The 2020 Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Awards were announced via a live-streamed event last night.

Jury Chair and Immediate Past National President Professor Helen Lochhead says that 44 projects were recognised, 25 with national awards and 19 with commendations.

“Creative adaptation, along with social and environmental sustainability featured strongly as themes running through this year’s award-winning projects."

“It was encouraging to see housing projects of all types challenging expectations and delivering high-quality buildings imbued with amenity and delight, even with limited means,” she says.

Projects in New South Wales dominated the fiercely competitive New Houses category this year, while Victorian and South Australian projects featured in the Multiple Housing and Alteration and Additions categories.

Two strikingly different homes, one on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, the other nestled in East Albury, shared the prestigious Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New).

The Jury praised Peter Stutchbury Architecture’s Basin Beach House as the product of “a practice at the top of its game” that maintained “a gentle decorum befitting this ecologically sensitive context”.

They added that the home “demonstrates a clear synergy between client and architect, reinforcing the edict that with a terrific client often comes great architecture.”

Meanwhile, East Street by Kerstin Thompson Architects was awarded for “its consideration of climate, its response to a bushfire-prone context, and the desire to capture the rural setting and superb mountain ranges in the distance” made a living environment “both evocative and finely crafted”.

This year’s recipient of the Nicholas Murcutt Award for Small Project Architecture, For Our Country by Kudjla/ Gangalu artist Daniel Boyd in collaboration with Edition Office was particularly noteworthy.

Nicholas Murcutt Award for Small Project Architecture, For Our Country by Kudjla/ Gangalu artist Daniel Boyd in collaboration with Edition Office

Nicholas Murcutt Award for Small Project Architecture, For Our Country by Kudjla/ Gangalu artist Daniel Boyd in collaboration with Edition Office / Image: Ben Hosking.

“The task of adequately acknowledging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers, within the shadows of the Australian War Memorial, brought with it much responsibility,” the Jury observed.

“For Our Country is a simple concept, expertly executed with precision and clarity while concealing a degree of complexity in thinking not immediately apparent.”

One of this year’s most awarded projects was the Marrickville Library by BVN, jointly winning the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture alongside the Anzac Memorial Centenary Extension by Johnson Pilton Walker with the NSW Government Architect. The library also received the David Oppenheim Award for Sustainable Architecture.

It is a standout example of the demonstrable public value exceptional design can deliver with the client saying, “BVN have created a library that is both breathtakingly beautiful and outstanding from a functional perspective.”

Another multi-award winning project, Phoenix Central Park by Durbach Block Jaggers and John Wardle Architects, received both the Harry Seidler Award for Commercial Architecture and the Emil Sodersten Award for Interior Architecture.

The client said the brief for this building was “an open invitation to create something as close to the perfect ideal of architecture itself – the beauty of space and the poetry of light; the pleasure of use and the magic of materials.”

The Jury applauded the resulting gallery and performance space, that is the vision of prominent philanthropist Judith Neilson, as “a superb collaboration” that has “socially, economically and culturally rejuvenated the southern end of the city of Sydney and beyond.”

Heritage was the third of three categories where the named award has been shared this year, with two Tasmanian projects proving of equally high calibre.

Bozen’s Cottage by Taylor & Hinds Architects, which the Jury says is now ready “for another 180 years of comfortable habitation” has given the client, in their words, “solace, enchantment and joy”.

Core Collective Architects’ restoration of Hollow Tree House and its stables has been honoured “for the shared vision of an inspired client and an adept architect.”

Outside [the] box by Troppo Architects won the People’s Choice Award for 2020.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE

The Harry Seidler Award for Commercial Architecture | Phoenix Central Park | Durbach Block Jaggers and John Wardle Architects | NSW
National Commendation for Commercial Architecture | Three Capes Track Lodges | Andrew Burns Architecture | TAS
National Commendation for Commercial Architecture | Daramu House | Tzannes | NSW
National Commendation for Commercial Architecture | 9 Cremorne St | Fieldwork | VIC

The Harry Seidler Award for Commercial Architecture | Phoenix Central Park | Durbach Block Jaggers and John Wardle Architects | NSW/ Image: Martin Mischkulnig

EDUCATIONAL ARCHITECTURE

The Daryl Jackson Award for Educational Architecture | Ian Potter Southbank Centre, University of Melbourne | John Wardle Architects | VIC
National Award for Educational Architecture | Curtin University Midland Campus | Lyons with Silver Thomas Hanley | WA
National Award for Educational Architecture | MLC School Senior Centre | BVN | NSW
National Commendation for Educational Architecture | Carlton Learning Precinct COLA | Law Architects | VIC

National Award for Educational Architecture | MLC School Senior Centre | BVN | NSW

National Award for Educational Architecture | MLC School Senior Centre | BVN | NSW / Image: Ben Guthrie

ENDURING ARCHITECTURE
National Enduring Architecture Award | Palm Garden House | Richard Leplastrier | NSW

INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE

The Emil Sodersten Award for Interior Architecture | Phoenix Central Park | Durbach Block Jaggers and John Wardle Architects | NSW
National Award for Interior Architecture | Grant Pirrie House | Virginia Kerridge Architect | NSW
National Commendation for Interior Architecture | Napier Street for Milieu | Freadman White | VIC
INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE
The Jørn Utzon Award for International Architecture | The Arroyo Affordable Housing | John Koning Eizenberg Architecture

PEOPLE’S CHOICE

The 2020 People’s Choice winner | Outside [the] box | Troppo Architects | SA

PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE

The Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture (joint winner) | Anzac Memorial Centenary Extension | Johnson Pilton Walker with the NSW Government Architect | NSW
The Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture (joint winner) | Marrickville Library | BVN | NSW
National Commendation for Public Architecture | Parks Victoria Albert Park Office and Depot | Harrison and White with Archier | VIC
National Commendation for Public Architecture | State Library Victoria Redevelopment | Architectus + Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects | VIC

The Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture (joint winner) | Anzac Memorial

The Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture (joint winner) | Anzac Memorial / Image: Brett Boardman

RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE – HOUSES (ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS)

The Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions) | Redwood | Chenchow Little | NSW
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions) | Outside [the] box | Troppo Architects | SA
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions) | RaeRae House | Austin Maynard Architects | VIC

RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE – HOUSES (NEW)

The Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New) (joint winner)| Basin Beach House | Peter Stutchbury Architecture | NSW
The Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New) (joint winner)| East Street | Kerstin Thompson Architects | NSW
National Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New) | Glebe House | Chenchow Little | NSW
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (New) | Breezeway House | David Boyle Architect | NSW

RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE – MULTIPLE HOUSING

The Frederick Romberg Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing | Studio Apartments | Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects | NSW
National Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing | Napier Street for Milieu | Freadman White | VIC
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing | Salisbury Townhouses | NTF Architecture | VIC
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing | Gillies Hall | Jackson Clements Burrows Architects | VIC
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing | Verve Residences | CKDS Architecture with Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects | NSW

SMALL PROJECT ARCHITECTURE

The Nicholas Murcutt Award for Small Project Architecture | For Our Country | Edition Office and Daniel Boyd | ACT
National Award for Small Project Architecture | In Absence | Edition Office and Yhonnie Scarce | VIC
National Commendation for Small Project Architecture | Protagonist | Cumulus Studio | VIC
National Commendation for Small Project Architecture | Marsden Park Amenities | CHROFI | NSW

SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

The David Oppenheim Award for Sustainable Architecture | Marrickville Library | BVN | NSW
National Commendation for Sustainable Architecture | Pingelly Recreation and Cultural Centre | iredale pedersen hook architects with Advanced Timber Concepts Studio | WA
National Commendation for Sustainable Architecture | Mon Repos Turtle Centre | KIRK | QLD

National Commendation for Sustainable Architecture | Mon Repos Turtle Centre | KIRK | QLD

National Commendation for Sustainable Architecture | Mon Repos Turtle Centre | KIRK | QLD / Scott Burrows Photography

URBAN DESIGN

The Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design | Metro North West | Hassell, in collaboration with Turpin Crawford Studio and McGregor Westlake Architecture | NSW
National Award for Urban Design | Campbell Section 5 Master Plan | Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects | ACT
National Commendation for Urban Design | Bridge of Remembrance | Denton Corker Marshall | TAS

COLORBOND® AWARD FOR STEEL ARCHITECTURE

National COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture | Carlton Learning Precinct COLA | Law Architects | VIC
National COLORBOND® Commendation for Steel Architecture | Bankwest Stadium | Populous | NSW

National COLORBOND® Commendation for Steel Architecture | Bankwest Stadium | Populous | NSW

National COLORBOND® Commendation for Steel Architecture | Bankwest Stadium | Populous | NSW / Image: Murray Fredericks

Full list can be seen here: https://www.architecture.com.au/news_media_articles/celebrating-architecture-that-enlivens-as-2020-award-winners-announced/

Branko Miletic

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