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.

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

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