2016 National Architecture Awards: Residential Architecture - Houses (Alterations & Additions) winners

A simple rear-of-house extension in Tasmania has beaten a number of larger scale home renovations from the states further north to win the title of Australia’s best architect-designed renovation project for 2016

Jenny's House in Tasmania by Rosevear Stephenson architect, pipped a NSW rooftop addition by CO-AP Architects and the widely publicised Mills, The Toy Management House in Melbourne by Austin Maynard Architects to receive the Residenial Architecture—Housing (Alterations & Additions) at the 2016 National Architecture Awards.

Rosevear Stephenson was awarded the prize at the 2016 National Architecture Awards ceremony held in Sydney on 3 November.

View the full list of winning projects from the 2016 National Architecture Awards here.

Read the full jury citation for Jenny’s House (TAS) by Rosevear Stephenson and see the other awarded projects in the Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations & Additions) category below:

The Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award for Residential Architecture - Houses (Alterations & Additions) - Jenny's House (TAS) by Rosevear Stephenson 

Photography by Ray Joyce

Jury citation: This beautifully refined work is as much a result of the maturity and intelligence of the architect as it is due to the generous and caring relationship between the architect and their client, Jenny. Evidence of this productive collaboration is manifest in two principal rooms on the site: a singular open-planned volume at the hands of the architect and a flourishing and intriguing garden executed by Jenny. 

Only an elegant and finely crafted line of glazing sits at the junction of these two rooms. It is, however, the presence of the original external rear wall of the historic four-room brick cottage, now forming an interior wall, that leaves you questioning whether you are in fact already outside and occupying the garden. This is a pleasant and refreshingly simple architectural gesture.

It is through this profound connection to the garden setting – the changing light, plants and presence of the ground – that the owner may establish her own sense of belonging to the setting, which is layered in over one hundred years of history.  

OTHER AWARDS

• Award for Residential Architecture - Houses (Alterations & Additions) - Darlinghurst Rooftop (NSW) by CO-AP (Architects)
  Photography by Ross Honeysett
   
• Award for Residential Architecture - Houses (Alterations & Additions) - Mills, The Toy Management House (VIC) by Austin Maynard Architects
  Photography by Peter Bennetts