Restoration, rejuvenation, revitalisation and renewal were the core themes of many of the winning projects at this year’s Australian Institute of Architects Newcastle Architecture Awards announced last Friday. Fourteen outstanding projects around Newcastle and the Hunter region were recognised for excellence in various categories.

The winners’ parade was led by the Newcastle East End Stage 1 project by SJB, Durbach Block Jaggers and Tonkin Zulaikha Greer who took out top honours winning the Newcastle Medal as well as the Residential Architecture - Multiple Housing Award. SJB also received the Urban Design Award for this four-stage, master-planned project.

Observing that “Newcastle is a unique city in Australia with a rich tapestry of urban form and urban spaces”, the Jury said the Newcastle East End Stage 1 project “provides an excellent illustration of how other urban regeneration projects along Hunter Street in East Newcastle should come along”.

“The secret to effectively reinvent a city is to reinvent the processes that bring new places to fruition. With this idea in mind, the Newcastle East End Stage 1 development is significant as it strikes a balance between land uses, community expectations and market realities.”

Newcastle Station and Public Domain by Conrad Gargett won a Commendation in the Urban Design category for their work restoring and revamping this iconic part of the city.

EJE Architecture won the Commercial Architecture Award for Kingsley by Crystalbrook Collection, their transformation of the old council administration centre.

According to the Jury, “any alteration to this well-loved brutalist monument of the 1970s was going to be contentious among Novocastrians and our local community of practitioners”. The Jury applauded EJE Architecture for having “seamlessly bridged the fine balance of restoring a historic building in the round as well as adaptively transforming the ex-administration building into Newcastle’s first luxury five-star hotel”.

Winning a Commendation in the Commercial Architecture category was The Pangolin by Fabric Architecture Studio for the impressive transformation of “what was a squash court into a sustainable zinc tile clad masonry building to be utilised as the headquarters for Club Projects”.

EJE Architecture with Suede Interior Design also won the Award for Interior Architecture for this renewal project’s interiors.

Additionally, EJE Architecture took home an Award for Interior Architecture for the Lake Macquarie City Council Administration Office Fitout, which delivers a more efficient workspace that also references the surrounding landscape.

MSDS won the Residential Architecture - Houses (New) Award for Hamilton Garden House, which the Jury held up as representing “the value of what good design can bring to our towns and the people who reside in them, namely simple but strong spatial gestures”.

SPCC Cessnock Senior Building by SHAC won the Educational Architecture Award with the Jury describing it as “the epitome of what educational environments should resemble”.

The new Tuncurry Museum & Golf Facility by Michael Fox Architects took out an Award for Public Architecture with the Jury highlighting the building’s low embodied energy and relationship to vistas in the landscape.

Catherine McAuley Catholic Chapel by Webber Architects received the ColorBond Award for Steel Architecture for a project made possible only by this material’s impressive structural capabilities and which the jury said “reflects the new Catholic community’s strength”.

In the Heritage category, Nihon University Newcastle Campus by dwp | design worldwide partnership with Azusa Sekkei Co. Pty Ltd received a Commendation for their work on the former Newcastle Courthouse. The Jury described their careful restoration work as “deftly striking the balance between respecting the heritage building and embodying a fresh unobtrusive design that looks toward the future, the campus has been meticulously reinstated to avoid the ecological footprint of removal and reconstruction”.

Full 2022 Winners List

Category | Winner | Practice | Award/Commendation

Newcastle Medal | Newcastle East End Stage 1 | SJB, Durbach Block Jaggers and Tonkin Zulaikha Greer | Award

ColorBond® | Catherine McAuley Catholic Chapel | Webber Architects | Award

Commercial Architecture | Kingsley by Crystalbrook Collection | EJE Architecture | Award

Commercial Architecture | The Pangolin | Fabric Architecture Studio | Commendation

Public Architecture | Tuncurry Museum & Golf Facility | Michael Fox Architects | Award

Educational Architecture | SPCC Cessnock Senior Building | SHAC | Award

Interior Architecture | Kingsley by Crystalbrook Collection | EJE Architecture with Suede Interior Design | Award

Interior Architecture | Lake Macquarie City Council Administration | Office Fitout | EJE Architecture | Award

Interior Architecture | The Lair | Ode Studio with Ash Greenaway | Commendation

Interior Architecture | Vamp | SDA | Commendation

Heritage | Nihon University Newcastle Campus | dwp | design worldwide partnership with Azusa Sekkei Co. Pty Ltd | Commendation

Residential Architecture - Multiple Housing | Newcastle East End Stage 1 | SJB, Durbach Block Jaggers and Tonkin Zulaikha Greer | Award

Residential Architecture - Houses (New) | Hamilton Garden House | MSDS | Award

Small Project Architecture | Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service Mock Courtroom | out(fit) | Commendation

Urban Design | Newcastle East End | SJB | Award

Urban Design | Newcastle Station and Public Domain | Conrad Gargett | Commendation

Architecture News & Editorial Desk

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