Friday 13 July 2007
Just weeks after being named the best new building outside Europe, Melbourne’s new Southern Cross Station has done it again - winning three top awards at the 2007 Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Victorian Architecture Awards.
Announcing award winners at a special ceremony at the Palladium at Crown tonight (Friday 13 July), RAIA Victorian President Professor Philip Goad said Grimshaw Jackson JV (a joint venture between British architect Nicholas Grimshaw and Australian Daryl Jackson) had received the prestigious Victorian Architecture Medal, the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture, and an Architecture Award for Urban Design for Southern Cross Station. The iconic building was last month awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects top prize for an architectural project outside Europe. Its win tonight automatically places it in the running for a National Architecture Award, to be announced in Alice Springs on 25 October.
In awarding the medal, the highest honour that can be bestowed on a Victorian architect or architectural practice, the jury said: “The new Southern Cross Station is a major contribution to the public infrastructure of the state. The station redefines the experience of train travel in Melbourne for both long-distance travellers and daily commuters, providing an environment of airport standard. In the spirit of the great nineteenth-century train stations, the enclosure vaults over the tracks with almost effortless ease.” They added: “The iconic undulating roof is a technical feat, with the process of its construction as dramatic as the final result.”
In another win for public architecture, the Melbourne Prize was awarded to the City of Melbourne for Sandridge Bridge Precinct Redevelopment, which also received an Architecture Award for Urban Design. The jury said “there is a generosity toward the public realm at the Sandridge Bridge” and “its refurbishment adds to a series of pedestrian bridges that now stitch together the fabric of the city across the Yarra”.
For its contribution to “the skyline of Melbourne”, the jury awarded Eureka Tower Precinct by Fender Katdalidis (Aust) the Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design. The Eureka Tower was further honoured with the inaugural Best Overend Award for Residential Architecture (Multiple Housing). The jury noted “the clever, chamfered and shifting form and particularly the glorious gold top to Eureka Tower are now icons on Melbourne’s skyline”.
Six striking single housing projects received awards, led by the inner suburban Park Street House by Robert Simeoni Architects, which took out the top residential prize, the Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for Residential Architecture, and the new Award for Small Project Architecture. Described by the jury as the “cheapest and smallest of the 29 entries” short-listed in the residential category but which won for its “certain stubborn grandeur sitting on its pocket handkerchief site”.
Three new residential projects to receive an architecture award were the Smith Great Aussie Home by Cassandra Complex; Courtyard House by o’connor + houle architecture; and Cape Schanck House by Paul Morgan Architects. Eyelid House South Yarra by Fiona Winzar Architects and Eaglemont House by Kennedy Nolan Architects were honoured with an architecture award for residential alterations and additions.
The John George Knight Award for Heritage was awarded to RBA Architects and Conservation Consultants for Scottish House Façade Restoration. The jury admired the architects “attention to detail in surveying the fabric of the building and appropriately fulfilling the Burra Charter’s principle of only doing as much as necessary to restore an intricately detailed stone facade of this early 20th Century Victorian office building”.
The 2007 Award for Sustainable Architecture, and a Public Architecture Award, were presented to Lyons for Stage One ACE, Kangan Batman TAFE, a building housing a TAFE training facility for Victorian automotive trades and manufacturing and comprising workshops, teaching facilities and offices. The jury said: “Any scepticism about such a carbon heavy industry being interested in sustainability is soon dispelled by the obvious commitment displayed by the TAFE to sustainable practices, including a sustainability covenant with the EPA. Kangan Batman TAFE is a model project that effortlessly incorporates sustainability initiatives within the constraints of an inexpensive shed type structure.”
A bar and dining venue in Melbourne, New Gold Mountain by Cassandra Complex, was awarded the Marion Mahony Award for Interior Architecture, with the jury describing it as a “a delightful, Alice in Wonderland environment”. The Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award for Commercial Architecture was awarded to 1010 LaTrobe Street by Ashton Raggatt McDougall, a “bold project by ARM which continues to build a sub-cultural history for Melbourne as a ‘city of mathematics’, rendered here in ‘eye-popping’ architectural form and colour”.
This year’s Regional Prize was awarded to Castlemaine Primary School by H2o Architects. Commending the project, the jury said the new buildings achieve a sense of focus for the campus, and that “everyday and interspersed activities such as lining up outside classrooms after play can become communal and theatrical events”.
One of Australia's most enduring landmarks of late Brutalism, the Plumbers and Gasfitters Union Building in Carlton, is the winner of this year's 25 Year Award for Enduring Architecture. Designed by Graeme Gunn and completed in 1970, the jury said the building “was a revelation at the time of its construction”.
The Colorbond Award was presented to Research House by John Henry Architects. The jury said walking through the front door was a “breathtaking experience” and that “the house is borne of an irrepressible creativity and ingenuity in combining pre-fabricated and off the shelf products”.
Other multiple award winners were Gregory Burgess Architects for the Victoria Space Science Education Centre and McGauran Giannini Soon for the Woodstock Street Community Housing.
All award winners now progress to the RAIA National Architecture Awards, to be announced in Alice Springs on 25 October.
For a full list of award recipients, citations, interviews and high resolution images contact:
Trish Croaker - 0408 756 163 or trish.croaker@raia.com.au
Kirsten Trengove - 0439 555 427 or kirsten.trengove@raia.com.au
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