2019 Australian Institute of Architects’ Award Winners Revealed
Prepare to be inspired – winners of the 2019 Australian Institute of Architects' National Architecture Awards are in
Whatever you’re doing can wait. The winners of the 2019 Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Awards have just been announced, which means it’s time to pour a cuppa, put your feet up and explore the phenomenal work of some of our country’s finest architects… and perhaps even pick up a few ideas for your own renovation or build.
Jury comments: In Terrarium House, John Ellway has completely transformed a former single-bedroom timber cottage into a rich and delightful home with space for guests. A surprising spatial diversity is achieved through a series of simple but radical strategic moves.
The result of the architect’s moves is a highly sensorial interior that connects strongly to the garden. Every detail displays judicious effort and a well-pitched restraint.
While the cottage is predominantly white, a dark ceiling, concrete floor and oiled timber joinery downstairs deliberately recall the shadowy quality of the cottage’s original undercroft. Terrarium House is an impressively clever and memorable project.
Find a local architect on Houzz to help you create your dream home
The result of the architect’s moves is a highly sensorial interior that connects strongly to the garden. Every detail displays judicious effort and a well-pitched restraint.
While the cottage is predominantly white, a dark ceiling, concrete floor and oiled timber joinery downstairs deliberately recall the shadowy quality of the cottage’s original undercroft. Terrarium House is an impressively clever and memorable project.
Find a local architect on Houzz to help you create your dream home
Images by Derek Swalwell
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Joint National Award Winner: Powell Street House by Robert Simeoni Architects
Location: South Yarra, Victoria
Project description: Powell Street House occupies a compact site in the side streets of South Yarra, Victoria. The existing 1930s Art Deco-style brick duplex comprised a ground-floor and first-floor apartment, each sharing the same floor plan, and each with its own external access. Our client wished to unite and augment the two dwellings to form a cohesive single residence.
The existing house had a quiet interior and muted light, and the design was developed in response to this, with a deliberate quietness, and the creation of long diagonal views through the existing shallow floor plan.
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Joint National Award Winner: Powell Street House by Robert Simeoni Architects
Location: South Yarra, Victoria
Project description: Powell Street House occupies a compact site in the side streets of South Yarra, Victoria. The existing 1930s Art Deco-style brick duplex comprised a ground-floor and first-floor apartment, each sharing the same floor plan, and each with its own external access. Our client wished to unite and augment the two dwellings to form a cohesive single residence.
The existing house had a quiet interior and muted light, and the design was developed in response to this, with a deliberate quietness, and the creation of long diagonal views through the existing shallow floor plan.
Jury comments: Powell Street House is a seductive, enticing gem of subtle transformations and judicious respect for existing features. The project is a critical collaboration between an architecturally literate client and an architectural practice whose palette is broad yet exacting and precise.
The conjoining of two residences into one is achieved with finesse by moves that never overpower the original fabric or diminish the spatial scale of the existing structure.
A tactic of ‘lift and shift’ has enabled delicate interventions that reject the conventional belief in light for light’s sake, and focus instead on deep interiors with emerging luminosity. Being inside is rather like inhabiting a late Rothko painting, where the eyes adjust to participate in a slow reveal of dark tonalities and subdued textures. This alteration is neither minimal nor monochromatic; it is deeply considered and reflects the client’s approach to fashion, architectural effects, daily life and a much-loved cat.
The conjoining of two residences into one is achieved with finesse by moves that never overpower the original fabric or diminish the spatial scale of the existing structure.
A tactic of ‘lift and shift’ has enabled delicate interventions that reject the conventional belief in light for light’s sake, and focus instead on deep interiors with emerging luminosity. Being inside is rather like inhabiting a late Rothko painting, where the eyes adjust to participate in a slow reveal of dark tonalities and subdued textures. This alteration is neither minimal nor monochromatic; it is deeply considered and reflects the client’s approach to fashion, architectural effects, daily life and a much-loved cat.
Images by Derek Swalwell
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Joint National Award Winner: Caroline House by Kennedy Nolan
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Project description: This project is an alteration and addition to an Edwardian weatherboard house in inner-Melbourne, Victoria. The rear of the house faces south, where there is a generous garden.
We restored and reimagined the existing house and added a pavilion that is separated from the original building by an internal courtyard containing a swimming pool. This rather conventional approach is enlivened by displacing expectations of the backyard extension. This was done through a whimsical formal approach, a balanced relationship between garden and interior space, and a detailed and nuanced approach to texture, colour and pattern.
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Joint National Award Winner: Caroline House by Kennedy Nolan
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Project description: This project is an alteration and addition to an Edwardian weatherboard house in inner-Melbourne, Victoria. The rear of the house faces south, where there is a generous garden.
We restored and reimagined the existing house and added a pavilion that is separated from the original building by an internal courtyard containing a swimming pool. This rather conventional approach is enlivened by displacing expectations of the backyard extension. This was done through a whimsical formal approach, a balanced relationship between garden and interior space, and a detailed and nuanced approach to texture, colour and pattern.
Jury comments: Full of eccentricities, Caroline House is a careful proposition designed to meet the specific needs of the client’s young family. A series of courtyards introduce sunlight into the new areas of the house and act as distinct outdoor rooms, setting a pattern of unfolding light, which is extended in the palette and interior finishes.
Exterior surfaces are continued internally to articulate the open structure of the room-making. The deep green circular pool forms a hinge in the plan, activating the dappled quality of the light that is reflected back into the new living and sleeping spaces. Externally, formal references tie into the original Edwardian fabric of the house without being sentimental.
This project, at once familiar and remarkably new, has a unique appeal. The playful planning belies Kennedy Nolan’s rigorous intention. Spatial motifs are employed to evoke a sense of togetherness and the thoughtful design gathers the young family into a soft, seasonal light.
Exterior surfaces are continued internally to articulate the open structure of the room-making. The deep green circular pool forms a hinge in the plan, activating the dappled quality of the light that is reflected back into the new living and sleeping spaces. Externally, formal references tie into the original Edwardian fabric of the house without being sentimental.
This project, at once familiar and remarkably new, has a unique appeal. The playful planning belies Kennedy Nolan’s rigorous intention. Spatial motifs are employed to evoke a sense of togetherness and the thoughtful design gathers the young family into a soft, seasonal light.
Images by Derek Swalwell
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Joint National Commendation: Empire House by Austin Maynard Architects
Location: Canberra, ACT
Project description: The owners of this modest, inter-war-style bungalow wanted it to become their permanent base. They asked us for “a long-term family home that catches the sun”. The result was two added pavilions that were sympathetic to the existing post-war house, but distinctly contemporary in detail.
Empire House is an exercise in considered intervention and restraint. Two new pavilions sit comfortably against the existing house and place the inhabitants in a beautiful, established garden. The aim was to retain as much of the existing character of the site as possible.
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Joint National Commendation: Empire House by Austin Maynard Architects
Location: Canberra, ACT
Project description: The owners of this modest, inter-war-style bungalow wanted it to become their permanent base. They asked us for “a long-term family home that catches the sun”. The result was two added pavilions that were sympathetic to the existing post-war house, but distinctly contemporary in detail.
Empire House is an exercise in considered intervention and restraint. Two new pavilions sit comfortably against the existing house and place the inhabitants in a beautiful, established garden. The aim was to retain as much of the existing character of the site as possible.
Jury comments: Empire House is a deftly executed project that balances fine craft and detail with an intelligent response to the larger issues of suburban living. Initial design decisions and confident planning approaches have energised the post-war home by creating clear sightlines through a logical and curated sequence of interconnected spaces.
With the considered placement of two modestly sized pavilions, the relationship of the house to its site has been liberated and refigured, framing views and extending the interior into the garden.
Empire House creates a conversation between old and new that can be appreciated at every level.
AIA Awards: Alterations & Additions Winners
With the considered placement of two modestly sized pavilions, the relationship of the house to its site has been liberated and refigured, framing views and extending the interior into the garden.
Empire House creates a conversation between old and new that can be appreciated at every level.
AIA Awards: Alterations & Additions Winners
Images by Christopher Frederick Jones
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Joint National Commendation: Teneriffe House by Vokes and Peters
Location: Teneriffe, Queensland
Project description: Teneriffe House is a complex undertaking involving the rehabilitation, conservation and extension to a historical house built in 1909 and designed by prominent Brisbane architect AB Wilson.
The original house had suffered a substantial degree of abuse and disfiguration during its occupation as an adult mental-health hostel. Consequently, its original relationship to its setting, beauty and elegance were almost illegible.
Not protected by heritage-place listing and at threat of demolition under any other investor, the new owners (our client) recognised its inherent cultural value and their custodianship for a significant piece of city fabric.
Here, we approached the classic ‘raise and build-under (plus extension)’ with three specific strategies; composition, emptying the plan (removing built-in furniture and bathroom functions), and creating a new volume at the rear of the house to enable circulation between the three levels of the house without having to dedicate one of the original rooms to a stairway.
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Joint National Commendation: Teneriffe House by Vokes and Peters
Location: Teneriffe, Queensland
Project description: Teneriffe House is a complex undertaking involving the rehabilitation, conservation and extension to a historical house built in 1909 and designed by prominent Brisbane architect AB Wilson.
The original house had suffered a substantial degree of abuse and disfiguration during its occupation as an adult mental-health hostel. Consequently, its original relationship to its setting, beauty and elegance were almost illegible.
Not protected by heritage-place listing and at threat of demolition under any other investor, the new owners (our client) recognised its inherent cultural value and their custodianship for a significant piece of city fabric.
Here, we approached the classic ‘raise and build-under (plus extension)’ with three specific strategies; composition, emptying the plan (removing built-in furniture and bathroom functions), and creating a new volume at the rear of the house to enable circulation between the three levels of the house without having to dedicate one of the original rooms to a stairway.
Jury comments: With the original house – a 1909 Queenslander – almost lost to years of insensitive adaptation, this project tells a story of repair. Vokes and Peters emptied the plan by removing all interventions and recalibrating the structure into a variety of spaces that both honour the home’s heritage and meet the practicalities of modern life.
A concrete plinth and cloister ground the new communal family spaces and link the original interior with the garden, reclaiming the ground and the sky.
A work of rich composition, Teneriffe House bespeaks a mature narrative of domesticity and city-making.
State Winners of the Australian Institute of Architecture Awards
A concrete plinth and cloister ground the new communal family spaces and link the original interior with the garden, reclaiming the ground and the sky.
A work of rich composition, Teneriffe House bespeaks a mature narrative of domesticity and city-making.
State Winners of the Australian Institute of Architecture Awards
Images by Brett Boardman
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Joint National Commendation: Five Gardens House by David Boyle Architect
Location: Middle Harbour, NSW
Project description: Perched on a headland in Middle Harbour between The Knoll, a bush outcrop, and a spectacular eucalypt within the backyard, Five Gardens House establishes landscape as a form and spatial generator for the alterations to a 1950s suburban modernist house.
Arched ceilings float above a projecting concrete entry roof as if the volume of the rock outcrops in the adjacent bushland have permeated into the building form. Horizontal projections, supported on branch-like steel posts, over three levels reach out into the landscape and wrap around the eucalypt in the rear yard.
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Joint National Commendation: Five Gardens House by David Boyle Architect
Location: Middle Harbour, NSW
Project description: Perched on a headland in Middle Harbour between The Knoll, a bush outcrop, and a spectacular eucalypt within the backyard, Five Gardens House establishes landscape as a form and spatial generator for the alterations to a 1950s suburban modernist house.
Arched ceilings float above a projecting concrete entry roof as if the volume of the rock outcrops in the adjacent bushland have permeated into the building form. Horizontal projections, supported on branch-like steel posts, over three levels reach out into the landscape and wrap around the eucalypt in the rear yard.
Jury comments: This delightful and whimsical project effortlessly stitches a new and vibrant addition to a modest 1950s house to take full advantage of its setting. David Boyle Architect’s reinterpretation of the typical post-war house plan, and skilful blending of spaces, has created a contemporary family home rich in possibility and habitable opportunity.
The delicately woven collection of spaces has been formed through an expertly handled manipulation of volume. The section creates a complex interplay of light that shifts throughout the day to maintain a warm interior. The architecture frames views into unique landscape settings, including five different gardens, initiating generous connections between inside and out.
The delicately woven collection of spaces has been formed through an expertly handled manipulation of volume. The section creates a complex interplay of light that shifts throughout the day to maintain a warm interior. The architecture frames views into unique landscape settings, including five different gardens, initiating generous connections between inside and out.
Images by Rory Gardiner
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Winner of the Robin Boyd Award: Daylesford Longhouse by Partners Hill
Location: Daylesford, Victoria
Project description: Rather than placing an architectural object in the landscape, Daylesford Longhouse produces a modifying void that encourages landscapes and buildings within it. Most of the site is undisturbed since only a portion of it has been sequestered.
It is a useful piece of research; a paradigm that can be used again and again. As a research project, it emphasises how much capacity is needed to have a few people independently survive with some animals, enough water and year-round harvesting.
The context is intimidatingly massive. The building opts to participate in this scale rather than contribute as a diminutive fragment. The resulting scenario allows the occupant to be ‘in the landscape’ much more than one would be otherwise; the original place is blustery, subject to radical temperatures, hosts many hungry animals, and is reliant on consistent watering to reveal its fertility.
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Winner of the Robin Boyd Award: Daylesford Longhouse by Partners Hill
Location: Daylesford, Victoria
Project description: Rather than placing an architectural object in the landscape, Daylesford Longhouse produces a modifying void that encourages landscapes and buildings within it. Most of the site is undisturbed since only a portion of it has been sequestered.
It is a useful piece of research; a paradigm that can be used again and again. As a research project, it emphasises how much capacity is needed to have a few people independently survive with some animals, enough water and year-round harvesting.
The context is intimidatingly massive. The building opts to participate in this scale rather than contribute as a diminutive fragment. The resulting scenario allows the occupant to be ‘in the landscape’ much more than one would be otherwise; the original place is blustery, subject to radical temperatures, hosts many hungry animals, and is reliant on consistent watering to reveal its fertility.
Jury comments: Daylesford Longhouse is utterly extraordinary. Situated in rural Victoria, the house aims to nourish and sustain. The strategic starting point was a roof large enough to collect water to support a small number of people, some animals, and a produce garden on a remote and exposed site. The core activity to be sustained by the architecture was food production, preparation and sharing.
Akin to a long shed or conservatory, the structure includes an operational barn at one end and an intimate residence at the other.
Inside, alongside the flourishing plant life, is a surprising richness of refined architectural detail – raw timber, terracotta and white-glazed brick, all composed harmoniously in a magical and constantly changing light. One is drawn from places nestled in the garden to places of survey in the canopy, in what is a deeply memorable experience of a house.
Akin to a long shed or conservatory, the structure includes an operational barn at one end and an intimate residence at the other.
Inside, alongside the flourishing plant life, is a surprising richness of refined architectural detail – raw timber, terracotta and white-glazed brick, all composed harmoniously in a magical and constantly changing light. One is drawn from places nestled in the garden to places of survey in the canopy, in what is a deeply memorable experience of a house.
Images by Earl Carter
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Joint Winner of the National Award: House in the Hills by Sean Godsell Architects
Location: Barrabool, Victoria
Project description: The site was excised from a working sheep farm. It consists of 25 hectares of cleared and underworked paddocks. It slopes from its mid-length highpoint to the north and south – both slopes having spectacular views.
An established wind break of cyprus pines flanks the western boundary and provides a degree of protection from the prevailing south-westerly winds that pummel the southern slope, making it a less-desirable location for a new house. In this part of Australia the southerly winds are cold. In fact the wind fundamentally dictated the design of this building.
The north-facing living pavilion and adjacent courtyard are protected in part by the reshaped landscape immediately to their south, and in part by a 30 x 30-metre operable louvred parasol that hovers over both the pavilion and courtyard. The parasol protects the house, offering both shelter from and deflection of the prevailing wind, as well as varying degrees of shade and direct sunlight.
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Joint Winner of the National Award: House in the Hills by Sean Godsell Architects
Location: Barrabool, Victoria
Project description: The site was excised from a working sheep farm. It consists of 25 hectares of cleared and underworked paddocks. It slopes from its mid-length highpoint to the north and south – both slopes having spectacular views.
An established wind break of cyprus pines flanks the western boundary and provides a degree of protection from the prevailing south-westerly winds that pummel the southern slope, making it a less-desirable location for a new house. In this part of Australia the southerly winds are cold. In fact the wind fundamentally dictated the design of this building.
The north-facing living pavilion and adjacent courtyard are protected in part by the reshaped landscape immediately to their south, and in part by a 30 x 30-metre operable louvred parasol that hovers over both the pavilion and courtyard. The parasol protects the house, offering both shelter from and deflection of the prevailing wind, as well as varying degrees of shade and direct sunlight.
Jury comments: House in the Hills initially presents as an abstract intervention in the rural Victorian landscape, challenging our perception of rural domesticity. A hovering parasol, inspired by steel-framed hay sheds, performs as place-maker, defining the habitation precinct within the rolling 25-hectare site.
Beneath this parasol, a new landscape is established, with two pavilions and the reshaped ground plane surrounding an inner courtyard. Above, the parasol’s operable louvres permit varying degrees of light and shade.
In contrast to the unashamedly rigorous metallic exterior, the house’s plywood interior is warm and inviting. Inside, the vast landscape views and broad extent of the parasol enlarge the perception of the modestly scaled rooms.
House on the Hills’ evocative silhouette is precise and immaculately detailed. This is an ambitious family home on a beautiful yet unrelenting site.
World Architecture Festival: Antipodean Houses Lead the Charge
Beneath this parasol, a new landscape is established, with two pavilions and the reshaped ground plane surrounding an inner courtyard. Above, the parasol’s operable louvres permit varying degrees of light and shade.
In contrast to the unashamedly rigorous metallic exterior, the house’s plywood interior is warm and inviting. Inside, the vast landscape views and broad extent of the parasol enlarge the perception of the modestly scaled rooms.
House on the Hills’ evocative silhouette is precise and immaculately detailed. This is an ambitious family home on a beautiful yet unrelenting site.
World Architecture Festival: Antipodean Houses Lead the Charge
Images by Givlio Aristide
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Joint Winner of the National Award: Cloister House by MORQ
Location: Perth, WA
Project description: A couple looking towards retirement came to us in search of a house where they could feel a sense of refuge. Their new home was to be intimate, meditative and softly lit.
The site posed many constraints to achieving this sense of sanctuary and repose: a small subdivided lot fronting a high-traffic road, encompassed by an unremarkable built context with no vegetation.
Our response to the brief and the site’s limitations is manifested through a singular design intent: the house is conceived as a solid enclosure developed around a central ordering void. The daily life of the couple would unfold around the vegetated courtyard.
The name, Cloister House, is not so much a typological reference but instead a reference to the creation of an inward and protected world.
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Joint Winner of the National Award: Cloister House by MORQ
Location: Perth, WA
Project description: A couple looking towards retirement came to us in search of a house where they could feel a sense of refuge. Their new home was to be intimate, meditative and softly lit.
The site posed many constraints to achieving this sense of sanctuary and repose: a small subdivided lot fronting a high-traffic road, encompassed by an unremarkable built context with no vegetation.
Our response to the brief and the site’s limitations is manifested through a singular design intent: the house is conceived as a solid enclosure developed around a central ordering void. The daily life of the couple would unfold around the vegetated courtyard.
The name, Cloister House, is not so much a typological reference but instead a reference to the creation of an inward and protected world.
Jury comments: The experience of this house lingers in the mind. Situated on a bustling and unremarkable arterial road in suburban Perth, WA, the strength of its exterior belies a quality of neighbourliness. There are no fences and the pervious paving and garden is shared with the street.
The house is zoned to accommodate compact living but readily expands for guests and family. The interiors are enveloping and harbouring.
Externally, a series of deep rammed-concrete surfaces softly redirect natural light into the depth of the plan, reducing glare and focusing the interior towards the verdant green of the courtyard.
The quality of the house stems from the deliberate and accomplished pursuit of a subtle monolithic materiality. Atmospherically, it recalls the traditional Moroccan riad and is similarly attuned to its locality, where the sun can be harsh. The resolution and economy of detail and unadorned surface is rigorous and poetic, creating a quality of complete embodiment and immersion.
The house is zoned to accommodate compact living but readily expands for guests and family. The interiors are enveloping and harbouring.
Externally, a series of deep rammed-concrete surfaces softly redirect natural light into the depth of the plan, reducing glare and focusing the interior towards the verdant green of the courtyard.
The quality of the house stems from the deliberate and accomplished pursuit of a subtle monolithic materiality. Atmospherically, it recalls the traditional Moroccan riad and is similarly attuned to its locality, where the sun can be harsh. The resolution and economy of detail and unadorned surface is rigorous and poetic, creating a quality of complete embodiment and immersion.
Images by Ben Hosking
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
People’s Choice Award and Joint Winner of the National Award: Hawthorn House by Edition Office
Location: Hawthorn, Victoria
Project description: Our primary design response here was to first recalibrate the entire project site into a large and singular terrace, one grand outdoor theatre for living that peels upwards at each title boundary to form a lush garden backdrop that would appear at every viewpoint from the living areas of the home. Within this garden platform, the house is defined by a pair of textured concrete shrouds, each with its own proportion and personality, linked together by a walkway and courtyard garden.
The ground-floor living and lounge spaces in each pavilion are distinct from one another, yet they connect across the central north-facing garden and courtyard. In contrast, the more private first-floor sleeping spaces exist as their own elevated islands.
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
People’s Choice Award and Joint Winner of the National Award: Hawthorn House by Edition Office
Location: Hawthorn, Victoria
Project description: Our primary design response here was to first recalibrate the entire project site into a large and singular terrace, one grand outdoor theatre for living that peels upwards at each title boundary to form a lush garden backdrop that would appear at every viewpoint from the living areas of the home. Within this garden platform, the house is defined by a pair of textured concrete shrouds, each with its own proportion and personality, linked together by a walkway and courtyard garden.
The ground-floor living and lounge spaces in each pavilion are distinct from one another, yet they connect across the central north-facing garden and courtyard. In contrast, the more private first-floor sleeping spaces exist as their own elevated islands.
Jury comments: Hawthorn House is a provocative spatial diagram transformed into a powerful experience of refined details and a restrained but luxurious palette of wood, curved glass and concrete.
The ground floor is a panorama at once open and blinkered. The controlled palette of materials expands only slightly as one moves from the ground-floor living, dining and kitchen areas to the upper-level bedrooms, where the two cubic masses differentiate the children’s and adults’ domains. Walled gardens visually release the internalised upper levels skywards.
World Architecture Festival: Aussie and NZ Homes in the Finals
The ground floor is a panorama at once open and blinkered. The controlled palette of materials expands only slightly as one moves from the ground-floor living, dining and kitchen areas to the upper-level bedrooms, where the two cubic masses differentiate the children’s and adults’ domains. Walled gardens visually release the internalised upper levels skywards.
World Architecture Festival: Aussie and NZ Homes in the Finals
Images by Peter Bennetts
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
National Commendation: North Melbourne House by NMBW Architecture Studio
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Project description: The owners of this site also own the adjacent block containing a 19th-century double-fronted cottage, making an L-shaped double property. Together, the two dwellings – one old and one new – are conceived as a share-house for ageing-in.
Two kitchens are separated by small courtyards, allowing for either two independent households to share open spaces or four smaller sub-households to live semi-independently with use of the double site.
The new house explores an unfamiliar typology for the area. Four large flexible rooms (three internal and one garage/laundry) surround a vertically stacked service core. These rooms respond to the fall of the site with varying slab levels and can be configured in a variety of different ways.
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
National Commendation: North Melbourne House by NMBW Architecture Studio
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Project description: The owners of this site also own the adjacent block containing a 19th-century double-fronted cottage, making an L-shaped double property. Together, the two dwellings – one old and one new – are conceived as a share-house for ageing-in.
Two kitchens are separated by small courtyards, allowing for either two independent households to share open spaces or four smaller sub-households to live semi-independently with use of the double site.
The new house explores an unfamiliar typology for the area. Four large flexible rooms (three internal and one garage/laundry) surround a vertically stacked service core. These rooms respond to the fall of the site with varying slab levels and can be configured in a variety of different ways.
Jury comments: North Melbourne House is a project that speaks to the future and, more specifically, to the important issue of ageing in place. Its social program drives a spatial inventiveness that is truly adaptable, allowing for multiple unprescribed modes of occupation.
The architecture invites nesting. Considered detailing relies on neither material richness nor asceticism but is a sophisticated accumulation of the prosaic. Representing a clever assembly on the site and within its urban context, this house is modest and fundamentally sustainable.
Your turn
Which of these homes do you love the most? Tell us in the Comments, like this story, save the images and join the conversation.
More
Are you up-to-date with other recent design awards? Catch up here with The Design-Led Residences That Won Home of the Year Awards
The architecture invites nesting. Considered detailing relies on neither material richness nor asceticism but is a sophisticated accumulation of the prosaic. Representing a clever assembly on the site and within its urban context, this house is modest and fundamentally sustainable.
Your turn
Which of these homes do you love the most? Tell us in the Comments, like this story, save the images and join the conversation.
More
Are you up-to-date with other recent design awards? Catch up here with The Design-Led Residences That Won Home of the Year Awards
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Winner of the Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award: Terrarium House by John Ellway
Location: Highgate Hill, Queensland
Project description: Faced with a small site and a cottage needing extensive repair, the budget only allowed a small increase in footprint. Planning was key to ensuring that every space in the house enabled multiple uses, borrowing from each other: from vanities opening onto circulation, capturing views of neighbouring backyards; a laundry that serves as an extension of the kitchen; and a living space that is detailed to feel like a covered patio when the doors open up.