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.

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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

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)

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

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)