INDE.Awards to celebrate the best living space of the decade

Best of the Decade | The Living Space marks the start of a new decade – and the twentieth anniversary of Indesign Media Asia Pacific – by celebrating a decade’s worth of outstanding work by our region’s architects and designers though their now-iconic INDE.Awards.

Best of the Decade | The Living Space will award a home that has, through its concept, design and execution, redefined how we design for living in response to the stimuli of our times.

This special 2020 accolade, alongside its companion award Best of the Decade | The Work Space, gives us reason to collectively look back on how we’ve progressed in our region, and to consider where we’ll go from here.

St Andrews Beach House (Australia) by Austin Maynard Architects. Shortlisted, The Living Space, INDE.Awards 2019. Photo by Derek Swalwell.

Over the span of the past decade, much has remained constant in terms of what we seek from our living spaces. “The basic requirements of a living environment are protection, comfort and privacy,” suggests INDE.Awards jury member Eleena Jamil (Principal, Eleena Jamil Architects, Malaysia). But as times change, so do our demands and expectations. So what are the stimuli of our times?

“I think our expectations for living spaces in this new decade have expanded quite dramatically,” says Jamil. “There is now a conscious need for spaces to be more inclusive of different ethoses, moralities and lifestyles. For example, criteria such as carbon neutrality, resistance against the effects of climate change, and new household compositions and human relationships will provide new stimuli for designing living spaces.”

For fellow Jury member Paul McGillick from McGillick Consulting, today’s demands are somewhat conflicting. He says, “Certain things remain constant in what we want of our living space – cosy, comfortable and private. What’s changed in ten years? Well, we want all of the above and its seeming opposite – connection, stimulation and location, location, location.”

Sandy Point House (Australia) by Kennedy Nolan. Shortlisted, The Living Space, INDE.Awards 2019. Photo by Derek Swalwell.

“When we established Indesign Media Asia Pacific in 2000, our ambition was to create publications and experiences that the industry could use as vehicles to examine, document and celebrate the very best of our region. Over the last few years, the INDE.Awards have brought that ambition full circle, representing our industry not from afar, but from within,” says Raj Nandan, founder & CEO, Indesign Media Asia Pacific.

“Now, with our ‘Best of the Decade’ award categories, we mark this milestone year by honouring projects with lasting impact. These two special award categories for 2020 will show just how influential our region’s designers and architects have been over an extended period. The ‘Best of the Decade’ adds even more weight to our message that the world must take note of our region.”

But in the entries to Best of the Decade | The Living Space, he’ll be looking – above all – for the intelligent use of space. “What I would like to see are ideas about how to optimise limited space when, throughout the region, space is at a premium in terms of affordability and availability.”

Could your portfolio contain the INDE.Awards 2020’s best living space of the decade? How does your project demonstrate your deep understanding of lifestyle and how it’s evolving? How does it encapsulate best practice is residential design? How does it show inspirational sensitivity to context? And how does it embody the progressive spirit celebrated by the INDE.Awards?

View the category criteria and enter now.

To be eligible for this category your project and your studio must be located in the Indo-Pacific region. Your project must have been completed between 1 January 2010 and 21 February 2020.