A renovation project that overcame the limitations of a triangular site and heritage context to create a compact 21st century family home has won top honours at the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Design Awards. Acute House won Best in Category - Architectural Design for the challenging transformation of the problem site.
Celebrating the very best of design and innovation from Victoria, the Victorian Premier’s Design Awards provide a unique platform for Victorian designers and businesses to showcase their best work to national and international audiences. An esteemed judging panel of leading local and international design thinkers assess projects across eight award categories to select the recipients of Best in Category Awards. Additionally, an overall Premier’s Design Award of the Year is presented to a project that exemplifies excellence in design-led thinking.
According to Minister of Creative Industries Martin Foley, these awards recognise Victorian designers and architects who influence design thinking internationally. He adds that the nominated projects also reflect the diversity of design talent in Victoria.
Acute House, the winner of the Best in Category - Architectural Design award, utilised the limitations of the tiny, triangular heritage property to create a pointy ‘wedge house’. This project demonstrates the possibility of achieving quality family housing in a compact but highly liveable form within extremely constrained sites. The resulting house covers 100 per cent of the site and provides a high quality and compact 3-storey, 3-bedroom family home distributed over 145 square metres.
Premier’s Design Award Best in Category Winners:
Acute House, Best in Category Architectural Design; The 2 Litre Towel, Best in Category Communication Design; Indigenous Placemaking Strategy for Ngarara Place, Best in Category Design Strategy; ANZ Virtual Garden, Best in Category Digital Design (Joint Winner); Thankyou's Track Your Impact, Best in Category Digital Design (Joint Winner); SZN, Best in Category Fashion Design; Blackmagic Micro Camera, Best in Category Product Design; 122 Roseneath Street, Best in Category Service Design; VicHyper Pod Prototype, Best in Category Student Design.
The 2016 Victorian Premier’s Design Award of the Year, the top honour for design and innovation, went to the Oi Bike Bell designed by Victorian industrial design consultancy Catalyst Design Group. Oi: The Knog Bike Bell is a revolutionary new take on the traditional bicycle bell, and offers bike owners a beautifully designed and highly desirable object that is a delight to use.
Photography by Nic Granleese
