (Director of Projects), Tobias Pond (Principal), Martin Allen (Project Associate), Erica Diakoff (Project Architect), Keith Little (Project Architect), Chloe Antonio (Architect), Christopher Harber (Architect), Hilary Sleigh (Architect), Kim Jang Yun (Architect), Laurence Dragomir (Architect), Margot Watson (Architect), Marwin Sim (Architect), Rob Eaton (Architect), Sophie Nicholaou (Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: OPS Engineers (Civil Consultant), Lambert & Rehbein (Structural Engineer), AS James (Geotechnical Engineer), Veris (Land Surveyor), Simon Ellis Landscape Design (Landscape Consultant), UmowLai (Services Consultant), Dobbs Doherty (Fire Engineer), Aecom (Acoustic Consultant), Contour (Town Planner), Energy Lab (ESD Consultant), Charter Keck Kramer (Quality Surveyor), Mel Consultants (Wind Assessment)
Builder: Henny
Photographer: Derek Swalwell
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The Best Overend Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing)
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Kerr Street Residences
• Kerstin Thompson Architects
• Photographer: Derek Swalwell
Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing)
38 Albermarle St, Kensington by Fieldwork Wurundjeri Country
In Australia’s first build-to-rent-to-own development, 38 Albermarle Street demonstrates a robust and clever response to resilient community living. Positioned above an industrial heritage wool store, the deep-set balconies with light-toned precast concrete serve as a recessive backdrop to the intricate detail of the heritage facade below. At ground level, residents share an expansive communal space including a multipurpose workshop, loan library and a zero-waste hospitality venue that creates an intermediary between the residents and the broader community.
Dividing the two volumes above, an external circulation breezeway of open mesh and voids layer light, space, and landscape. This communal spine provides a scaffold for residents to curate an extension of their private living spaces and offers incidental moments of interaction.
Apartments feature dual aspect and cross-ventilation with an unconventional approach to privacy that provides transparency to kitchen and living areas, creating a visually connected and shared living experience. Customised
bathroom and storage configurations accommodate specific family living arrangements for a diverse cohort of residents. Shared facilities accommodate pets, kids and social activities with a rooftop multipurpose room and bookable space for private and community-building events. A robust palette of materials throughout provides the building with a sense of durability in this financially sustainable project.
Practice team: Joachim Holland (Design DirectorArchitect), Briony Massie (Project Architect), Wyndham Cameron (Project Architect), Jasmine Placentino (Graduate of Architecture)
Consultant / Construction team: Assemble (Developer), Planning & Property Partners (Town Planner), Pop Plant (Landscape Consultant), Mckenzie Group (Building Surveyor), Bryce Raworth (Heritage Consultant), Six Degrees Architects: Ground Floor Hospitality Fit Out Only (Interior Designer), Atelier 10 (ESD Consultant), Webber (Structural Engineer), Wood & Grieve Engineers (Services Consultant), Before Compliance (DDA Consultant), Mel Consulting (Wind Engineering), Leigh Design (Waste Management), Traffix (Traffic Consultant), Acoustic Logic (Acoustic Consultant), Studio Unfold (Signage)
Builder: Descon Group
Photographer: Tom Ross
Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing)
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Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing)
Nightingale Village by Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball and Kennedy Nolan Wurundjeri Country
The Nightingale Village is more than the sum of its parts, a social enterprise that acts as a community hub for its inhabitants while reinvigorating the local precinct more broadly. Prioritising communal spaces and collective amenity, the development is anchored by a highly social landscaped laneway that bisects the site, acting as a social incubator and allowing interaction between apartments and buildings. The six individually designed buildings are highly coloured and detailed, each offering a distinctly personalised approach yet united by a subtle thread of recurrent detailing. The ethos of financial affordability, environmental and social sustainability provides a prototype for high density urban living.
Practice team: Nick James (Design Architect), Michael Roper (Design Architect), Daria Selleck (Project Architect), Mark Austin (Design Architect), Andrew Maynard (Design Architect), Mark Stranan (Design Architect), Jeremy McLeod (Design Architect), Madeline Sewall (Project Architect), Frances McLennan (Graduate of Architecture), Bettina Robinson (Project team), Fairley Batch (Project team), Bonnie Herring (Project team), Ali Galbraith (Project team), Emily McBain (Project team), Giles Freeman (Project team), Marie Penny (Project Team), Mark Ng (Project team), Patricia Bozyk (Project team), Renee Eleni Agudelo (Project team),
Sarah Mealey (Project team), Shannon Furness (Project team), Clare Cousins (Design Architect), Oliver Duff Project Architect), Tara Ward (Project Architect), Candice Chan (Project Architect), Laura Norris-Jones (Project Manager), Luc Baldi (Project Director), Rob Stent (Design Director/ Architect), Bianca Hung (Director (Interiors), James Luxton (Project Architect), Gianni Iacobaccio (Senior CAD Technician), Robert Mosca (Project Architect), Yuyuen Low (Architect), Saifee Akil (Architect), Ela Rajapackiyam (BIM Technician), Patrick Kennedy (Principal), Rachel Nolan (Principal), Michael Macleod (Director), Victoria Reeves (Director), Elizabeth Campbell (Project Architect), Tamara Veltre (Project team), Oliver Monk (Architect) Consultant / Construction team: Hansen Partnerships (Urban Planner), WT Partnerships (Quantity Surveyor), WSP (Engineer), Steve Watson & Partners (Building Surveyor), Access Studio (Access Consultant), WSP (ESD Consultant), Umow Lai (ESD Consultant), Olax Pty Ltd (Wayfinding), Tree Logic (Arborist), GTA Consultants (Traffic), Leigh Design (Waste Management), Openwork (Landscape and Urban Design), Amanda Oliver Gardens (Landscape Consultant), Eckersley Garden Architecture (Landscape Consultant), Fontic (Project Manager), Hansen Partnership(Town Planner), Breathe (Urban Design), Andy Fergus (Urban Design), Hip v Hype Sustainability (ESD Consultant)
Builder: Hacer Group
Photographer: Tom Ross
89 Award
Residential Architecture –
for
Houses (Multiple Housing)
Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing)
Fenwick by Edition Office with Flack Studio
Viv’s Place by ARM Architecture
Country: Wurundjeri
Taking a design approach more akin to a single residential project, Fenwick successfully merges a substantial nine-apartment development into an established residential street. Scaling to the surrounding context, the building volume is separated into a series of distinct sculpted forms that nestle into a densely planted landscape while stepping down the steep escarpment. The project exhibits a high level of formal coherence, with sinuous concrete skins enveloping each building form. Detailing is rigorous throughout.
Builder: Coben
Photographer: Rory Gardiner
Country: Bunurong
Viv’s Place shifts away from the traditional institutional social housing models and presents a vibrant, generous, and abundant living space for women and children escaping family violence and homelessness. Communal spaces are designed as an extension of the apartments above with multipurpose spaces, communal kitchen and children’s play areas themed with a richly coloured palette of materials and works of art. The project balances a bold identity and presence with layers of space and elements that provide a sense of comfort, security, and privacy to the inhabitants within.
Builder: Camillo Builders
Photographer: Tatjana Plitt
Other entries for Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing)
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• 388 Barkly Street • DREAMER
Breathe Architecture • Wurundjeri
•
Shortlisted • 835 High Street • Carr • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer
Shortlisted • Australia 108 • Fender Katsalidis • Wurundjeri Country •
• No. 6 Sydney Street • Wood Marsh Architecture • Wurundjeri Country •
Aboriginal
Commendation and Other entries for Residential Architecture –
Shortlisted
with
Country
Photographer Gavin Green
Rory Gardiner
Photographer Peter Bennetts Shortlisted
Photographer Ben Hosking Shortlisted • Slate House • Austin Maynard Architects • Bunurong Country • Photographer Tess Kelly
Housing Victoria • Breathe • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Andrew Wuttke Countershade • Finnis Architecture and Interiors • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Damien Kook Elsternwick Place Precinct • Jackson Clements Burrows • Bunurong Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
Houses (Multiple Housing)
Other entries for Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing)
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Escala, NewQuay • Six Degrees Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Alex Reinders
Iglu Flagstaff Gardens • Bates Smart • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Felix Moneeram
Rondure House • Cera Stribley • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Eternity Life Apartments • k20 Architecture • Bunurong Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Little Hall • Hayball • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Tom Roe
Thornbury High Street Apartments • Gardiner Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Rory Gardiner
Farmer Street Residences • Cheah Saw Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
Home Richmond • SJB with NH Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Aaron Puls
LIV Munro • Bates Smart • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
Paragon • Fender Katsalidis • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Willem Dirk du Toit
Victoria Square - Stage One • Kavellaris Urban Design • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Veeral Patel
Other entries for Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing)
Viridi • Plus Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Tom Roe
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Victorian Family Violence Memorial • MUIR+OPENWORK
• Photographer: Peter Bennetts
Small Project Architecture
Projects in this category will be those considered to be “small” in terms of area or budget. Projects are recognised that have been constrained by space or cost restrictions, but have achieved a level of invention, creativity and craftsmanship despite these constraints.
This category can accommodate projects, typically projects in the public realm, which may be over-looked against larger scale projects in other categories or may be transient or experimental in nature. Projects of all functional types may be considered.
Jury chair report
There was a wonderful mix of small project entries in 2023 with a high level of invention, creativity and craftsmanship. Universally across the entries, architects had responded with sensitivity and care to complex constraints and restricted scope. Entries were highly varied and included education projects, commercial and retail fitouts, a bridge, a storage bunker, a shed and a memorial. Comparisons were difficult to make. The jury’s deliberations focused on the category’s key criteria, how projects enriched the public realm or went beyond the stated brief.
The projects entered were not temporary, and the jury enjoyed visiting all those shortlisted. There was much to delight in: the crafted triangular geometry of the South Melbourne
Market External Food Hall, the playful Crumpler retail store, the crafted beauty of Lily’s Shed, the visual enigma of the Firbank Sandringham Curiosity Centre canopy and the quiet, classical, and rustic dignity of the Joyce Chapel Bridge. Particularly compelling was our visit to the Victorian Family Violence Memorial where we were met by the Muir+Openwork team, Indigenous Advisor Sarah Lynn Rees and key stakeholders, including a representative from the Victims and Survivors Advisory Committee. From our brief discussions with the group, it was apparent that an exceptional level of respect and trust developed between the team through the design process. The jury felt a meaningful connection to the subtle, strong, and beautiful result.
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Victoria Wood passionately showcases Victoria’s forestry industry, which produces world-class timber and wood products while actively regenerating every tree and nurturing our environment. The initiative celebrates the artisans and their inspiring stories, emphasizing the functional and aesthetic beauty of Victorian wood products that enrich the daily lives of Victorians.
Category sponsor
Susan Syer RAIA Jury chair
Elliot Lind RAIA Juror
Anja de Spa RAIA Juror
Ian Alcazar RAIA Grad Billard Leece Partnership
The Kevin Borland Award for Small Project Architecture
Victorian Family Violence Memorial by MUIR+OPENWORK Wurundjeri Country
The Victorian Family Violence Memorial presents a new place for reflection on the city’s edge. Intrinsic to the project’s success is the exemplary consultation process through which the project was developed. Through a continued and open dialogue with victim survivors, First Nations and state government advisory groups, Muir+Openwork have reframed the memorial typology. This is a place for everyone, a place where people can bring their own meaning and their own interpretations.
Situated on a triangulated site, bound by a busy street and the austere presence of the Commonwealth Building, the memorial successfully grounds itself within a layered context. Defining its physical relationships through scale and orientation, the memorial creates a dialogue with the surrounding topography to form a protected space for contemplation.
The procession is articulated along a sinuous black steel wall that offers moments for pause before culminating at an inscribed smoking vessel. Showing considered restraint in both scale and
approach, the hip-height wall results in a feeling of being protected, but not hidden. Understated, nuanced and subtle, the memorial navigates its difficult physical and cultural context to establish a sense of quiet defiance. A place that is open yet specific, subtle yet powerful, soft yet permanent.
Practice team: Alessandro Castiglioni, Amy Muir, Liz Herbert, Marijke Davey, Mark Jacques, Toby McElwaine Consultant / Construction team: Sarah Lynn Rees (Indigenous Advisor), Phil Gardiner: WSP (Structural Engineer), Michael Tenburren - TenBurren Irrigation (Irrigation Consultant), Victims Survivors’ Advisory Council (Lived experience stakeholder), Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, Boon Wurrung Foundation, Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (Traditional Custodians and cultural advisors), Forced Adoption Practices and Artist Anne Ross (‘Taken Not Given’ Memorial stakeholder), The Department of Premier and Cabinet, Office for Women (Consultant), City of Melbourne (Consultant)
Builder: MultiPro Civil Construction
Photographer: Peter Bennetts
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The Kevin Borland Award for Small Project Architecture
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Victorian Family Violence Memorial •
MUIR+OPENWORK
• Photographer: Peter Bennetts
Award for Small Project Architecture
Joyce Chapel Bridge by Searle x Waldron Architecture
Wurundjeri Country
An insertion into a heritage-listed garden cemetery, the Joyce Chapel Bridge by Searle x Waldron Architecture re-interprets the bridge typology with a new axis to direct visitors to the Joyce Chapel and crematorium. Beyond a utilitarian crossing point, the project includes a layered native garden and places for pause and reflection. The architects deftly layer these numerous elements in a symmetrical composition that allows for movement of large groups and offers seating for quiet contemplation.
The axial approach to the chapel is strengthened by two brick blade walls that increase in height along the journey. Heritage lava stone and brick pavers are integrated into the new structure to sensitively connect the bridge to its context. The blended brick tones of the blade walls soften these insertions, while semi-circular apertures enable visual connection to rambling vegetation that lines the creek. The bridge is a place that evolves in its experience as it is inhabited, allowing visitors to immerse their senses.
The project involved negotiations with various authorities, whose requirements
are integrated without overwhelming the clarity of the concept. An intervention of modest scale, the Joyce Chapel Bridge demonstrates the potential of architecture to enrich the experience of its occupants.
Practice team: Jack Jordan (Graduate of Architecture), Pearl Dempsey (Graduate of Architecture), Jack Murray (Graduate of Architecture)
Consultant / Construction team: RBA Architects & Conservation Consultants (Heritage Consultant), Claire Martin (Landscape Consultant), Pitt & Sherry (Structural Engineer)
Builder: Axis Infrastructure
Photographer: Peter Bennetts
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Award for Small Project Architecture
Commendation for Small Project Architecture
Firbank Sandringham Curiosity Centre by Studio Bright
Lily’s Shed by Oscar Sainsbury Architects
Country: Bunurong
In an under-loved corner of the Firbank campus, Studio Bright have transformed two utilitarian school buildings into a cohesive, playful STEAM precinct in a few careful and precise moves. The key element is a luminescent blue, origami like canopy structure that unfolds around the buildings, unifying and animating the facades. Semi-translucent, the canopy has an Escher-like quality, its multiple pitched roofs supplying water to a colonnade of small water tanks via a series of exposed gutters and rain chains. A modest project, the result is a creative and joyful exemplar of adaptive reuse.
Builder: Notion Group
Photographer: Rory Gardiner
Country: Wurundjeri
In replacing a dilapidated shed, Oscar Sainsbury Architects have explored the shed typology creating a beautiful, simply detailed in-between space that plays with the notion of enclosure. Mediating between the garden and the laneway, with its part earthen floor, the garden room suggests a diverse range of uses, from potting shed, workshop, teahouse to guest studio. On a tiny footprint and with wide opening panels, the shed provides a flexible shelter that is both delightful to occupy and to contemplate. Lily’s Shed transforms the suburban backyard into something more, increasing opportunities for connection with nature, community, and self.
Builder: Build 2
Photographer: Rory Gardiner
Other entries for Small Project Architecture
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Shortlisted • Crumpler, Melbourne • WOWOWA Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Tom Blachford
Shortlisted • South Melbourne Market External Food Hall • Bourke and Bouteloup Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
e.g.etal • Circle Studio Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Jade Cantwell
South Wharf Tower Business Lounge • Craig Tan Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Eve Wilson
Three Springs Art-Storage Bunker • KGA Architecture • Bunurong Country • Photographer John Gollings
Through Road Early Learning Centre • Project 12 Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Hamish McIntosh
Commendation and Other entries for Small Project Architecture
98 University of Melbourne Student Precinct •
with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture
Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios
Lyons
Studio,
and Glas Urban • Photographer: Peter Bennetts
Urban Design
Projects in this category may be single buildings, groups of buildings or nonbuilding projects, studies or masterplans, which are of public, civic or urban design in nature. Awarded projects
Jury chair report
The Urban Design category entrants this year had in common an endeavour to support connectedness in the public realm. From the iconic civic buildings eliciting pride in local identity to the subtle, barely noticeable but meaningful interventions, projects championed inclusive, welcoming places. The gifting of the private to the public was extensive. Creative and thoughtful resolution of edges, thresholds, streets and thoroughfares have intentionally facilitated the interactions that knit community.
Timeframes for many projects were extensive and the jury acknowledged the commitment made by individuals and teams longitudinally to maintain their underpinning values. Co-
must have enhanced the quality of the built environment or public domain or contribute to the wellbeing of the broader community.
design processes were evidenced by the significant involvement of allied disciplines, artists and specialists, resulting in rich and integrated deliveries.
Of the 16 projects entered this year, seven were shortlisted. The jury found the ones that stepped forward demonstrated a discernible conceptual approach to the site. They often had an engagement and positioning within an historical or environmental context, or provided a model that blurred the delineations that define a typology so that what is possible might be reframed for those who come after.
Congratulations to all the project award-winning teams and clients.
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Polestar is a Swedish design-focused electric performance car brand. They are determined to improve the society we live in by accelerating the change to a fully electric, climate-neutral future.
Category sponsor
Sandra Law RAIA Jury chair
Elliet Spring RAIA Juror
Dominic Pandolfini RAIA Juror
Jesse Oehm RAIA Grad Graduate juror
The Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design University of Melbourne Student Precinct by Lyons with Koning Eizenberg
Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban Wurundjeri Country
University of Melbourne Student Precinct is a transformative, scalable urban project that realises a strong co-designed vision. A vision that recognises the social ecologies in play over time and the critical need for healthy habitats everywhere and anywhere.
A deliberate dissolution of the thresholds at the eastern gateway into the university invites a new level of flow, porosity and safety. The pedestrianlandscaped terrain extends a gentle hand of welcome into the public street realm and invites us all to wander in, prop, meet new and old friends, study, watch or play.
New buildings are stitched seamlessly alongside old and reinterpreted in a deeply sophisticated manner, evidencing high levels of collaborations and a diversity of voices from inception to completion. Successes lie not only in the sum of their parts but in the spatial intimacy achieved via attention to detail, tactile landscape-led palettes, the strength of visual connectivity and the memory of time grounding the precinct.
The jury was impressed by the commitment held by team members to go
well beyond the brief to ensure that the co-design of this precinct was authentic and extensive. Deeply respectful of its heritage, this new agile living precinct will doubtless evolve over time successfully due to its shared sense of ownership. In reality, it is not only a student precinct but a delightfully inclusive new public realm for us all to use and feel part of a community.
Practice team: Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban (Design Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: DCWC (Project Manager), Slattery (Cost Consultant), Irwin Consult/WSP (Structural Engineer), Lucid (Services Consultant), McKenzie Group (Building Surveyor), Aurecon (ESD Consultant), BCG (Fire Engineer), Schuler Shook (Theatre Planner), Marshall Day Acoustics (Acoustic Consultant), CHW (AV Consultant), Aspect Studios and Glas Urban (Landscape Consultant), Aspect Urban + Public (Wayfinding Consultant), Lovell Chen (Heritage Consultant), GTA Consultants (Traffic Consultant), Irwin Consult/WSP (Waste Consultant)
Builder: Kane Constructions
Photographer: Peter Bennetts
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The Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design
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University of Melbourne Student Precinct • Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban
• Photographer: Peter Bennetts
Award for Urban Design
Nightingale Village by Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball, Kennedy Nolan, Openwork and Andy Fergus
Wurundjeri Country
Nightingale Village is a considered urban design response to the fraught question of how to live comfortably together in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. Comprised of six buildings adjacent to the train line in Brunswick, Nightingale Village is a welcoming, fine-grain extensive development that offers a sustainable alternative to the often opaque and monolithic high-density residential model that surrounds it.
The success of the design lies in the design team’s ability to solve complex problems at a multitude of scales. At the city scale, the development actively leverages its large size (203 dwellings) to maximise its environmental response through the sharing of services and amenities.
It manages to do this without exclusion or privatising adjacent spaces. Nightingale Village feels like a continuation of the surrounding residential fabric, albeit at a taller scale. Six architects have each designed a unique and finely tuned building that forms an authentic new Brunswick neighbourhood. Balconies, courtyards and active shopfronts line interfaces giving the precinct a sense of life while offering passive surveillance.
The pedestrian scale is elegantly considered, from integrated seating ledges to playful letterboxes ensuring the spaces between buildings feels safe and inviting. This excellent project is the result of a rich multidisciplinary collaboration. It sets a high standard for the development of multi-residential buildings in Melbourne and encourages big conversations around title boundaries, setbacks and precincts.
Practice team: Nick James (Design Architect), Michael Roper (Design Architect), Daria Selleck (Project Architect), Mark Austin (Design Architect), Andrew Maynard (Design Architect), Mark Stranan (Design Architect), Jeremy McLeod (Design Architect), Madeline Sewall (Project Architect), Frances McLennan (Graduate of Architecture), Bettina Robinson (Project team), Fairley Batch (Project team), Bonnie Herring (Project team), Ali Galbraith (Project team), Emily McBain (Project team), Giles Freeman (Project team), Marie Penny (Project Team), Mark Ng (Project team), Patricia Bozyk (Project team), Renee Eleni Agudelo (Project team), Sarah Mealey (Project team), Shannon Furness (Project team), Clare Cousins (Design Architect), Oliver Duff Project Architect), Tara Ward (Project Architect), Candice Chan (Project Architect), Laura Norris-Jones (Project Manager), Luc Baldi (Project Director), Rob Stent (Design Director/ Architect), Bianca Hung (Director (Interiors), James Luxton (Project Architect), Gianni Iacobaccio (Senior CAD Technician), Robert Mosca (Project Architect), Yuyuen Low (Architect), Saifee Akil (Architect), Ela Rajapackiyam (Architect), Patrick Kennedy (Principal), Rachel Nolan (Principal), Michael Macleod (Director), Victoria Reeves (Director), Elizabeth Campbell (Project Architect), Tamara Veltre (Project team), Oliver Monk (Architect) Consultant / Construction team: Hansen Partnerships (Urban Planner), WT Partnerships (Quantity Surveyor), WSP (Engineer), Steve Watson & Partners (Building Surveyor), Access Studio (Access Consultant), WSP (ESD Consultant),
Commendation for Urban Design
Umow Lai (ESD Consultant), Olax Pty Ltd (Wayfinding), Tree Logic (Arborist), GTA Consultants (Traffic), Leigh Design (Waste Management), Openwork (Landscape Consultant), Amanda Oliver Gardens (Landscape Consultant), Eckersley Garden Architecture (Landscape Consultant), Fontic (Project Manager), Andy Fergus (Urban Design), Breathe (Urban Design), Hansen Partnership (Town Planner), Hip v Hype Sustainability (ESD Consultant)
Builder: Hacer Group
Photographer: Tom Ross
Bell to Moreland Level Crossing Removal Project by Wood Marsh Architecture
Country: Wurundjeri
The Bell to Moreland Level Crossing Removal Project is an exemplary example of urban design, delivering significant enhancements for the local community and the everyday experience of the commuter.
The elevation of the railway which once bisected Coburg and the vertical arrangement of the station buildings has opened up large swathes of public space which provides improved connections across the suburb. The bold civic forms of the Coburg and Moreland stations, with their grand staircases, arched windows and refined detailing have provided iconic structures that have instilled civic pride and identity.
Builder: John Holland Group
Photographer: Peter Clarke
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Award and Commendation for Urban Design
Other entries for Urban Design
Shortlisted • Bendigo Law Courts • Wardle • Dja Dja Wurrung Country • Photographer Tim Griffith
Shortlisted • Lilydale and Mooroolbark Railway Stations • BKK Architects, Kyriacou Architects, Jacobs, ASPECT Studios • Wurundjeri Country
• Photographer Peter Bennetts
Shortlisted • Melbourne Park • NH Architecture with Snøhetta and ASPECT Studios • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Shortlisted • Queenscliff Ferry Terminal • F2 Architecture • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Tim Griffith
Cremorne Office Building • Hayball • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
Escala, NewQuay • Six Degrees Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Alex Reinders
Home Richmond • SJB • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Aaron Puls
Melbourne Connect • Woods Bagot and ASPECT Studios • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Trevor Mein
The Sebel Yarrawonga, Silverwoods Resort • COX Architecture • Yorta Yorta Country • Photographer Tommy Miller
TOTS (Trentham Opposite The Station) • SOS Architects • Dja Dja Wurrung Country
• Photographer Aaron Pocock
VSBA New Schools 2023 Bundle A • ARM Architecture • Bunurong, Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Shannon McGrath
Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre • Kosloff Architecture • Eastern Maar Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Wurriki Nyal Civic Precinct • COX Architecture • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
Other entries for Urban Design
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Nightingale Village • Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball and Kennedy Nolan
• Photographer: Tom Ross
Sustainable Architecture
This category recognises projects which excel as architecture, and also display innovation and excellence in terms of environmental sustainability.
Jury chair report
Architecture and the making of buildings is a slow process even when it is fast.
As professionals, we increasingly find the context for designing responsible buildings shifting around us due to the impacts of global economic shifts and geo-political events –accelerating design technologies and digital immersions, changing energy and industry landscapes, a reckoning with Australia’s colonial past, the impacts of global warming through catastrophic events, and Australia’s increasing urban expansion and population growth.
It’s hard, and things around us are moving very, very fast.
The jury was presented with a self-selected array of projects that represented a range of typologies and scales. Even with a stringent checklist, the jury found that while many of this year’s projects addressed sustainability concerns adequately, and certain points with excellence, we still have a considerable way to go as a profession in relation to net zero carbon reduction targets set for 2030.
While we acknowledge the accelerating rate of change in the industry and the lingering effects of the global pandemic, and as architects preoccupied with creating responsible projects and who understand the varying complexities, we do feel that as a profession we need to move faster.
We were pleased to see projects demonstrating the power architects hold to influence clients towards better and braver decisions. We have the power to advocate for better policy. Our purchasing power has already changed the way suppliers talk about their products, and indeed the products on offer. We can start these conversations, and we often find people are very happy to have them and take the conversation further.
The awarded and commended projects demonstrate varied, individual approaches to more responsible architecture, and all excel in their own approach. For next year’s awards, we hope to see various strategies combined, resulting in truly holistic design approaches.
Category sponsor
105
The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, incorporating the Melbourne School of Design (MSD), is a creative and people-oriented built environment faculty at the University of Melbourne, Australia’s leading research-intensive university. Together with our students we are working towards sustainable and inclusive homes and cities that nurture Country.
Jane Caught RAIA Jury chair
Marc Bernstein-Hussmann RAIA Juror
Mia Willemsen RAIA Juror
Liam Oxlade RAIA Grad Graduate juror
The Allan and Beth Coldicutt Award for Sustainable Architecture Nightingale Village by Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball and Kennedy Nolan
Wurundjeri Country
While the Nightingale model, with its restrained material palette and shared facilities, is already highly lauded, the jury felt that this project, which escalates the scale of the model to the village precinct delivers outstanding results. These impacts are felt across both the industry and people’s day-to-day lives.
The jury was impressed with Nightingale Village as an example of leadership and action in the face of global warming, with the architects selforganising to overcome established market expectations and lending parameters to deliver a precinct of high social and environmental quality. They demonstrate the meaning that can be derived when we are free to challenge commercial models.
Including a wide range of Melbourne’s architects in the project promotes new models of collaboration and reflects a certain generosity. It ensures the dissemination of knowledge relating to delivering environmentally responsible buildings through the local design community. The range of practices involved in the project also resulted in a
diversity of ideas including dog runs, bath houses, bookable guest suites and precinct resource management. This project considers the social life of the people that live there, encouraging delight in lower footprint living behaviours through minimal car usage, electrification and shared facilities.
Practice team: Nick James (Design Architect), Michael Roper (Design Architect), Daria Selleck (Project Architect), Mark Austin (Design Architect), Andrew Maynard (Design Architect), Mark Stranan (Design Architect), Jeremy McLeod (Design Architect), Madeline Sewall (Project Architect), Frances McLennan (Graduate of Architecture), Bettina Robinson (Project team), Fairley Batch (Project team), Bonnie Herring (Project team), Ali Galbraith (Project team), Emily McBain (Project team), Giles Freeman (Project team), Marie Penny (Project Team), Mark Ng (Project team), Patricia Bozyk (Project team), Renee Eleni Agudelo (Project team), Sarah Mealey (Project team), Shannon Furness (Project team), Clare Cousins (Design Architect), Oliver Duff Project Architect), Tara Ward (Project Architect), Candice Chan (Project Architect), Laura Norris-Jones (Project Manager), Luc Baldi (Project Director), Rob Stent (Design Director/ Architect), Bianca Hung (Director (Interiors), James Luxton (Project Architect), Gianni Iacobaccio (Senior CAD Technician), Robert Mosca (Project Architect), Yuyuen Low (Architect), Saifee Akil (Architect), Ela Rajapackiyam (BIM Technician), Patrick Kennedy (Principal), Rachel Nolan (Principal), Michael Macleod (Director), Victoria Reeves (Director), Elizabeth Campbell (Project Architect), Tamara Veltre (Project team), Oliver Monk (Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: Hansen Partnerships (Urban Planner), WT Partnerships (Quantity Surveyor), WSP (Engineer), Steve Watson & Partners (Building Surveyor), Access Studio (Access Consultant), WSP (ESD Consultant), Umow Lai (ESD Consultant), Olax Pty Ltd (Wayfinding), Tree Logic (Arborist), GTA Consultants (Traffic), Leigh Design (Waste Management), Openwork (Landscape and Urban Design), Amanda Oliver Gardens (Landscape Consultant), Eckersley Garden Architecture (Landscape Consultant), Fontic (Project Manager), Hansen Partnership(Town Planner), Breathe (Urban Design), Andy Fergus (Urban Design), Hip v Hype Sustainability (ESD Consultant)
Builder: Hacer Group
Photographer: Tom Ross
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The
for Sustainable Architecture
Allan and Beth Coldicutt Award
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Nightingale Village • Architecture architecture, Austin Maynard Architects, Breathe, Clare Cousins Architects, Hayball and Kennedy Nolan
•
Photographer: Tom Ross
Enthusiastically leading the way, the architects of ANMF House took the client on a journey to invest in a holistic approach to sustainability through economic wholeof-life considerations. ANMF House demonstrates how sustainability can be integrated throughout a project without abrupt cultural change through considered design, streamlined construction and comfortable operation.
ANMF House’s multiple initiatives resonated with the jury, through its sustainable commercial development process, Passivhaus design, its sensitive integration into built heritage and focus on occupant wellbeing, primarily ANMF’s extensive nursing and care workers.
Nestled in the dense city fabric, the project maintains and adapts the existing pub facade, revived on-site timber, and carefully selected, low-embodied energy materials further help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The carbonsequestering Cross Laminated Timber replaces traditional concrete structure, expressed and celebrated in the wellconsidered interiors. Encompassed by a high-performing facade envelope providing thermal and acoustic comfort, occupants rest in the calm environment and directly experience its timber skeleton. Urban food production and indigenous planting on the rooftop enhance the genuine engagement
Award for Sustainable Architecture
ANMF House by Bayley Ward
Wurundjeri Country
with key sustainability and regenerative measures.
ANMF successes demonstrates how projects can holistically be underpinned by sustainable principles, while still supporting economic drivers, positively contributing to its place and progressing the industry.
Practice team: Kieran Gleeson (Project Director), Nick Readett-Bayley (Design Director), Andrew Bancroft (Project Architect), Daniel Byrne (Documenter), Jacinda Jones (Interior Designer), Florence Davies (Interior Designer)
Consultant / Construction team: WSP Australia Pty Ltd (Structural Engineer), Stantec Australia Pty Ltd (services Consultant), Stantec Australia Pty Ltd (Electrical Consultant), Stantec Australia Pty Ltd (Hydraulic Consultant), Stantec Australia Pty Ltd (Acoustic Consultant), Stantec Australia Pty Ltd (ESD Consultant), Stantec Australia Pty Ltd (Certified Passive House Designer), Stantec Australia Pty Ltd (Lighting Consultant), Urbis Pty Ltd (Town Planner), Bryce Raworth Pty Ltd (Heritage Consultant), Impact Traffic Engineering Pty Ltd (Traffic and Waste Management), Intuitive Consulting (Pty) Ltd (Fire Engineering), Slattery Australia Pty Ltd (Cost Consultant), LCS Advisory Pty Ltd (Project Manager), MEL Consultants Pty Ltd (Wind Engineering), Inhabit Australasia Pty Ltd, Facade Consultant
Builder: Multiplex Constructions Pty Ltd
Photographer: Earl Carter
Commendation for Sustainable Architecture
Bendigo Law Courts by Wardle
Country: Dja Dja Wurrung
Bendigo Law Courts navigate a complex network of stakeholders and project outcomes to deliver a future-focused contribution to this rapidly expanding regional city. An early foregrounding of key sustainability outcomes has resulted in a completely electric building that engages local craft industries and champions the integration of First Peoples’ continuing culture and Country through the building and landscape. All of this is supported by deft siting and meaningful engagement with the place and its people.
Builder: Kane Nicholson Joint Venture (KNJV)
Photographer: Tim Griffith
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Award and Commendation for Sustainable Architecture
Commendation for Sustainable Architecture
Glenroy Community Hub by DesignInc Melbourne
spring creek road farm house by architect brew koch
Country: Wurundjeri
Embraced by the diverse user groups, this community centre is celebrated. Integrating a certified Passivhaus approach and exposed timber structure, it offers a place of refuge with improved social outcomes. The jury found the project to be incredibly thorough, maximising technical aspects and resulting in a high-performance building that will generate more energy than it uses. Living Building Challenge principles elevate the project to express leadership in sustainable architecture and an educative role through integrating extensive QR code signage.
Builder: Building Engineering
Photographer: Dianna Snape
Country: Wadawurrung
spring creek road farm house affects a charged position in the crisis of expanding Australian cities and a loss of biodiversity. The project of house and land has been instrumental first to protect then restore a remnant swath of volcanic grassland in Victoria’s Western Districts. Enabled by a Trust for Nature covenant, the modest off-grid house supports the work of the two owner architects and off long days bent over hand and knee, plucking feral orchids and cultivating endangered seeds.
Builder: GD Property & Construction
Photographer: Thurston
Shortlisted entries for Sustainable Architecture
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Pty Ltd
Empson
Shortlisted • Delatite Cellar Door • Lucy Clemenger Architects • Taungurung Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Shortlisted • Eternity Life Apartments • k20 Architecture • Bunurong Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Commendation and Other entries for Sustainable Architecture
Shortlisted • Goorambat House & Shed • Austin Cafra Austin Architects • Yorta Yorta Country • Photographer Jack Mounsey
Shortlisted • University of Melbourne Student Precinct • Lyons with Koning Eizenberg Architecture, NMBW Architecture Studio, Greenaway Architects, Architects EAT, Aspect Studios and Glas Urban • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
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AB House • Office MI—JI • Photographer: Ben Hosking
COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture
The COLORBOND® Award recognises projects in which steel products play a significant role in the architectural solution and which exemplify innovation in the use of steel products. Use of
Jury chair report
The COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture of the Victorian Architecture Awards unveiled an impressive selection of projects that showcased the innovative use of steel in diverse urban, suburban, and regional contexts.
The submissions revealed a deep understanding of steel as both a structural and aesthetic element. From complex briefs of educational typologies to spatially constrained urban homes, steel was seamlessly integrated into the designs. This resulted in a harmonious fusion of visual impact and functional efficiency tailored to each unique setting.
What made this year’s entries truly remarkable was the wide range of project typologies represented. Modest schools, residential gems and cultural institutions all showcased the limitless possibilities offered by steel. Through imaginative use of steel framing, cladding, and intricate details, these architectural achievements captivated the imagination while addressing complex design challenges.
Sustainability played a prominent role in many submissions,
with projects embracing environmentally conscious approaches. Whether in bustling urban centres or serene natural surroundings, they highlighted the robust materiality and durability of steel. The successful realisation of these intricate steel structures was made possible through collaborative efforts among architects, engineers, builders and fabricators. Their expertise and dedication pushed the boundaries of what could be achieved, resulting in extraordinary architectural accomplishments across diverse contexts.
In summary, the Steel Architecture category of the Victorian Architecture Awards presented a remarkable array of projects that exemplify the highest levels of design, craftsmanship, and innovation in steel architecture. From bustling cities to serene suburbs and picturesque regions, the imaginative use of steel has given rise to architectural marvels that enhance our built environment while embracing sustainability. These projects deserve our utmost admiration as they embody the indomitable spirit of architectural excellence across Victoria.
Category sponsor
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BlueScope is a provider of innovative steel materials, products, systems and technologies in Australia. As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of painted and coated steel products, and with our strong expertise in steel we provide vital components for houses, buildings, structures, automotive and more. Our strong partnerships and networks are built on BlueScope’s most loved and recognised product brands, such as COLORBOND®
BlueScope products, including COLORBOND®, is a criterion for selection or award.
Gumji Kang RAIA Jury chair
Ryan de Winnaar RAIA Juror
Jessie Fowler RAIA Juror
Riley Woosnam RAIA Grad Graduate juror
COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture
AB House by Office MI—JI Wadawurrung Country
This exceptional project epitomises architectural finesse, seamlessly melding functionality and aesthetics with a captivating allure. The steel columns enveloping the structure not only assist in lifting the building volume gently to comply with floodplain requirements but also exude an unwavering sense of transparency and strength. A testament to structural integrity, these robust elements embody both protection and revelation, embracing their surroundings with resolute purpose.
Every detail of this project has been fastidiously considered. Expansive hinged doors unfurl views to the native gardens, transforming the dining area and kitchen into captivating stages for sensory exploration. Meticulous craftsmanship shines through in practical features where form seamlessly aligns with function.
Native gardens thoughtfully soften the industrial aesthetic, veiling the void beneath the structure when desired. This delicate integration of nature transcends the boundaries of the built environment, creating a harmonious dialogue between the architecture and its surroundings.
In essence, this extraordinary project stands as a testament to architectural brilliance, capturing imagination with its creative ingenuity, meticulous craftsmanship, and a profound appreciation for the dynamic interplay of space, materials, and human experience.
Practice team: Millie Anderson (Project Architect), Jimmy Carter (Project Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: Keith Long and Associates (Structural Engineer), PLP Building Surveyors and Consultants (Building Surveyor), Sincock Planning (Town Planner), Greencheck (ESD Consultant)
Builder: David Webb Building Solutions
Photographer: Ben Hosking
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COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture
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AB House • Office MI—JI
•
Photographer: Ben Hosking
Commendation for COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture
That Old Chestnut by FIGR Architecture Studio
Country: Wurundjeri
This unassuming project exemplifies urban living within a limited space. Volume and light are captured in abundance while the strategically placed kitchen and pergola shield overwhelming neighbours. This exceptional design triumphs over constraints to create a pocket of introversion and calm among the bustling neighbourhood.
The embrace of off-the-shelf steel elements provides sharp and robust detailing that’s rarely achievable in a modest project and the deliberate homage to the worker’s cottage roofscape is a testament to the architects’ contextual sensitivity.
Builder: Nevcon Pty Ltd
Photographer: Tom Blachford
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Commendation for COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture
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AB House • Office MI—JI
•
Photographer: Ben Hosking
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Brambuk: The National Park and Cultural Centre
• Gregory Burgess Architects
• Photographer: Trevor Mein
Maggie Edmond Enduring Architecture Award
Buildings of outstanding merit that, considered in a contemporary context, remain important as high quality works of architecture. Open to buildings in Victoria of at least 25 years of age.
Category sponsor
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City of Melbourne recognises the importance of celebrating excellent design, that creates a positive long-term legacy for Country and people, which is why we’re proud to be supporting the Enduring Architecture Award.
Brambuk: The National Park and Cultural Centre by Gregory Burgess Architects
Eastern Maar, Gunditj Mirring and Barengi Gadjin Country
Brambuk: The National Park and Cultural Centre, has been a vital cultural focus for the surrounding communities of the Jadawadjali and Djab Wurrung people for more than 30 years. The Jadawadjali and Djab Wurrung people have lived around Gariwerd (the Grampian Mountains) in western Victoria for more than twenty thousand years. Brambuk: The National Park and Cultural Centre, formerly known as Brambuk Living Cultural Centre, was designed by Gregory Burgess who met and worked together with the local people and camped on-site to sketch the building’s general form.
Since its opening in 1990, Brambuk has become a powerful symbol of the many ways in which architecture might be a productive tool of reconciliation. Brambuk incorporates a ceremonial ground and the totems of the five Koorie communities who have links with Gariwerd, including the emperor moth and cockatoo. Conrad Hamann has written that its roofline seems to rise like a bird, settle to the ground like a falling leaf, and at the same time echo the undulating lines of nearby Boronia Peak.
Brambuk’s siting and alignment concentrate and extend this powerful surrounding landscape. Inside, a great rubble-stone fireplace is Brambuk’s welcoming heart. Ironbark poles evoke the sense of the bush outside, while a curving path from behind the hearth spirals to an upper gallery framed by eyelid windows. Around the building, earth berms protect an arboretum of edible and medicinal plants. With an extremely tight budget, traditional building techniques here have been married with advanced timber technology to create a responsive, organic building that seems to be alive. Today, for its visitors and its communities, Brambuk continues to speak convincingly across cultures, landscapes, and time.
Brambuk: The National Park and Cultural Centre (formerly known as the Brambuk Living Cultural Centre).
Practice team: Gregory Burgess, David Mayes, Deborah Fisher, Simon Harvey, Des Cullen, Peter Ryan, Anthony Capsalis, Ian Khoo
Consultant / Construction team: Alan Simpson (Project Manager), Jim Bell (Building Foreman), Peter Yttrup (Structural and Civil Engineer), Guy Walker (Colour Consultant)
Photographer: Trevor Mein
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The Maggie Edmond Enduring Architecture Award
The Maggie Edmond Enduring Architecture Award
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Brambuk: The National Park and Cultural Centre
• Gregory Burgess Architects
• Photographer: Trevor Mein
120 AB
•
House
The EmAGN Members of Office MI—JI • Photographer: Ben Hosking
EmAGN Project Award
The EmAGN Project Award is a celebration of a project that has come about through the process of valuing and recognising the contributions members of the EmAGN demographic make, in the
Jury chair report
In its second year as an award and first with a dedicated jury and site visits, the EmAGN project award set new benchmarks in the breadth and scale of projects. The projects demonstrated the extent to which the EmAGN cohort, which is within fifteen years of graduation and ten years of registration, are actively involved in our profession. The EmAGN project award recognises a project of merit whereby EmAGN members have made a substantial contribution in the areas of leadership, collaboration, application of expertise and quality of architecture.
An initial list of twenty submissions was pared down to a long list of thirteen required to present their project in person to the jury. The EmAGN jury was treated to a vast array of projects, and not surprisingly, EmAGN involvement varied significantly, aligning with practice involvement in projects from comprehensive to discrete. Project scale and typology varied from small house extensions and shop fitouts to a $600 million
areas of leadership, collaboration and application of expertise and quality of architecture.
Category sponsor
new office complex. The Jury considered how to discern a single winner from such a broad spectrum of projects and involvements. In addition to the architectural outcome, the jury questioned the leadership, contribution, skills and collaboration of the EmAGN presenters. After an enjoyable afternoon of presentations, a mixed array of projects was selected: one new house, one residential extension, one institutional fit-out and a commercial extension. Matching the typological variance were geographical differences, with two projects in the inner north of Melbourne, one northeast of Melbourne, and one on the Bellarine Peninsula. At the end of a very full day of site visits enjoying high-quality architecture and hearing from younger members of the profession, the jury was unanimous in its selection of a submission that demonstrated all of the requisite qualities of the EmAGN Project Award to the highest of standards. Well done Office Mi—Ji.
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David Wagner FRAIA Jury chair
Hayden Federico RAIA Juror
Ingrid Bakker LFRAIA Juror
Established in 1974, Alspec® is Australia’s market leader of Architectural Aluminium systems, with over 500 fabricators in Victoria, nearly 3000 nationally with approximately 650 staff. Alspec has built a reputation for the design and development of innovative and quality architectural systems for the residential, commercial and industrial markets.
Yvonne Aralar RAIA Grad Graduate juror
EmAGN Project Award
AB House by The EmAGN Members of Office MI—JI Wadawurrung Country
Confidently sitting astride an indigenous garden on a flat, unremarkable, suburban block, the apparently poker-faced translucent facade of AB House conceals a magic box of inventive narrative and material exploration that quickly enthrals visitors. A more careful viewing of the street facade reveals an abstracted reading of the traditional verandah with concealed entry through a corrugated acrylic panel facade.
A colonnade of galvanised steel posts gently lifts the house above its statutory flood level with mechanical precision, and together with steel beams, creates a three-dimensional matrix into which the spatial development has been woven. The industrialised external aesthetic softens upon entry with timberplanked flooring and panelled-plywood linings.
This discernible sense of expressed elemental composition continues beyond the technical into the programmatic with the form wrapping around a central decked courtyard enabling the front zone to operate as a cosy weekender or to host family and
friends by engaging the rotated rear zone. Innate flexibility is complimented by mechanically operated elements such as protective screens over the fenestration. The Jury was impressed by the thoughtful and technical detailing that pervades this project.
AB House by Office Mi—Ji is truly a delight and a worthy winner of the 2023 EmAGN Project Award.
Practice team: Millie Anderson (Project Architect), Jimmy Carter (Project Architect)
Consultant / Construction team: Keith Long and Associates (Structural Engineer), PLP Building Surveyors and Consultants (Building Surveyor), Sincock Planning (Town Planner), Greencheck (ESD Consultant)
Builder: David Webb Building Solutions
Photographer: Ben Hosking
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123 AB House • The
Members of Office
EmAGN
MI—JI •
Photographer: Ben Hosking
Other entries for EmAGN Project Award
Shortlisted • Coburg Frieze • Mihaly
Slocombe • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Tatjana Plitt
Shortlisted • Darebin Intercultural Centre • Sibling Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Shortlisted • Four Pillars Gin Distillery • Breathe • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Anson Smart
Aboriginal Housing Victoria • Breathe • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Andrew Wuttke
Albert Park Primary School Performance
Hub • Searle x Waldron Architecture • Bunurong Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Box Hill North Primary School • Sibling Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Tope Adesina
Butterfly House • Lara Architects • Bunurong Country • Photographer Tim Mullane
e.g.etal • Circle Studio Architects • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Jade Cantwell
Goorambat House & Shed • Austin Cafra Austin Architects • Yorta Yorta Country • Photographer Jack Mounsey
Gunditj Mirring Keeping Place & Business Centre • Phillips/Pilkington Architects • Gunditj Mirring Country • Photographer Terry Hope
Joyce Chapel Bridge • Searle x Waldron Architecture • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Moonah Tree House • Kirby Architects • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Jack Lovel
Mori House • MAArchitects + Aires Mateus
• Bunurong Country • Photographer Derek Swalwell
Mundaring Childcare Centre • Michael Carr Architect • Bunurong Country • Photographer Elizabeth Schiavello
Nakari • Andever • Bunurong Country • Photographer Peter Bennetts
Sound Stage 6, Docklands Studios • Grimshaw • Wurundjeri Country • Photographer Dianna Snape
South Wharf Tower Business Lounge •
Craig Tan Architects • Wurundjeri Country
• Photographer Eve Wilson
Wellington Child and Family Centre • AOA
Christopher Peck • Bunurong Country • Photographer Veeral Patel
Wurriki Nyal Civic Precinct • COX Architecture • Wadawurrung Country • Photographer Peter Clarke
Other entries for EmAGN Project Award
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125 AB House • The EmAGN Members of Office MI—JI
• Photographer: Ben Hosking
Emerging Architect Prize
The Emerging Architect Prize recognises an emerging architect’s contribution to architectural practice, education, design excellence and community involvement.
Emerging Architect Prize Claire Scorpo RAIA | Agius Scorpo Architects
Claire Scorpo is a highly accomplished architect who has developed a portfolio of beautifully detailed projects founded on rigorous theoretical explorations. Her project work has grown over time from thoughtful residential alterations and additions that explore sensitive material selection and passive environmental design strategies, through to the new female-led commercial development “BVIA on Bank”, which seeks to address gender equity in the profession and to promote women in the built environment. This work has earned her multiple accolades including a place on the 2017 Dulux Study Tour. Her design studios have introduced university students to realworld design considerations facing small communities and regional towns across Victoria. After intimately connecting with the historic context of a place, her students have explored a wide range of important social topics such as the implementation of affordable housing, mental health considerations, engaging with indigenous culture and declining populations. Through engagement with regional Victorian communities, Claire has helped to develop
relationships between the universities she teaches in and the regional municipalities that can benefit from the value of an architectural process.
Claire has also been a consistent contributor to Australian Institute of Architects committees and initiatives including EmAGN, Small Practice Forum, and Chapter award juries. Claire demonstrates a passion to explore highly relevant social topics and a drive to engage with her community and advocate for the positive impact of architecture through her practice, teaching and voluntary work.
The jury congratulates Claire Scorpo as a leading emerging contributor to the architecture profession in all of her endeavours.
Category sponsor
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Photographer: Tom Ross (project) and Lillie Thompson (Claire Scorpo)
BlueScope is a provider of innovative steel materials, products, systems and technologies in Australia. As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of painted and coated steel products, and with our strong expertise in steel we provide vital components for houses, buildings, structures, automotive and more. Our strong partnerships and networks are built on BlueScope’s most loved and recognised product brands, such as COLORBOND®
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Claire Scorpo RAIA
• Agius Scorpo Architects
•
Photographer: Lillie Thompson
Bates Smart Award for Architecture in Media
The Bates Smart Award for Architecture in the Media is Australia’s most prestigious media award for journalists, editors, producers and event organisers working in the field of architecture and
design. It is an annual award to encourage and to recognise media discussion of architecture.
Category sponsor
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Julian Anderson RAIA Jury chair
Rory Hyde Juror
Gemma Savio Juror
Bates Smart is a citymaking design practice delivering architecture, interior design and urban design across Australia, with a staff of over 250 in studios in Melbourne and Sydney. Our award-winning projects transform the city fabric, creating places and spaces that improve people’s lives.
Photographer : Aaron Francis
Advocacy Award
The Age opinion pieces by
Michael Smith
Michael Smith’s series of contributions for The Age take complex urban and architectural questions and relay them in a clear and accessible manner. It is a rare example of an architect speaking beyond the profession and advocating for issues that impact the lives of a broad public.
Smith dives into the details of planning policy in his piece “Small apartment buildings should be exempt from planning NIMBYism”, and advocates for new public spaces in “Docklands should be turned into our next live music hub”. He champions new playgrounds while cautioning against inequity in his article “A playground revolution is taking place, but the suburbs are missing out” and simply calls out bad design in a humorous way in “Melbourne Aquarium left me feeling crabby”.
With each piece, Smith does more than identify the issues, he also offers practical and imaginative suggestions for what might be done. These suggestions speak up for the city and its residents, not merely for the benefit of architects. Smith’s articles form an important contribution to the debate around the future of Melbourne and demonstrate how architectural thinking can be directed to larger civic questions.
State Award
Architectural criticism in The Saturday Paper
by Naomi Stead, RMIT, The Saturday Paper
Naomi Stead’s architecture articles for The Saturday Paper are a captivating exploration of a wide range of architectural works, encompassing various scales and typologies. Stead’s unique approach embraces a celebration of each project’s sense of place and design philosophy. Notably, her description of the Sydney Modern’s atrium, designed by SANAA, as “a descending diagonal – a skewer of oblique voids tumbling down the hill,” exemplifies her ability to capture the character of architectural spaces.
Setting her work apart is Stead’s balanced perspective, providing both positive and critical assessment, in contrast to much of the current architectural criticism. Whether analysing grand endeavours like the Sydney Modern or smaller-scale projects like Garden Tower House by Studio Bright, Stead reveals the intrinsic significance of buildings beyond their visual aesthetics.
The exceptional talent of Naomi Stead lies in her capacity to engage a broader audience. Her language is devoid of technical jargon. Her thought-provoking commentary offers valuable insights into architectural projects, making her essays enjoyable reading for both architectural enthusiasts and non-architectural readers alike. Her essays are compelling and informative, leaving a lasting impact on anyone interested in the world of architecture.
National Award
Deadly Djurumin Yarns
by Deadly Djurumin and Parlour
Deadly Djurumin Yarns, produced by Deadly Djurumin and Parlour, makes an exceptional contribution to the field of architecture. Moderated by Sarah Lynn Rees and Danièle Hromek, the series comprises 15 hour-long episodes that together begin to unpack current practices, processes and challenges faced by those working to integrate cultural heritage and Country into the built environment in Australia.
Deadly Djurumin Yarns brings together voices and projects from across Australia. Through thought-provoking discussions that include architects, heritage specialists, planners, clients, Traditional Owners and Elders, this project draws on the expertise of many to propose how the industry can better connect to Country, culture, and community. Presented as a series of video recordings, Deadly Djurumin Yarns overcomes barriers to information and is therefore capable of facilitating much-needed conversation within the built environment.
As a platform for sharing firsthand experiences, Deadly Djurumin Yarns elevates Indigenous voices, promotes cultural understanding, and inspires a more inclusive and sustainable built environment. Contributing to a long-awaited conversation, the series uses media to catalyse positive change in the industry. By supporting respectful and meaningful communication, Deadly Djurumin Yarns is informing the future of architecture in Australia.
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