42 entries have been honoured at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2013 Victorian Architecture Awards, with the top prize, the Victorian Architecture Medal, awarded to the RMIT Design Hub by Sean Godsell Architects in association with Peddle Thorp Architects.

The jury praised the Design Hub’s elegant and harmonised composition, claiming that it adds great value to the diversity of Melbourne’s reputation of fostering strong and individualistic design.

Home to RMIT’s diverse range of design research and post graduate education, the Design Hub was also awarded two Named Awards by the juries, the COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture and the top public architecture honour, the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture.

It joins 11 other Named Awards, 20 Architecture Awards and 21 Commendations presented during the ceremony, in addition to the Melbourne Prize, Regional Prize and the Bates Smart Awards for Architecture in the Media.

RMIT Design Hub. Image by Earl Carter.

Sean Godsell Architects was furthermore awarded the highest accolade in the Residential Architecture – Houses category, the Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for Residential Architecture, for its Edward Street House.

Edward Street House. Image by Earl Carter.

“The property has been sliced and divided into exquisitely proportioned interior and garden spaces. Each extends into the other, creating a seamless amenity and high degree of privacy and transparency. As poetic as it is rational, this house is beautifully robust.”

A sensitive redevelopment of one of Melbourne’s unique heritage performance venues, Hamer Hall by ARM Architecture was also praised by the Interior Architecture jury for “skilfully accentuating the heritage qualities of the building while at the same time creating a stunning landmark addition to the Yarra River precinct.”

Hamer Hall. Image by John Gollings.

Hamer Hall’s revitalisation was recognised with the Marion Mahony Award for Interior Architecture and the John George Knight Award for Heritage Architecture. The heritage jury commended Hamer Hall’s restrained strategy of using bronze to express the new works, saying that this offers legibility between old and new fabric and reflects the original architect Sir Roy Grounds’ approach to an enduring materiality.

Crofthouse by James Stockwell Architect stood out from the field of 420 entries and was awarded the Allan and Beth Coldicutt Award for Sustainable Architecture for presenting new design ideas which offer a more sustainable future.

The jury notes that this breathtaking project remained a unanimous winner from start to finish of the selection process.

Crofthouse. Image by James Archibald.

Rebuilt following the 2009 bushfires, the Marysville 16 Hour Police Station by Kerstin Thompson Architects forms part of the re-establishment of the town centre, ‘The Marysville Heart’ and was the recipient of the 2013 Regional Prize.

Marysville 16 Hour Police Station. Image by Trevor Mein.

“The combination of mature composition, clever planning and geometry, along with a soaring spirit, make this building a wonderful addition to a town that deserves great architecture.”

 

Full list of winning projects:

Public Architecture (New)

William Wardell Award for Public Architecture - RMIT Design Hub – Sean Godsell Architects in association with Peddle Thorp Architects

Award - Penleigh and Essendon Grammar Senior School– McBride Charles Ryan

Award - South Morang Rail Extension – Cox Architecture

Award - Swanston Academic Building – Lyons

Commendation - Bayside Police Station, Sandringham – fmjt (Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp)

Commendation - La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science - Lyons

Commendation - The Richard & Elizabeth Tudor Centre for Contemporary Learning, Trinity Grammar – McIntyre Partnership

 

Public Architecture (Alterations & Additions)

Award - Hamer Hall – ARM Architecture

Award - Institute of Koorie Education, Deakin University – Gregory Burgess Architects

 

Urban Design

Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design - Revitalising Central Dandenong: Lonsdale Street Redevelopment – BKK/TCL Partnership

Award - Serrata Docklands – Hayball Pty Ltd

Award - South Morang Rail Extension – Cox Architecture

Commendation - Langtree Mall Pavilion – Bellemo & Cat

 

Commercial Architecture

Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award for Commercial Architecture - Crown Mahogany Room Expansion – Bates Smart

Award - National Centre for Synchrotron Science – Bates Smart

Commendation - South Melbourne Market Roof – Paul Morgan Architects

Commendation - Spring Street Grocer – KGA Architecture

 

Interior Architecture

Marion Mahony Award for Interior Architecture - Hamer Hall – ARM Architecture

Award - Footscray Nicholson Learning Commons – Cox Architecture

Award - Move-In – Elenberg Fraser Architects

Commendation - Captain Melville – Breathe Architecture

Commendation - National Centre for Synchrotron Science – Bates Smart

 

Heritage Architecture

John George Knight Award for Heritage - Hamer Hall – ARM Architecture

Award - Good Shepherd Chapel, Abbotsford – Robert Simeoni Architects

Award - Maryborough Railway Station Conservation works – RBA Architects + Conservation Consultants

Commendation - Ormond College, Main Building Gables – Lovell Chen

 

Residential Architecture – Houses (New)

Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for Residential Architecture - Edward Street House – Sean Godsell Architects

Award - Fairhaven Residence – John Wardle Architects

Award - Merricks Beach House – Kennedy Nolan

Award - Sorrento Blue House – Neeson Murcutt Architects

Commendation - Crofthouse – James Stockwell Architect

Commendation - Merricks House – Robson Rak Architects Pty Ltd

 

Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations & Additions)

Award - HOUSE House – Andrew Maynard Architects

Award - The Mullet – March Studio

Commendation - Ferrars Place – antarctica

Commendation - shelter shed – multiplicity

Commendation - Victoria Road House – Fiona Winzar Architects

 

Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing

Best Overend Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing - McIntyre Drive Social Housing, Altona – MGS Architects

Award - Serrata Docklands – Hayball Pty Ltd

Commendation - Aerial Apartments – Wood/Marsh Pty Ltd Architecture

Commendation - Leopold – SJB Architects & Fender Katsalidis Architects

Commendation - Malvern Hill – SJB Architects

 

Small Project Architecture

Kevin Borland Award for Small Project Architecture - Seventh Heaven – Nest Architects

Award - Abbotsford Convent Breezeway – Jackson Clements Burrows

Award - Third Wave Kiosk – Tony Hobba Architects

Commendation - Move-In – Elenberg Fraser Architects

Commendation - Penny Wise – Marc Dixon Architect

Commendation - The Purple Rose of Cairo – Architecture Architecture

 

COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture

COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture - RMIT Design Hub – Sean Godsell Architects in association with Peddle Thorp Architects

Commendation - shelter shed – multiplicity

 

Sustainable Architecture

Allan and Beth Coldicutt Award for Sustainable Architecture - Crofthouse – James Stockwell Architect

 

Melbourne Prize

Winner - Revitalising Central Dandenong: Lonsdale Street Redevelopment – BKK/TCL Partnership

 

Regional Prize

Winner - Marysville 16 Hour Police Station – Kerstin Thompson Architects

 

Bates Smart Award for Architecture in the Media

Award – Dream Build – ABC TV (National)

Award – Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture – Rory Hyde (National)

Award – Parlour: women, architecture, equity – Justine Clark (State)

Commendation – Cities of Hope: Remembered/Rehearsed – Conrad Hamann

Commendation – Designer Suburbs: Architects and Affordable Homes in Australia – Judith O’Callaghan and Charles Pickett