The Melbourne Recital Centre, and its neighbour, the first permanent home for the Melbourne Theatre Company, have taken out four of the highest honours at this year’s Victorian Architecture Awards.
The recital centre and MTC buildings by ARM and the urban transformation of their formerly neglected Southbank site are honoured with the 2009 Victorian Architecture Medal for successfully crossing design boundaries and taking out the top awards in three categories: the William Wardell Award for public architecture; the Marion Mahony Award for interior architecture and the Joseph Reed Award for urban design.
Chair of juries, Philip Goad, says the combined buildings make a significant contribution to Melbourne’s arts precinct and may well expand current audiences, sentiments echoed in the Victorian Medal jury citation.
“The robust sculptural facades have already become iconic and the changes to traffic and pedestrian patterns at an urban level have transformed the area into an active domain,” praised the jury.
The Canada Hotel Redevelopment by Hayball is a double winner, honoured with the Best Overend Award for residential architecture (multiple housing) and the esteemed Melbourne Prize.
This student accommodation project on Swanston Street impressed the jury by “skilfully integrating the existing fabric as the new 13-storey tower hovers over the original hotel building”. Those who regurgitate criticism of high density housing are advised by the jury to visit this solution which “greatly enriches its urban precinct”.
The top award for commercial architecture, the Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award, went to NSW firm Durbach Block Architects for Headquarters Sussan Sportsgirl in Richmond. Housing 5000sqm of offices, a private art gallery, corporate dining room, boardrooms and studios, the Headquarters caught the jury’s eye with its exceptional interior detailing and an exterior exuding a “subtle emanation of the creative wealth within through the use of opaque glass panelling”.
Another major winner is the Bendigo Bank Headquarters by BVN Architecture + Gray Puksand P/L, honoured with a Commercial Architecture Award and a Regional Prize. Gray Puksand P/L also picked up a Public Architecture Award for the new Epping Views Primary School in Melbourne’s north, and a second Regional Prize was awarded to Hepburn Springs Bath House Redevelopment by Cox Architects & Planners.
Making it two in a row is architectural firm McBride Charles Ryan, winning the Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for residential architecture with Letterbox House. After taking home the same award last year, their Klein Bottle House went on to win the nation’s highest residential architecture prize.
The Letterbox House is celebrated for its experimental ambitions and the architectural confidence of its resolution, noted the jury.
Winner of the John George Knight Award for Heritage is the Prefabricated (Singapore) Cottage: Conservation + Adaptation by RBA Architects & Conservation Consultants + JAM Architects. Originally imported from Singapore in 1852-3, the restoration and conservation of this modest South Melbourne building is described by the jury as an inspirational example of heritage architecture: "a revelatory intersection between history and the present".
Siglo, the rooftop drinking hole by b.e. architecture which crowns Con Christopoulos' Spring Street epicurean empire (European, City Wine Shop, Melbourne Supper Club) was presented with the Small Project Architecture Award. Siglo is described by the jury as quintessentially Melbourne, with an understated sense of glamour.
A commendable example of a commercial building embracing sustainable design within the constraints of a commercial capital budget is The Gauge by Darren Kindrachuk of Lend Lease Design. It is awarded the Sustainable Architecture Award for its all-embracing approach to environmentally sustainable design and construction, through to ongoing maintenance.
Not just a toilet stop is the Calder Woodburn Rest Area by BKK Architects and Vic Roads, taking out the Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture. Celebrating the long and rich history of the service station, the rest area serves as both shelter and icon.
There were 196 entries competing across 11 categories in the 2009 Victorian Architecture Awards, described by Professor Goad as another bumper year.
“The standard and quality of design entries continues to rise ever higher, showing the strong local commitment to the advancement of ideas in this state,” said Professor Goad.
Of the 37 accolades announced, 29 winners of Victorian architecture awards move into national contention to compete against winners from around the country. The National Architecture Awards will be announced in Melbourne in late October.
An exhibition of all Victorian award entries is on display as part of the State of Design Festival. Guildford Lane Gallery, 20/24 Guildford Lane Melbourne, until July 26.
Full list of winners follows.
Victorian Architecture Medal
Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre Project - ARM
SOUTHBANK
Sir Osborn McCutcheon Award for Commercial Architecture
Headquarters Sussan Sportsgirl - Durbach Block Architects
CREMORNE
Commercial Architecture Award (2)
Bendigo Bank Headquarters - BVN Architecture + Gray Puksand P/L
BENDIGO
TAC Headquarters Geelong - McGauran Giannini Soon and ML Design
GEELONG
John George Knight Award for Heritage
Prefabricated (Singapore) Cottage: Conservation + Adaptation
SOUTH MELB
- RBA Architects & Conservation Consultants + JAM Architects
Heritage Architecture Award
St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, Conservation of the Fabric
MELBOURNE
- Falkinger Andronas Architects, Heritage Consultants
Marion Mahony Award for Interior Architecture
Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre Project - ARM
SOUTHBANK
Interior Architecture Award
Yarra House - Leeton Pointon Architects + Susi Leeton Architects
HAWTHORN
William Wardell Award for Public Architecture
Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre Project - ARM
SOUTHBANK
Public Architecture Award - New (2)
Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy - Architectus Melbourne
CLAYTON
Epping Views Primary School - Gray Puksand P/L
EPPING
Public Architecture Award - Alterations and Additions (3)
North Melbourne Primary School Stage 1 - Workshop Architecture
NORTH MELB
Hepburn Springs Bath House Redevelopment - Cox Architects and Planners
HEPBURN SPRINGS
RMIT Building 45 - NMBW Architecture Studio
MELBOURNE
Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for Residential Architecture
Letterbox House - McBride Charles Ryan
BLAIRGOWRIE
Residential Architecture Award - New (3)
Ivanhoe House - Kerstin Thompson Architects
IVANHOE
Zac's House - Neeson Murcutt Architects
SORRENTO
Polygreen - Bellemo & Cat
NORTHCOTE
Residential Architecture Award - Alterations and Additions (3)
Chrystobel - Multiplicity
HAWTHORN
Hawthorn House - Richard Swansson Architect
HAWTHORN
St Kilda East Courtyard House - David Vernon Architect
ST KILDA EAST
Best Overend Award for Residential Architecture, Multiple Housing
Canada Hotel Redevelopment - Hayball
CARLTON
Multiple Housing Architecture Award (2)
Balencea Apartments - Wood Marsh Architecture with Sunland Design
ST KILDA RD
Pyrmont Rooming House Redevelopment - Michael McKenna Architecture & Interiors ST KILDA
Award for Small Project Architecture
Siglo - b.e. Architecture
MELBOURNE
Award for Sustainable Architecture
The Gauge - Darren Kindrachuk of, Lend Lease Design
VICTORIA HARBOUR
Joseph Reed Award for Urban Design
Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Theatre Project - ARM
SOUTHBANK
Urban Design Architecture Award
St Kilda Promenade - Jackson Clements Burrows & Site Office
ST KILDA
Colorbond® Award for Steel Architecture
Calder Woodburn Rest Area - BKK Architects & Vic Roads
SHEPPARTON
Steel Architecture Award
Clayton Community Centre - Jackson Architecture
CLAYTON
Regional Prizes
Hepburn Springs Bath House Redevelopment - Cox Architects and Planners
HEPBURN SPRINGS
Bendigo Bank Headquarters - BVN Architecture + Gray Puksand
BENDIGO
Melbourne Prize
Canada Hotel Redevelopment - Hayball
CARLTON
25 Year Award for Enduring Architecture
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Kings Domain - Yuncken Freeman Brothers Griffiths & Simpson: 1956-1959; Gregory Burgess 1999-2001
President’s Prize 2009
Peter Wilson, Bolles & Wilson
Bates Smart Architecture Media Award: National
Architecture Australia (September/October 2008; January/February 2008)
Bates Smart Architecture Media Award: State
Artscape - IOU Robin Boyd - ABC TV
