Architecture
And the Winning Architects Are ...
The winners of the 2014 National Architecture Awards have just been announced – the judges reveal why these homes are such standouts
The winners of the prestigious National Architecture Awards have been announced today by the Australian Institute of Architects. The annual event recognises outstanding work and innovation in projects of various budgets and scales across the country. We’ve focused on the residential award winners – for the first time divided into two categories: Alterations and Additions, and New Houses.
“In both segments, there were exceptional projects that often stemmed from limited means, demonstrating what is possible within tight constraints,” says jury chair Paul Berkemeier, principal of Paul Berkemeier Architect. Other jurors included Clare Cousins of Clare Cousins Architects, Justin Hill of Kerry Hill Architects, and Virginia Kerridge of Virginia Kerridge Architect.
Judging began with a detailed appraisal of the 152 projects that had received 178 state, territory and international awards. “We scrutinised plans, photographs and written material before having detailed discussions with each of the state, territory and international jury chairs,” says Berkemeier. From this process the jurors identified the 56 projects (74 entries across the categories) that they would visit.
The two-week tour took them to every state and territory, both to capital cities and to regional areas. “As we travelled, we enjoyed robust discussions about the merits of each project – in the end reaching a unanimous decision to give 11 named awards, 23 architecture awards and nine commendations,” adds Berkemeier.
Let’s find out what the judges thought of each winning project, in their own words.
“In both segments, there were exceptional projects that often stemmed from limited means, demonstrating what is possible within tight constraints,” says jury chair Paul Berkemeier, principal of Paul Berkemeier Architect. Other jurors included Clare Cousins of Clare Cousins Architects, Justin Hill of Kerry Hill Architects, and Virginia Kerridge of Virginia Kerridge Architect.
Judging began with a detailed appraisal of the 152 projects that had received 178 state, territory and international awards. “We scrutinised plans, photographs and written material before having detailed discussions with each of the state, territory and international jury chairs,” says Berkemeier. From this process the jurors identified the 56 projects (74 entries across the categories) that they would visit.
The two-week tour took them to every state and territory, both to capital cities and to regional areas. “As we travelled, we enjoyed robust discussions about the merits of each project – in the end reaching a unanimous decision to give 11 named awards, 23 architecture awards and nine commendations,” adds Berkemeier.
Let’s find out what the judges thought of each winning project, in their own words.
The clients required an outdoor room, a new bathroom and greater privacy from the neighbouring house. The architect’s interpretation of this brief has resulted in enjoyable, flexible spaces that can be opened or closed up as desired. This flexibility means the spaces can have quite different personalities, depending on the nature of the day or the inclination of the client.
The bathroom is a long sliver of space on the southern boundary [on the right] that not only frames the view to the garden but also becomes a barrier to the neighbouring house, delivering the requisite privacy. The path to the garden provides access and also transforms into a terrace. This is a threshold between garden and house – a space that invites occupation.
The outdoor room has a sunken bay window overlooking the garden and a built-in seat along the side wall. The room is wrapped in shutters and glazed panels that can be opened or closed in response to the weather.
The outdoor room has a sunken bay window overlooking the garden and a built-in seat along the side wall. The room is wrapped in shutters and glazed panels that can be opened or closed in response to the weather.
This is a design that allows the user to control the level of thermal comfort. Part of the success of this design is the degree of flexibility that the occupier is offered to control the qualities of the space and its relationship to the outside.
The modest but sensitive palette of materials enhances the sense of space inside and outside, and the whole project has a feeling of effortlessness and inevitability.
Learn more about this house
Learn more about this house
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
WINNER: West End Tower – Owen and Vokes and Peters (Queensland)
West End Tower is a project that celebrates the use of the verandah in vernacular Queensland architecture. Here it has been reinstated and reinvigorated as an open-circulation space that wraps around the internal rooms and enlivens the whole house.
WINNER: West End Tower – Owen and Vokes and Peters (Queensland)
West End Tower is a project that celebrates the use of the verandah in vernacular Queensland architecture. Here it has been reinstated and reinvigorated as an open-circulation space that wraps around the internal rooms and enlivens the whole house.
The design explores the use of thresholds as spaces to use and linger. In one part of the verandah space, a window seat pops out to frame a view of the garden. In another part the kitchen occupies the whole space, while still allowing access around the building.
The material palette is simple: horizontal weatherboards are painted white and screens act as a homage to Queensland vernacular architecture, but the whole composition is put together in such a way as to appear effortless, and sits happily on the site. The garden is a dominant element such that even when inside, you are always aware of the outside.
The addition at West End Tower is an appropriate and evocative response that draws on the traditions of the Queensland house.
Explore the interior
The material palette is simple: horizontal weatherboards are painted white and screens act as a homage to Queensland vernacular architecture, but the whole composition is put together in such a way as to appear effortless, and sits happily on the site. The garden is a dominant element such that even when inside, you are always aware of the outside.
The addition at West End Tower is an appropriate and evocative response that draws on the traditions of the Queensland house.
Explore the interior
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
WINNER: Strohmayr House by Troppo (Northern Territory)
Strohmayr House is a renovation of a much-loved elevated home built in pre-cyclone Darwin. At the centre of the design is a large outdoor living space surrounding a pool – the focal point of the garden. The existing house remains a dominant element and the three new buildings borrow their formal language from both the porosity of this building and its connection with the outside space. The children’s bedrooms and the living space are still housed within the original building.
Together, an open kitchen and large covered verandah form a separate building element facing north and west. On the opposite side is a third building housing the master bedroom and, below it, the guest room. Connections between the buildings are open and casual, enhancing the sense of porosity, and you immediately feel relaxed upon entering the compound.
This is a house in which the spaces outside are as much a part of the architecture as those inside. The outside areas are dramatic, generous and welcoming. The large overhangs and deep outdoor zones respond to the tropics in a sensible way, but more
than this they are welcoming and protective, lending the residence an uplifting flamboyance.
See more of this house
WINNER: Strohmayr House by Troppo (Northern Territory)
Strohmayr House is a renovation of a much-loved elevated home built in pre-cyclone Darwin. At the centre of the design is a large outdoor living space surrounding a pool – the focal point of the garden. The existing house remains a dominant element and the three new buildings borrow their formal language from both the porosity of this building and its connection with the outside space. The children’s bedrooms and the living space are still housed within the original building.
Together, an open kitchen and large covered verandah form a separate building element facing north and west. On the opposite side is a third building housing the master bedroom and, below it, the guest room. Connections between the buildings are open and casual, enhancing the sense of porosity, and you immediately feel relaxed upon entering the compound.
This is a house in which the spaces outside are as much a part of the architecture as those inside. The outside areas are dramatic, generous and welcoming. The large overhangs and deep outdoor zones respond to the tropics in a sensible way, but more
than this they are welcoming and protective, lending the residence an uplifting flamboyance.
See more of this house
The Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
WINNER: House at Hanging Rock by Kerstin Thompson Architects (Victoria)
Located on a picturesque rural site, House at Hanging Rock nestles into the steep slope with a view to its namesake.
The house is divided into three parallel terraces, each in step with the landscape. Raw insulated precast concrete walls define the terraces and draw the eye through the house to the old growth forest to the east. Narrow timber shutters within the walls artfully connect the prefabricated panels and allow for cross ventilation and views to the valley.
An elegant, sloping rhomboid roof covers the whole building, uniting the terraces, providing generous covered outdoor areas and further blurring the line between house and landscape. The sloped building form appears vastly different looking up from the
valley compared with approaching from the side.
WINNER: House at Hanging Rock by Kerstin Thompson Architects (Victoria)
Located on a picturesque rural site, House at Hanging Rock nestles into the steep slope with a view to its namesake.
The house is divided into three parallel terraces, each in step with the landscape. Raw insulated precast concrete walls define the terraces and draw the eye through the house to the old growth forest to the east. Narrow timber shutters within the walls artfully connect the prefabricated panels and allow for cross ventilation and views to the valley.
An elegant, sloping rhomboid roof covers the whole building, uniting the terraces, providing generous covered outdoor areas and further blurring the line between house and landscape. The sloped building form appears vastly different looking up from the
valley compared with approaching from the side.
The widest of the three terraces houses the central living zone and overlaps with the outer two terraces, creating a series of interconnected living spaces that are experienced as one larger space. Changes in floor height are exploited as thoughtful, informal seating moments and display areas for the client’s extensive art collection.
Dedicated circulation space is limited to the compressed entry foyer, heightening the sense of delight when entering the living space. Elsewhere, passage is from room to room, further enhancing the spatial efficiency of the plan.
Dedicated circulation space is limited to the compressed entry foyer, heightening the sense of delight when entering the living space. Elsewhere, passage is from room to room, further enhancing the spatial efficiency of the plan.
Stringent bushfire requirements are seamlessly integrated and inform the brutalist approach to material selection. The restrained interior material palette of concrete, armourply and formply is meticulously detailed yet remains humble and appropriate to the rural setting.
This is an intimate house with a sheltering interior in which you can linger and enjoy the distant view of Hanging Rock.
See more of this house
This is an intimate house with a sheltering interior in which you can linger and enjoy the distant view of Hanging Rock.
See more of this house
National Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
WINNER: Oxlade Drive House by James Russell Architect (Queensland)
Located on a quiet residential street in Brisbane, the unassuming Oxlade Drive House sits well among the heritage pitched-formed roofs and screened verandahs of its neighbours.
This highly ambitious project achieves much with a modest budget only slightly higher than that originally proposed by the client. Configured as a trio of two-storey pavilions separated by landscape, the house and its courtyards are elevated in response to the risk of flooding from the Brisbane River both now and into the future.
Arriving at the elevated entry, the exposure of the main corridor running along the whole length of the west side becomes apparent. To one side, transparent black shadecloth contains the space in lieu of a wall. The shadecloth, commonly used in fruit growing, continues to envelop the house and connect the three pavilions, linking them as a single volume.
The shade cloth skin provides sun shading and a protective barrier against insects while permitting breezes to pass through the house. The skin provides a sense of intimacy within the courtyard, even though there is clear visibility between the house, its neighbours and their landscapes. Simply detailed, the shadecloth will eventually disappear from view when the vertical creeper connects to form an arbour.
Oxlade Drive House is a great prototype for the suburban typology. The skilful plan provides a growing family with both connected spaces and a sense of independence. The inventive application of the shadecloth skin provides an intelligent and sustainable response to living in the subtropics.
WINNER: Oxlade Drive House by James Russell Architect (Queensland)
Located on a quiet residential street in Brisbane, the unassuming Oxlade Drive House sits well among the heritage pitched-formed roofs and screened verandahs of its neighbours.
This highly ambitious project achieves much with a modest budget only slightly higher than that originally proposed by the client. Configured as a trio of two-storey pavilions separated by landscape, the house and its courtyards are elevated in response to the risk of flooding from the Brisbane River both now and into the future.
Arriving at the elevated entry, the exposure of the main corridor running along the whole length of the west side becomes apparent. To one side, transparent black shadecloth contains the space in lieu of a wall. The shadecloth, commonly used in fruit growing, continues to envelop the house and connect the three pavilions, linking them as a single volume.
The shade cloth skin provides sun shading and a protective barrier against insects while permitting breezes to pass through the house. The skin provides a sense of intimacy within the courtyard, even though there is clear visibility between the house, its neighbours and their landscapes. Simply detailed, the shadecloth will eventually disappear from view when the vertical creeper connects to form an arbour.
Oxlade Drive House is a great prototype for the suburban typology. The skilful plan provides a growing family with both connected spaces and a sense of independence. The inventive application of the shadecloth skin provides an intelligent and sustainable response to living in the subtropics.
Internally, and typical of James Russell Architect’s work, amenities and services are efficiently arranged in narrow linear collections of small spaces, minimising circulation and maximising the size of the principal rooms. Adaptive children’s bedrooms open up to one another to encourage play and interaction but can be separated by sliding doors.
Oxlade Drive House has also won the People’s Choice Award. More than 4000 people voted for their favourite house of the 13 short listed in the National Awards’ Residential Architecture categories.
Take a look around this house
Oxlade Drive House has also won the People’s Choice Award. More than 4000 people voted for their favourite house of the 13 short listed in the National Awards’ Residential Architecture categories.
Take a look around this house
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
WINNER: Hover House by Bower Architecture (Victoria)
Located on a battleaxe block in the Victorian coastal town of Mount Martha, Hover House is conceived as a simple pitched-roof form organised around a central courtyard.
Detached from its neighbours on all sides, the house is clad in a modest, dark timber cloak. A permanent home for its two occupants, the house is entered via a screened gallery space along the north, where the roof line is set low to allow sun to penetrate the courtyard and living spaces. The interior is divided into living, guest and main bedroom wings joined by the cantilevered terrace that ‘hovers’ to connect them. All rooms benefit from natural ventilation and views to the gardens around the site periphery, in particular the main bedroom and study, which look out to an eastern garden that is delightfully eclectic, in stark contrast to the minimalist garden at the site’s core.
Hover House is an intelligent case study for the suburban block, easily replicable and constructed with a modest budget. The simple roof form diagram is dynamic yet cost-
effective, requiring little steel to erect. Materials are used selectively and where it counts: rich blackbutt timbers in the courtyard and interiors contrast with humble painted fibre cement sheeting externally in places where it is less visible. This is a high-amenity, cost-
effective house that has been skilfully designed for everyday life.
Step inside this house
WINNER: Hover House by Bower Architecture (Victoria)
Located on a battleaxe block in the Victorian coastal town of Mount Martha, Hover House is conceived as a simple pitched-roof form organised around a central courtyard.
Detached from its neighbours on all sides, the house is clad in a modest, dark timber cloak. A permanent home for its two occupants, the house is entered via a screened gallery space along the north, where the roof line is set low to allow sun to penetrate the courtyard and living spaces. The interior is divided into living, guest and main bedroom wings joined by the cantilevered terrace that ‘hovers’ to connect them. All rooms benefit from natural ventilation and views to the gardens around the site periphery, in particular the main bedroom and study, which look out to an eastern garden that is delightfully eclectic, in stark contrast to the minimalist garden at the site’s core.
Hover House is an intelligent case study for the suburban block, easily replicable and constructed with a modest budget. The simple roof form diagram is dynamic yet cost-
effective, requiring little steel to erect. Materials are used selectively and where it counts: rich blackbutt timbers in the courtyard and interiors contrast with humble painted fibre cement sheeting externally in places where it is less visible. This is a high-amenity, cost-
effective house that has been skilfully designed for everyday life.
Step inside this house
National Commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
WINNER: Southern Outlet House by Philip M Dingemanse Architecture + Design (Tasmania)
Perched high on a steep block, the Southern Outlet House borrows its name from the Launceston arterial road below and offers a bold statement to passers-by travelling at speed, as well as to those living on the hill opposite.
In this project, the architect questions the role of the house in the public domain. Rather than recede, this house is vocal like a billboard or a piece of public art.
This is a resourceful house built with the architect’s own hands for his young family, with the assistance of family and friends. Material selection and detail have been dictated by the skill level of the labour. The external cladding on the highway side uses colour-
blocked panelling arranged in dynamic patterns in a nod to the ‘dazzle’ of Navy ships – a camouflage technique used to adjust scale and add dimension to an otherwise flat facade. This visual effect also acknowledges passengers in vehicles travelling at speed.
Internally, a playful material palette celebrates colour and texture. The split levels create a delightful children’s bedroom zone below with the main bedroom above. A high ceiling in the living space permits a sunken lounge to nestle under an elevated study, thereby maximising the house’s tight footprint and budget.
This modest house is a reflection of the adventurous architect/builder/client. Rich in exploration, Southern Outlet House challenges expectations of what can be achieved on a highly visible, regional domestic site.
Step inside this house
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WINNER: Southern Outlet House by Philip M Dingemanse Architecture + Design (Tasmania)
Perched high on a steep block, the Southern Outlet House borrows its name from the Launceston arterial road below and offers a bold statement to passers-by travelling at speed, as well as to those living on the hill opposite.
In this project, the architect questions the role of the house in the public domain. Rather than recede, this house is vocal like a billboard or a piece of public art.
This is a resourceful house built with the architect’s own hands for his young family, with the assistance of family and friends. Material selection and detail have been dictated by the skill level of the labour. The external cladding on the highway side uses colour-
blocked panelling arranged in dynamic patterns in a nod to the ‘dazzle’ of Navy ships – a camouflage technique used to adjust scale and add dimension to an otherwise flat facade. This visual effect also acknowledges passengers in vehicles travelling at speed.
Internally, a playful material palette celebrates colour and texture. The split levels create a delightful children’s bedroom zone below with the main bedroom above. A high ceiling in the living space permits a sunken lounge to nestle under an elevated study, thereby maximising the house’s tight footprint and budget.
This modest house is a reflection of the adventurous architect/builder/client. Rich in exploration, Southern Outlet House challenges expectations of what can be achieved on a highly visible, regional domestic site.
Step inside this house
MORE
Beat the Heat With Architectural Sunscreen
How to Find the Right Architect For You
Iconic Homes That Showcase Modern Architecture
WINNER: Bellevue Terrace Alterations + Additions by Philip Stejskal Architecture (Western Australia)
This delightful project involved alterations and new work to a modest duplex cottage in Fremantle, WA. The intervention has transformed the lives of its occupants through clever manipulation of space, inventive detail and thoughtful use of materials.