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.

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

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

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