Australian architecture firm, Brenchley Architects, has swept away the competition in the Residential Mid Rise, Typology category of the Architizer A+ awards.

The Brenchley project at 142 Park Street, Melbourne dominated the Mid Rise Residential category, taking both the Jury and Peer Voted awards.

Brenchley join the Melbourne based, Techné Architects in the Architizer 2014 winner's circle.

“The competition was fierce, and the decision-making process presented voters with many difficult choices,” read a statement from Architizer.

Some might recognise the building from the popular channel nine reality TV show “The Block”. The Brenchley project was the site for the 2013 competition series which fetched over $7 million at auction.

Located in the inner city suburb of Melbourne, the Park St apartments involved the conversion of an existing motel building circa 1960 into a high end apartment building.

The project was described by Architizer as a prime example of the “adaptive re-use” of an existing, low grade building into a high-end environmentally sustainable development.

A 'second skin', made up of black aluminium batten and vertical garden panels, was added to the existing masonry external in a bid to improve the thermal performance of the building.

The building has been applauded for its environmental sustainability and Architizer has said early indications suggest that it will achieve a NATHERS 8.0 star rating.

Brenchley Architects initially fought off international competition to be shortlisted for the award. They were then announced as both the peer voted and jury voted winners in their category.

Brenchley Architects and Techné Architects were the only Australian winners amongst the Typology categories.

Other Australian finalists in the Typology awards were:

Christopher Polly Architects
Andrew Maynard Architects
Elenberg Fraser
Morris Bray and Martin Ollmann Architects
McBride Charles Ryan’s and TAG Architects
PTW Architects
Iredale Pedersen Hook Architects .
Techne Architects

The Architizer A+ global architectural award program has 60+ categories and over 200 judges. The winners will be presented with their awards at a gala event in New York during the city’s design week, NYCxDesign.

All Images courtesy of Architizer

For a full list of winners visit the Architizer website:

Nathan Johnson

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