The Australian Institute of Architects’ NSW Chapter Prizes and Honours Awards has seen Dillon Kombumerri (pictured top) honoured with the President’s Prize for his work in connecting architecture with Country.

A Yugembir descendant from the Gold Coast, Kombumerri is a Principal Architect with the Government Architect NSW, and recently Co-Authored the state’s Connecting with Country Draft Framework. NSW Chapter President, Laura Cockburn, says Kombumerri vision and expertise have invoked change around Indigenous issues and within the industry.

“Dillon has demonstrated extraordinary leadership over a number of years in encouraging the profession to create richer, more holistic outcomes through the embrace of country-centred design,” she says.

“His passion for sharing Indigenous knowledge has helped to create more inclusive and sustainable, good design outcomes for our built environment and communities.”

Rachel Neeson was awarded the Marion Mahony Griffin Prize for her extensive body of work, which has helped to open the door for a generation of women architects.

“Rachel Neeson is a remarkable architect. Through her practice she has transformed the way a generation practices architecture, encouraging us to be curious, sensitive, playful, collaborative, and most importantly, brave enough to challenge the status quo,” a statement from the Jury reads.

The David Lindner Prize was awarded to Adam Swinburn for his A Reference Scheme For A Future Urban Australian School project, which considers the challenges and opportunities in the facilitation of education in NSW in a time when student numbers are anticipated to increase over the next decade.

Media personality Tim Ross was named an Honorary Fellow of the Institute, while Ed Lippman, Leone Lorrimer, Mahalath Halperin, Philip Graus, Susan Rothwell and Tone Wheeler were named Life Fellows.

Guillermo Fernández-Abascal was honoured as a joint winner of the Adrian Ashton Prize for his Regional Bureaucracy project, sharing the prize with Catherine Hunter and Bruce Inglis for the Cobar Sound Chapel, a permanent sound art installation in Central Western NSW.

NBRS was the winner of the Best in Practice prize for its innovative organisational approach which is a direct response to the pandemic. A nine-day fortnight and location agnostic approach has been adopted by the practice and resulted in outstanding worker satisfaction and productivity.

The NSW Chapter Prizes honour and celebrate the outstanding achievements of individuals and practices across the breadth of the profession in the state’s thriving architectural community.

“Our Prizes and Honours program has honoured endeavours across the breadth of our profession and provides recognition of individual excellence in research, education, advocacy, community and social aspects for practitioners,’’ Cockburn continues.

“We are incredibly proud of the high calibre of entries again this year and the endeavours of so many architects that have contributed to improvements in the built environment.”

Other award winners include Katie Hubbard, who won the Christopher Procter Prize for her project Speak Up: Seeking Greater Representation, Opportunity And Leadership For First Nations Students As Future Practitioners Within The Design And Planning Of The Built Environment.

Please find the full list of winners below.

Best In Practice Prize

NBRS | Winner

BVN, Dunn & Hillam | Commendation

Marion Mahony Griffin Prize

Rachel Neeson

Christopher Procter Prize

Katie Hubbard

David Lindner Prize

Adam Swinburn

President's Prize

Dillon Kombumerri

Adrian Ashton Prize

Guillermo Fernández-Abascal, Catherine Hunter / Bruce Inglis | Joint Winner

Julie Power, Peter Lonergan - Commendation

Honorary Fellow

Tim Ross

Life Fellows

Ed Lippman, Leone Lorrimer, Mahalath Halperin, Philip Graus, Susan Rothwell, Tone Wheeler

Fellows

Cate Cowlishaw, Penny Collins, George El Khouri, Michael Heenan, Michael Kitmiridis

Jarrod Reedie

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