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.

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