Public Architecture
The Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture
The Cherrell Hirst Creative Learning Centre, Brisbane Girls Grammar School - m3architecture
The Cherrell Hirst Creative Learning Centre at Brisbane Girls Grammar School aims to develop initiative, creativity and independence by encouraging unstructured student interaction for personal development in parallel with more typical structured learning. To this end, a multi-level “social interaction” space is integrated with specialized teaching facilities. This space provides an extraordinary learning environment filled with vitality. The architecture is directly detailed, well thought out and robust in character. It conveys a “no-nonsense” message – a bold and purposeful architecture that is heartening to contemplate when considering the education of young women. Future adaptation of facilities has also been well thought out, with accessible services and provision for flexible space planning. The design of secondary elements – acoustics, daylight/artificial light, passive and active climate control – ensures the informal and structured learning environments work effectively together.
On-site water management and grey water recycling, along with excellent passive solar control, cross-ventilation, insulation and thermal mass properties, deliver appropriate levels of energy consumption and waste minimisation. The site planning provides exceptional benefits by increasing the school’s usable open space and improves the spatial relationships and connectivity between buildings. Viewed from nearby vantage points, the iconic character, surface treatment and dynamic forms of the building make an outstanding contribution to the design of the public domain. With this distinctive and memorable building, the school delivers a clear message about the contribution of design to education of its students. The Cherrell Hirst Creative Learning Centre invites engagement with issues of function, sustainability, form and cultural meaning to enrich the lives of those who use and visit the school campus.
National Award for Public Architecture
Nigel Peck Centre for Learning and Leadership - John Wardle Architects
The Nigel Peck Centre for Learning and Leadership at Melbourne Grammar creates an enduring positive impact on the design of the public domain and on those who use and visit its facilities. The architecture significantly improves Domain Road and the open space around the site through well-scaled dramatic forms, thoughtful detailing of quality materials and high levels of transparency to interconnect interior and exterior spaces. It is urbane, sophisticated, inventive and enjoyable to experience. The character and resolution of the internal multifunctional requirements is exceptional. A sense of wellbeing is promoted in the interior through an imaginative employment of space, light, materials and circulation, ensuring high levels of legibility, appropriate flexibility and amenity for users. The architecture comprehensively integrates interior and exterior experiences to create a compelling learning and teaching environment. Melbourne Grammar has now successfully implemented another phase of its masterplan, achieving an even greater public presence that conveys, through architecture, a commitment to the highest standards of education and the development of the individual in society.
National Award for Public Architecture
Albury Library Museum - ARM
The Albury Library Museum is a civic facility of regional significance. The architecture is appropriately bold, and perhaps provocative, creating an immediate engagement with cultural issues in the community it serves. The location of the entry, main library and museum activates the adjacent public open space, improving existing pedestrian amenity and contributing positively to the future development of the public domain. The design strategy demonstrates a perceptive understanding of the role of architecture as a “place maker”, particularly as applied to areas requiring continuing public investment and development. The facility has a strong visual presence in the city. Roof forms, material character, colour and wall fenestration reinforce the arrangement of one- and two-level built forms, and these exterior forms reinforce the spectacular interior of the reading/library room. The museum spaces provide appropriate flexible and well-serviced facilities for a wide range of exhibits, enriching the cultural life of the region. The Albury Library Museum demonstrates the value of contemporary architecture in historic regional centres. It enlivens the community it serves through excellent internal amenity housed within a cohesive form that makes appropriate improvements to the public domain.
National Award for Public Architecture
Seaford Life Saving Club - Robert Simeoni Architects Pty Ltd
The Seaford Life Saving Club is a community facility located carefully on the edge of a long public beach over a primary sand dune. Footings have been appropriately minimized to support a generally suspended timber structure with timber and glass infill walls, many of which are operable. The facility allows its occupants to attend to the safety of beach users, along with the storage of beach craft. These primary functions have been extended with a cafe and additional weather-protected meeting areas for public use. The architecture is understated in character and subtle in spatial organization, creating appropriate connections to the views as well as to the pedestrian and road access routes of the nearby suburb of Seaford. The detailing is consistent and fully resolved. The Seaford Life Saving Club is exceptional. It is a refined, cost-effective and sensitive work of architecture in an area of practice where these qualities are rarely, if ever, achieved.
National Commendation for Public Architecture
Hawke Building - John Wardle Architects and Joint Project Delivery with Hassell Ltd
The Hawke Building is the latest addition to the ambitious redevelopment program of the University of South Australia campus in the city of Adelaide. It skilfully accommodates a complex range of facilities, including the publicly accessible Samstag Museum of Art and Bradley Forum as well as the more private Chancellery and related office accommodation. The main foyer – with its intertwined “double stairs”, one black and the other white – is an ingenious solution to the complex security and access issues created in the brief. The Hawke Building and the adjacent Kaurna Building complete an important public pedestrian link, which provides high levels of activity and access at grade and significantly enhances the public domain. The building form and material character are exceptional, further contributing to the perception of the university as a place of cultural interest committed to achieving excellence in the design of the built environment.
National Commendation for Public Architecture
MCG Redevelopment - MCG5 Sports Architects
The design of contemporary large sport stadium infrastructure involves complex programming, construction technology and delivery procedures. The redevelopment of the MCG’s northern stand demonstrates that culturally significant architecture can be achieved within these constraints, and even drive the procurement process to a substantial degree.
As a result, Melbourne and the world has a sports stadium with exceptional user amenity and positive effects on the design of the associated public domain. The architecture has a strong and memorable character developed from the structure and logic of circulation requirements. A series of related forms reflect the secondary uses of the brief and increase the range of activities available to those attending sporting events. The new northern stand completes the circle of covered seating within the historic arena, providing 55,000 new seats with excellent sight lines and access to a wide range of facilities, including a substantial museum for sport.
Movement to and from the surrounding areas through entry points and then to large void areas helps orientate users to access the various amenities. The experience of space is exceptional, adding enjoyment to the pedestrian experience between the outside spaces and the arena. Attendance at major events is heightened through the architecture, providing a broader cultural experience than is usually associated with attendance at sporting events.
Residential - Houses
The Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture - Houses
Klein Bottle House - McBride Charles Ryan
This determinedly avant-garde house uses a complex mathematical model as a metaphorical generator for a new spatial experience. The spiral form of the house makes the most of what is potentially a difficult sloping site by slowly twisting out of the dark tea-tree at ground level and reaching up to the light-filled views. The carefully sculpted, angled space of the living area is both a revelation and a delight after the narrow, twisting stair that leads from the main entry. The swept path of the formal expression creates an interior that challenges our notion of space and the position of the body within it. Two distinctive outdoor spaces, incorporating a balcony to the view and a sheltered, north-facing courtyard, provide options for exterior occupation. The overall perception of the house is one of a distinctive new language for domestic architecture, a language that draws from mathematics to develop an architecture of excitement, intrigue and new possibilities.
National Architecture Award for Residential Architecture - Houses
Leura House - James Stockwell Architect
The design of this house draws on an Australian vernacular of the shed or utilitarian building, executed in a thoroughly contemporary manner. Consistent with that lineage, the house bears all the hallmarks of the inventive and the pragmatic, a building that is highly attuned to its setting and easily manipulated to take full advantage of the varying climate. It is arranged around an L-shape to form a contained exterior space that overlooks a scenic gully. The interior layout is planned for flexibility of occupation, allowing the owner’s extended family and friends to come and stay. Each detail of the house is considered to complement the whole and a rich palette of timber and stone gives meaning to every decision the architects have made. The commendable landscaping works seamlessly with the house. Along with the skilfully executed architecture and inventive structural solutions, it turns a beautiful site into a harmonious relationship of people, building and landscape.
National Architecture Award for Residential Architecture - Houses
Tube House - Adrian FitzGerald of Denton Corker Marshall
Set on a tight urban site, this modest house maximises the permissible building envelope to achieve a residence of great light, crafted space and carefully selected views. In the tradition of great architecture, this small urban insertion turns what normally would be considered the problematic constraints of the site to great effect. The tripartite arrangement of three rectilinear forms that give the house its name creates three distinctive zones: ground-floor living, first-floor sleeping and upper-level play space/multipurpose room. The upper level “borrows” additional space by making use of a generous and expansive view of the adjacent local council swimming pool. The house is considered at every detail, with nothing left to chance. Each space is crafted with subtle interplays of light and shifts in level to maximize the spatial experience of a very limited site. Even the rear view to the back fence is utilised by manipulating the plane of the boundary to create a tiny but effective and useful studio for one of the occupants. This house demonstrates an excellent model for inner-urban domestic architecture.
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses
Wilson House - by Denton Corker Marshall
This is a country house set atop a hill with expansive views. It is sited precisely, taking advantage of the scenic approach to the almost classically arranged pavilion, a passage through a copse of twisting gums. Deceptive in its scale, the house sits impressively on the site, rising up from the massive concrete foundations that firmly embed the steel-framed pavilion in the ground. An impressive cantilever to the western wing of the house could almost be considered the architect’s folly, and yet the structural gymnastics of this design give a lightness to the form of the upper level that acts as a perfect counterpoint to the heavy foundations. The interior of the house is a simple arrangement, executed with skill and a certain finesse. An arrangement of boxes organizes the space and prioritizes the view. Material selection and resolution of detail demonstrate an architecture that is assured and masterly in its execution. This house is a confident design of fine detail that sits powerfully within the landscape.
Residential – Multiple Housing
The Frederick Romberg Award for Residential Architecture - Multiple Housing
EDO - Stanisic Associates
“Environment, design and occupation” is the inspirational framework adopted by the architects for the design of this compact inner-city residential and commercial complex. With 31 apartments of varying layouts and sizes situated above a lively commercial cafe/bar that engagingly activates its Woolloomooloo streetscape, the EDO development is a resounding success. The cleverly composed operational prerequisites for this commercial/residential project are expressed in a thoughtfully detailed and restrained architectural language that neatly envelops the more complex programmatic content and the inherent constraints of the site. The apartments are comfortable and practically planned, and each enjoys a generous open balcony extending from the main living space. The upper -level apartments have stunning city views. Operable louvred blinds enable individuals to temper the sunshine and prevailing winds, which in turn adds subtle textural variation to the architecture’s public facade. Fronting the opposite, private facade is a delightfully landscaped garden courtyard that provides a tranquil, sheltered retreat for the residents. The architects have demonstrated sensitivity, skill and experience in negotiating an impressive balance between the commercial interests of the client, the comfort and amenity of the occupants and architecture’s responsibility to the public domain. They have created an exemplary model for multiple housing in an urban setting.
Commercial
The Harry Seidler Award for Commercial Architecture
Hume City Council Offices - Lyons
The outer suburban site for this six-storey office building – set in a large, open, shopping mall car park adjacent to a freeway and near a railway station – has not deterred the architects from creating a bold and inspired design. The need to work with a modest budget has also been embraced. These apparent constraints have stimulated invention and set in motion a straightforward, direct approach to the functional, practical and economic parameters that are routine in this type of commission. The architect’s commitment to sustainability is thoroughly and confidently integrated into the architecture without compromising the client’s accommodation program. In addition to providing environmental benefits, the sustainability initiatives contribute to the comfort of the building’s occupants and its distinctive and memorable aesthetic character. The visually striking form of the building is easily identified from a distant approach – architecture confidently marking the civic heart of the regional centre. The visitor’s middle distance view and arrival are marked by the urban forecourt and entry podium that merge into a welcoming and spacious public foyer. The interior accommodation is efficiently planned and presents a contemporarily styled working environment for the occupants. The completed ensemble provides a new standard and a fitting image for a progressive local council office.
National Award for Commercial Architecture
New Acton East - Fender Katsalidis Architects
This mixed-use commercial development, which commands a prominent corner of the local street grid, is the preliminary stage of a larger urban project. The eight-storey complex locates a mix of stylish apartments over column-free office accommodation, with retail tenancies at ground level. The perimeter public space is convincingly drawn through the building’s generous and tastefully designed foyer and beyond to the enclosed, quiet urban court featuring integrated artworks. In turn, the court links to an adjacent group of heritage buildings that is now a well-appointed residential hotel. The design motifs employed for the public space are visually related to the architectural expression and to the carefully articulated details and material palette that successfully distinguishes the tall structure. The result is a striking unified development that makes a positive contribution to Canberra’s architecture and public space and sets an excellent standard for commercial developments.
National Award for Commercial Architecture
Monaco House - McBride Charles Ryan
Composed with skill and technical elan, the wonderfully vivacious and witty facade of this narrow urban building has a magnetic presence in its quiet Melbourne laneway. Seen from an oblique approach or at a close distance, the unabashed audacity of the faceted sculptural form is an engaging and delightful surprise. Furthering the architectonic activation is a petite cafe space that opens directly onto the public access-way, which when complete will surely become a popular destination. Stacked above are three levels of bespoke office accommodation, topped with an artificially landscaped roof terrace, all with views over the leafy walled gardens of the Melbourne Club and the city skyline beyond. The compact interior is well appointed and finely detailed, in the tradition of a city salon. With Monaco House, the client and architect have together created a welcome addition to Melbourne’s catalogue of unique and quirky boutique architecture that contributes so positively to the wonder of this inspired city.
Sustainable Architecture
National Award for Sustainable Architecture
RSPCA Burwood Redevelopment - Stage 1: Kennels - NHArchitecture
Melbourne’s new RSPCA kennels provide innovative accommodation in a robustly detailed complex which admirably meets the needs of dogs and their carers. Careful research has led NHArchitecture to implement a range of strategies that effectively minimize the dogs’ stress, reducing barking and increase the comfort of both human and canine occupants. Dogs are housed in a single-loaded, multi-winged, two-storey complex orientated to the north, with the space between wings calibrated to ensure passive solar gain and adequate shading. Dogs can bask in the sun or retreat to the shade, with the comfort of underfloor heating and a passive cooling system consisting of shower towers coupled to wind scoops and Venturi caps. This well-conceived ventilation system provides a high air change rate, minimizing the transfer of scent, which significantly reduces barking. Playfully landscaped courtyards provide a view for each dog, with a highly visible graphic backdrop of black-and-white corrugated iron cladding. Circulation systems are strongly articulated, which, along with the strong modulation provided by the ventilation shafts, creates a strong architectural expression. The realisation of this project demonstrates the benefits of careful research and sophisticated translation, using simple technologies to significantly advance the provision of accommodation for animals. The building’s striking architecture in combination with its happy canine and human occupants has led to increased adoption rates, a tangible example of the benefits of architect-designed facilities.
National Commendation for Sustainable Architecture
K2 Apartments - DesignInc Melbourne
K2 Apartments provides inner-city, high-density accommodation with excellent environmental performance within the constraints of public housing. Ninety-six units are configured in four blocks, all with northern living spaces and balconies, achieving good solar access and an attractive outlook to landscaped communal space. The placement of balconies, sunshades and privacy screens develops a lively streetscape, which is further enhanced by the landscaping zone bordering the main frontage. This creates a small public park, inviting engagement with the broader community. DesignInc has skilfully used site levels to conceal car parking, which maximizes communal open space. Elements such as rainwater tanks and shade structures provide interpretive opportunities. The development skilfully integrates passive design, recycled materials, water catchment and smart specification choices such as double glazing to achieve a high level of environmental performance. K2 Apartments provides a model for urban living, benefiting residents and the broader community.
Heritage
The Lachlan Macquarie Award for Heritage
CarriageWorks at Eveleigh - Tonkin Zulaikha Greer
The Eveleigh CarriageWorks in Sydney is a vast complex of industrial buildings constructed in 1888 to provide workshop space for the New South Wales rail network. These buildings have been transformed to create vibrant performing arts spaces that will, the jury hopes, establish a precedent for the retention of other industrial buildings within this important historic precinct.
The architects have worked with the essential qualities of the CarriageWorks, preserving a gritty industrial character and celebrating the building fabric’s patina. Insertions to create theatre spaces, offices and amenities typically sit as discrete concrete boxes within the original structural grid. The potentially alienating scale and rugged character have been masterfully addressed with an hierarchical approach to detailing – raw and robust for new enclosures and refined for tactile elements such as stair handrails. Splashes of bright colour enliven the largely monochromatic palette and provide directional cues for patrons. Retained features such as old rail track, cranes and lifting beams are critical visual elements within the vast foyer, which spans the length of the building, and they provide creative opportunities for impromptu performance events. Tonkin Zulaika Greer has been fearless in its design interventions, which are explicitly articulated with an admirable consistency of approach. Eveleigh CarriageWorks demonstrates the benefit of a “less is more” approach to restoration, the importance of appropriate continuing uses and, above all, the need for intervention within historic buildings to be of the highest design quality.
National Award for Heritage
Harold Desbrowe Annear's Chadwick House, Stage 1 - Peter Crone Architects
The restoration and adaptation of the Chadwick House pays homage to original architect Harold Desbrowe-Annear. Peter Crone, through painstaking research and restoration, has enabled an appreciation of Desbrowe-Annear’s design intent while creating a comfortable modern living environment. Insensitive additions have been stripped away to reveal the ingenuity and technical mastery of Desbrowe-Annear. For example, the sliding screen that alternately separates entrance hall from dining room or dining from living room, creating effective flexible space. Where original fabric was missing, the insertions use the same material and craft, with subtle differences in design to differentiate new from old. An indoor toilet and bathroom has been inserted as a freestanding module within an existing space, enabling the retention of wall panelling and ceilings. It can be removed with minimal impact to the original fabric. The Chadwick House sits within a precinct of three Desbrowe-Annear houses, on a sloping site, and the restoration extends beyond the garden to the upper house. Funding for this restoration is being supported by a careful land subdivision and construction of an appropriate contemporary house, continuing the speculative tradition of this important Desbrowe-Annear precinct.
National Commendation for Heritage
The Cheong House - Robertson & Hindmarsh Pty Ltd
The Cheong House in Castlecrag, designed by Walter and Marion Griffin was in a near derelict state, largely through constant water penetration over many years. Much of the fabric was beyond repair but original elements such as stonework, remnant ceilings and joinery were retained and repaired. The cultural significance of the house dictated an understanding of the original design intent, with elements such as the roof, window hoods, floors and ceilings re-created in authentic detail. The house is modest in scale, so retention of the original perimeter and layout was a major achievement, with modern appliances such as a refrigerator seamlessly integrated within the kitchen’s original layout. The Griffins’ landscape vision for Castlecrag can now be appreciated, with the neighbouring Griffin-designed Moon House and Lookout Reserve. Robertson and Hindmarsh have re-created a delightful family home, which contributes to an understanding of the Griffins’ architectural prowess.
Urban Design
The Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design
Rouse Hill Town Centre - Rice Daubney, Allen Jack+Cottier, Group GSA in association with Civitas Urban Design & Planning
Located in the outer western suburbs of Sydney, the Rouse Hill Town Centre is a major new residential and mixed-use development on a large greenfield site. While the bulk of the residential development is still to come, the first stage of predominantly retail and community facilities is already a vibrant drawcard to the surrounding suburbs. The great success of this project is founded in its clear and robust urban design strategy. Rouse Hill breaks away from the “big box” model of internal retail centres and creates a network of open and semi-open streets, lanes, squares and public spaces more closely aligned with the values of the traditional small town. The consortium of architects, planners and developers has worked hard to create a relaxed environment of human scale, pedestrian amenity and material quality. Key features include numerous sustainability initiatives, underground car parking, a bus interchange and public spaces with a mix of shade and shelter. Urban design projects of this coplexity involve a multitude of conflicting parameters and commercial pressures. At Rouse Hill these have been resolved through an exemplary urban design strategy, which establishes a fresh new model for town centre developments in the suburban environment.
Small Project Architecture
National Award for Small Project Architecture
Children’s Activity Centre - PHOOEY Architects
Skinners Playground is the epitome of the small project category. The architects have worked tirelessly and directly with their clients and end users to create a wonderful building that is inventive, flexible, contextually strong and environmentally considerate. Rather than proving a hindrance, the tight budget has become a driver of the project and necessitated some original and creative decision making on the part of the architects. The project has become an important and well-used part of a disadvantaged community. It provides a valuable resource, much needed infrastructure and a flexible, inspiring space that is full of possibility. The environmental initiatives are well-considered and thorough, while remaining pragmatic and applicable to the size and scale of the project. Beyond the project itself, the ideas and ingenuity of the design are easily transferable to a range of similar project types and the methodology is adaptable to a range of buildings. This is a delightful project that is small in size, yet provides lessons for architecture of every scale.
National Commendation for Small Project Architecture
Fremantle House - Simon Pendal and Rebecca Angus
The Fremantle House is a small project with large ambitions. The strategies and methodologies established by the architects on their first house are easily transferable across a scale of buildings and will no doubt form the foundations of a promising architectural career. The house is well-grounded conceptually and offers an alternative model for site occupation. The courtyard arrangement of the house makes the most of a small site. This is a decidedly introspective house that still manages views beyond the exterior plane of the dwelling to expand the space of the interior. The carefully curated interplay of light on materials and the manner in which both artificial and natural light are indirectly controlled shows great skill and breathes life to the building and its occupants. Material selection is inventive and maximizes the tight budget, with the smallest detail of every aspect of the project well-considered. One would hope that this house demonstrates an alternative to the excesses of the majority of current domestic construction in Australia by providing a modestly sized, light-filled house on an increased site density that above all, is a pleasure to live in.
Click here for Jury Citations pt 2
Australian Institute of Architects | Media Unit
Trish Croaker - 0408 756 163
Kirsten Trengove - 0439 555 427
The Australian Institute of Architects is the peak body for the architectural profession, representing more than 9500 members across Australia and overseas. The Institute actively works to improve the quality of our built environment by promoting quality, responsible and sustainable design.
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