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.

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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.

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