A Box Hill South house with a brick pyramid roof and central courtyard that turns the home into a sundial has been crowned Australia’s best architectural residence home for 2024.
The unusual residence received the top prize for a residential house at the Australian Institute of Architects’ National Awards as Victorian buildings scooped up 13 awards in total, one in every three awards on offer.
AIA awards national jury chair Stuart Tanner said it was an “extraordinary” result for the state.
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The Edition Office design, dubbed Naples Street House, was named the nation’s best new home in the awards, and was built with a masonry roof in an unusual pyramid shape. It was also designed around a central courtyard that Mr Tanner turned into a sundial throughout the day.
An Anglesea home built out of torn clay bricks as a beach home for Wardle Studio boss Rob Wardle also won a gong in the new residential housing category, as Victorian entries squeezed out contenders from every other state or territory.
Mr Tanner also lauded the success of South Melbourne’s Ferrars and York building, which turned a disused patch of dirt between a main road and the suburb’s light rail into the kind of urban housing the city now needed to embrace.
“Higher density is a contentious issue in Melbourne at the moment, but I do feel that being receptive to projects like this that are designed right is the absolute go,” Mr Tanner said.
“Otherwise it would have been an empty site on the edge of a railway that people would just drive past.”
The six-storey project earned Six Degrees Architects the nation’s highest accolade for a multi-residential building — and despite it’s busy location — had used clever architectural design and materials to make the residences silent within.
Geelong’s Arts Centre by ARM Architecture won a national award for interior architecture, an urban office complex dubbed T3 Collingwood earned Jackson Clement Burrows the nation’s top prize for commercial architecture and Clifton Hill Primary School won an award in the education category.
Mr Tanner said while Victoria’s population ensured it regularly vied with NSW for the state with the most award winners, this year’s results had been “extraordinary”.
“It points to the fact that there is a very, very strong school of design in Melbourne,” Mr Tanner said.
“It is one of the most liveable cities and it’s worth taking note of any city or region that is investing in or supporting good design.”
Victorian Award Winners
Commercial Architecture
– The Harry Seidler Award for Commercial Architecture
T3 Collingwood | Jackson Clements Burrows Architects | VIC | Wurundjeri Country
– National Award for Commercial Architecture
Sanders Place | NMBW, Openwork & Finding Infinity | VIC | Wurundjeri Country
Educational Architecture
– National Award for Educational Architecture
Clifton Hill Primary School | Jackson Clements Burrows Architects | VIC | Wurundjeri Country
Interior Architecture
– The Emil Sodersten Award for Interior Architecture
Burnt Earth Beach House | Wardle | VIC | Eastern Maar and Wadawurrung Country
– National Award for Interior Architecture
Geelong Arts Centre (Stage 3) | ARM Architecture | VIC | Wadawurrung Country
Public Architecture
– National Award for Public Architecture
Berninneit Cultural and Community Centre | Jackson Clements Burrows Architects | VIC | Bunurong Country
Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations & Additions)
– National Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
Mansard House | Studio Bright | VIC | Wurundjeri Country
Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
– The Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Naples Street House | Edition Office | VIC | Wurundjeri Country
– National Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
Burnt Earth Beach House | Wardle | VIC | Eastern Maar and Wadawurrung Country
– National Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
– Six Ways House | Kennedy Nolan | VIC | Wurundjeri Country
Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing
– The Frederick Romberg Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing
Ferrars & York | Six Degrees Architects | VIC | Wurundjeri Country
Sustainable Architecture
– National Award for Sustainable Architecture
Powerhouse Place | Public Realm Lab | VIC | Millewa-Mallee Country
Urban Design
– National Award for Urban Design
Powerhouse Place | Public Realm Lab | VIC | Millewa-Mallee Country
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