Winners of the 2014 Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) have been announced, with Kennedy Nolan taking home the night’s Overall Winner prize for its St Kilda House West project.
Incorporating Asian architectural themes within a contemporary vernacular, St Kilda House West takes inspiration from the client’s desire to have an expressive home that isn’t formulaic or symbolic. The resulting design responds with a sensibility that is never literal.
The project was also recognised as the winner of IDEA’s Residential Single category.
Photography by Derek Swalwell
The Designer of the Year award went to Woods Bagot, which was praised for its contribution of diverse exemplar projects over the past year.
Spanning across hospital, commercial and public spaces, notable projects from the practice include the Royal Randwick, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), NAB 700 Bourke Street, The Collins and Co-working Village.
Left: SAHMRI by Woods Bagot. Image: Trevor Mein
Right: Royal Randwick by Woods Bagot. Image: Shannon McGrath
“Their ability to design acumen is both resolute and of an aesthetic quality like no other,” says the event team.
The IDEA Gold Medal, which recognises practitioners who have made an enduring contribution to Australian design over the course of their career, was presented to Chris Connell (pictured below).
Director of Chris Connell Design, Connell has over 30 years’ experience within the architecture, interior design and furniture industry and, together with Raoul Hogg, founded MAP.
His iconic Pepe chair is included within the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, New York.
Other big winners of the night include Breathe Architecture, which received IDEA’s Sustainability award for The Commons, a triple bottom line development that also won the Residential Multi category. The Emerging Design Award was given to C + M Studio for their inaugural project, Manly Penthouse, which sees a curved interior room inserted within a modernist shell.
The Commons by Breathe Architecture. Image: Andrew Wuttke
Manly Penthouse by C+M Studio. Image: Caroline McCredie
Greg Natale, an interior designer and architect with his firm Greg Natale, was named the inaugural winner of the Editor’s Medal. His 2014 portfolio includes projects such as Croydon House, East Brisbane House and Tennyson Point house, as well as a range of rugs, carpets, wallpapers and furniture.
Croydon House by Greg Natale. Image: Anson Smart
All winners were selected by the 2014 judges – Miriam Fanning (Mim Design), Fiona Dunin (FMD Architects), Trent Jansen and Grant Amon (Grant Amon Architects), Jon Goulder and Mark Simpson (DesignOffice), and Inside Magazine’s editors Jan Henderson and Gillian Serisier.
Full list of winners:
Overall Winner
Kennedy Nolan – St Kilda West House
Designer of the Year
Woods Bagot
Gold Medal
Chris Connell
Editors’ Medal
Greg Natale
Emerging Designer
C+M Studio
Sustainability
Breathe Architects – The Commons
Event
Winner: NGV + Mathery – Pastello - Draw Act
Highly Commended: Fold Theory – City of Trees
Highly Commended: Justin Architecture – Fallow: Between Abandonment and Rebirth
Hospitality
Winner: DesignOffice – A. Baker
Highly Commended: Tonkin Zulaikha Greer Architects – Norton Street Cinema
Highly Commended: Pascale Gomes-McNabb Design (PGMD) – Yellow
International
Winner: BVN Donovan Hill – Regional Terminal at Christchurch Airport
Highly Commended: BVN Donovan Hill in association with Jasmax – ASB North Wharf
Highly Commended: Travis Walton Architecture – Sisterfields
Object – Furniture and Lighting
Winner: Coco Flip – Bucket Table
Highly Commended: Christopher Boots – Asterix Series
Highly Commended: Ross Gardam – Asymmetry
Public Space
Winner: Bates Smart – 171 Collins Street
Highly Commended: Luchetti Krelle – Claremont House Driveway
Highly Commended: Museum Victoria Design Studio – First Peoples Exhibition
Residential Decoration
Winner: Arent&Pyke – The Avenue
Highly Commended: Sarah Davison Interior Design – Art House
Residential Multi
Winner: Breathe Architecture – The Commons
Highly Commended: DesignOffice – Park and Raphael Display Unit
Highly Commended: Smart Design Studio and Koichi Takada Architects – One Central Park
Residential Single
Winner: Kennedy Nolan – St Kilda West House
Highly Commended: Andrew Burges Architects – Pittwater House
Highly Commended: Maddison Architects – Cabin 2
Retail
Winner: Kerstin Thompson Architects – Aesop Emporium
Highly Commended: Elenberg Fraser – Adrian Zumbo Patisserie
Highly Commended: Studio Equator – Whites Dispensary
Workplace Over 1000sqm
Winner: Architectus and Ingenhoven Architects – Sydney Commonwealth Parliament Offices
Highly Commended: CO-AP – Camperdown Childcare
Highly Commended: Intermain – WWF Australia
Workplace Under 1000sqm
Winner: Melbourne Design Studios – Birkenstock Australia HQ
Highly Commended: Alexander &Co. – Calida HQ
