The 2025 Victorian Architecture Awards have once again demonstrated the breadth, depth, and integrity of architectural practice in this state. This year’s awarded projects reflect a strong commitment to place, community, and design excellence across all scales and settings, from civic infrastructure and cultural spaces to finely detailed interiors and regionally embedded initiatives.
The Victorian Architecture Medal was awarded to Northern Memorial Park Depot by Searle x Waldron Architecture. This timber-structured operations hub for the Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust transforms a typically utilitarian typology into an architecture of care, rigour, and repose. The jury described its “generosity of spirit, sophisticated environmental response, and capacity to uplift both place and people,” recognising its clarity, precision, and ecological responsiveness. It also received the Melbourne Prize, an award for Commercial Architecture, and a commendation for Sustainable Architecture.
Regional excellence was a strong theme, with projects from across regional Victoria strongly represented, highlighting the growing strength and diversity of practice beyond metropolitan Melbourne. The Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence by ARM Architecture received both the Regional Prize and an Award for Educational Architecture, acknowledged for its respectful engagement with Yorta Yorta Country and its integration of education, culture, and sport in a design grounded in deep respect for Country. Other awarded regional projects included The Paddock by Crosby Architects, which won the Allan and Beth Coldicutt Award for Sustainable Architecture and received a commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (Multiple Housing). It was praised for its “holistic commitment to a harmony of architecture, community and place.” Geelong Laneways: Malop Arcade by NMBW with Aspect Studios, and Wangun Amphitheatre by Equity Office, both demonstrated how smaller scale interventions can offer powerful gestures of cultural and environmental resonance.
In Commercial Architecture, Melbourne Place by Kennedy Nolan received the Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award, in addition to the Marion Mahony Award for Interior Architecture. It was noted for its refined detailing, layered spatial experience, and contribution to the urban fabric of the city, with the jury commending its combination of “depth, delight and cultural specificity.” Equally significant in the civic space was the Eva and Marc Besen Centre by Kerstin Thompson Architects, recipient of the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture and an Award for Interior Architecture. The jury commented on its clarity of plan, strength of expression, and quiet civic generosity, demonstrating how architecture can create spaces of reflection, connection, and cultural resonance.
These awards are not only a celebration of architectural achievement, but a barometer of how our profession is responding to the challenges and aspirations of our time. The jury’s emphasis on generosity, long-term thinking, and cultural grounding is representative of a profession deeply connected to the communities it serves.
Congratulations to all awarded, shortlisted, and entered. Your work continues to define and enrich the architectural conversation across Victoria.
Stephanie Bullock – FRAIA
President of Victorian Chapter
