Public voting has opened for the Architizer A+ Awards, with nine Australian projects shortlisted across 10 out of over 90 categories.

Now in its third year, the A+ Awards is a global architectural and product program with 300 judges, including Yves Béhar, Paola Antonelli, Liz Diller, Joseph Altuzarra, David Rockwell, Rem D. Koolhaas, and Ian Schrager, who selected the five finalists in each category.

There are three main umbrellas under which categories fall under – the Typology Categories honour buildings and spaces, while the Plus Categories are designed to celebrate architecture’s relevancy through awards that highlight issues confronting the world. The Product Categories range from façade building products to decorative lighting and furniture.

Here are the nine Australian finalists in the Typology and Plus categories. Click HERE for the full shortlist and to vote. Voting ends on April 3, 2015:

TYPOLOGY CATEGORIES

Residential – Private House (1,000-3,000sqf)

Glebe House by Nobbs Radford Architects, Sydney

Focused primarily on the interconnections of cloistered spaces, created and selected framed openings, this family home contrasts the external concrete material with internal timber elements to define its various zones and functions. The depth of the rear façade creates an interstitial threshold, while within the house a void acts as the connecting point for all spaces.

Source: Nobbs Radford Architect

Residential – Multi Unit Housing – Mid Rise (5-15 floors)

The Aria by MHN Design Union, Sydney

This sculpted apartment block uses rhythm and form to create a positive presence to the street and its surroundings. Angled balconies alternate to sculpt the northern façade with concrete profiles, transforming the visual appearance of the building with the changing positions of the sun. Each floor consists of just one apartment to provide maximum privacy for occupants.

Photography by John Gollings and Eric Sierins. Source: MHNDU

Residential – Interiors

Manning Road House by Noxon Giffen, Melbourne

The brief had called for a contemporary home for a young family of five, with additional spaces for visiting family and friends. In response, the architects designed two rectangular volumes linked by a central access spine that generates a natural flow of movement through the home. Light scoops capture northern light into the bedrooms, complemented by skylights and screens that animate the interior, while ‘crevices’ between the volumes bring landscape, light and ventilation into the heart of the dwelling. Corten weathered steel wraps the building with timber batten screens openings filtering light and offering privacy.

Photography by Peter Clarke. Source: Noxon Giffen

Educational – Higher Education & Research Facilities

Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne by NADAAA and John Wardle Architects in collaboration, Melbourne

The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning has been designed for the next generation of architects, planners, builders, ecologists and landscape architects, and driven by the idea that the building itself is a built pedagogy and a broader studio environment. With inventive structural and environmental ideas, the building is a live learning tool, while transparent facades and an open permeable ground plane reveal the creative and collaborative activities to the rest of the community.

Photography by John Horner, Roland Halbe, Peter Bennetts. Source: NADAAA

Hospitality – Hotels & Resorts

Hotel Hotel Lobby & Nishi Grand Stair Interior by March Studio, Canberra

Over 2,000 lengths of timber have been suspended from the building’s interior ceiling, creating a visual explosion of mismatched wooden fragments above the entrance staircase. Some of the wood has been polished, while others remain rough, textured and marked with remnants of coloured paint.

Photography by John Gollings

Commercial – Shopping Centre

Wollongong Central Expansion by HDR | Rice Daubney, Wollongong

Inspired by a desire to do more than simply create a building, the built form of this project creates a five-level “public street” that connects the northern and southern parts of the city, enlivening once quiet streets and promoting new growth. The façade evokes the drama of the cliffs that dominate the Illawarra coastline, featuring jagged steel blades and fractured glass reinforced concrete forms. The Illawara flame tree embedded in the concrete contrasts with the use of steel, and is illuminated at night by lighting.

PLUS CATEGORIES

Architecture + Communication

Sydney Data Centre NEXTDC by Greenbox Architecture, Sydney

Greenbox has shifted the architectural typology of the data centre with this project, from one that is traditionally camouflaged and disguised in industrial parks, to a building that is energy efficient, resilient, and proudly located adjunct to cities’ commercial centres. A light, illuminated polycarbonate skin floats above the heavy base, stretching across the narrow site and revealing little of what lies within.

Source: Greenbox Architecture

Architecture + Learning; Architecture + Community

Dallas Brooks Community Primary School by McBride Charles Ryan

Featuring a ‘city skyline’ silhouette, the school’s façade encircles around its learning and community spaces. A predominantly metal structure is clad with an array of multi-coloured bricks, while windows are interspersed at differing heights, allowing visual access into and out of this walled city. This wall functions more than just as the physical perimeter of a new school. Its palette and form reminds of the need to protect some of the most vulnerable people in a marginalised community – young children – but also acts as an inclusive civic gesture; an invitation to the diverse groups to help shape the future of the suburb.

Photography by John Gollings

Architecture + Low Cost Housing

Trinity Apartments by K20 Architecture, West Footscray

This 24 apartment development is designed to ensure equal access to daylight throughout, star ratings to 9 stars, and a common landscaped retreat designed by John Patrick Landscape.

Photography by Peter Bennetts. Source: K20 Architecture

Geraldine Chua

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