Regional projects in Queensland have taken the lead and scooped nearly half of the region’s architecture awards this year.
Projects outside the state’s major metropolitan area trumped the city’s buildings at the Australian Institute of Architects’ Queensland awards.
Projects outside Brisbane and from regions across Queensland have claimed 17 of this year’s 37 awards and commendations, including the state’s best new residential project, best new heritage project, best small project architecture, best interior architecture, and best steel architecture.
“We’ve seen a tremendous strength of architecture from the regions this year across a range of building types,” jury director Justin O’Neill said.
Leading the regional charge and scooping the Robin Dods Award for Residential Architecture was the Busby Residence (pictured) at Yeppoon by sole practitioner Brian Hooper Architect.
Presenting the award, O’Neill said: “The Busby Residence is an outstanding example of coastal infill. The colours, patternation and use of materials are a modern interpretation of the beach house vernacular and a great precedent for future beach houses in this coastal zone.”
Five further residential housing awards and commendations were presented to projects from Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and Agnes Water in Central Queensland.
Two regional projects have also scooped this year’s heritage awards, with the top Don Roderick Award for Heritage going to Riddel Architecture for the sensitive renovation of the almost-intact 80-year old Warroo Shire Hall in Surat on the Darling Downs. In a double win for Riddel Architecture, the jury also awarded an Architecture Award to the 150-year-old Barambah Station, near Goomeri, with the architects’ “masterplan re-establishing a working cattle property by selective retention and reorganisation of a range of existing buildings”.
This year’s Karl Langer Award for Urban Design was presented to the Varsity Station Village Master Plan on the Gold Coast by Deicke Richards Architects, with the GHM Addison Award for Interior Architecture also going to the Gold Coast’s Balnaves Foundation Multimedia Learning Centre at Bond University by Wilson Architects. The jury described the latter as “an accomplished and successful experiment in this new form of learning environment” which “references qualities of a living room, a lab and a comfortable private bar”.
In Brisbane, a new building at the University of Queensland’s campus - the General Purpose North 4 by Richard Kirk Architect and ML Design - was awarded the state’s top pubic building award, the F.D.G Stanley Award for Public Architecture.
The jury described the building, designed for a continually changing group of international students studying English, as “meticulously detailed and crafted, and providing a valued corner piece at this northern entry to the university campus”.
A further architecture award and three commendations were also presented in this category to projects ranging from a seminary in Brisbane, to a stadium on the Gold Coast, a new wetlands parkland in Brisbane, and a university school of creative arts in Northern Queensland.
Cox Rayner Architects’ Youngcare, Australia’s first multi-residential building designed specifically for high-need under-50-year-olds was awarded the Job & Froud Award for Residential Architecture Multiple Housing. The jury described it as an important “new type of accommodation borne out of a need” that “provides an alternative structure comprised of independent living units supported by communal and high care facilities”.
Five projects were honoured in the small project architecture category, with the Hayes & Scott Award for Small Project Architecture going to Oliver’s Cloister in Northern Queensland by Stephen de Jersey Architect. This “simple, rhythmic structure” was commissioned in memory of a baby named Oliver, born out of a grieving process, and designed to “refocus this energy into a celebration of life and the sharing of precious moments”. Two beachside projects in Central Queensland and two in Brisbane were also honoured.
A “beautiful conversion of a bakery into a modern design office”, the HASSELL Warry Street Studio at Fortitude Valley by HASSELL, was awarded the state’s top commercial prize, the Beatrice Hutton Award for Commercial Architecture. Two other projects from Brisbane and one from the Darling Downs were also presented awards and commendations.
In other awards, the Art and Architecture Award was presented to the International Terminal Brisbane Expansion by BVN Architecture Pty Ltd; the 25 Year Award for Enduring Architecture to the White Residence by Lindsay Clare Mitchell Pty Ltd (Directors Kerry Clare, Lindsay Clare and Ian Mitchell); and the Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture to the Amberley Stage 2 Redevelopment, 9th Force Support Battalion on the Darling Downs by BVN Architecture Pty Ltd.
All award winners are now in contention for National Architecture Awards, to be announced in Melbourne on 29 October.
The full list of 2009 award and commendation recipients follows:
PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE
F.D.G. Stanley Award for Public Architecture
General Purpose North 4: Richard Kirk Architect and ML Design (Architects in association) (Brisbane)
Architecture Award
Holy Spirit Seminary: Conrad Gargett Architecture (Brisbane)
Commendation
Skilled Park: Populous (Gold Coast)
Commendation
Berrinba Wetlands Parkland: AR:2Architecture (Brisbane)
Commendation
James Cook University School of Creative Arts: BVN Architecture Pty Ltd(Nth Qld)
URBAN DESIGN
Karl Langer Award for Urban Design
Varsity Station Village Master Plan: Deicke Richards (Gold Coast)
Architecture Award
Inner Northern Busway: INB HUB Alliance/BVN Architecture Pty Ltd (Brisbane)
COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE
Beatrice Hutton Award for Commercial Architecture
HASSELL Warry Street Studio, Fortitude Valley, Qld: HASSELL Ltd (Brisbane)
Architecture Award
Abigroup House Stanley Street Plaza: Cox Rayner Architects in association with John Mainwaring (Brisbane)
Commendation
The Chambers, Corner Queen and Creek Streets: Donovan Hill in association with Riddel Architecture (Brisbane)
Commendation
Springfield Tower: Haysom Architects (Darling Downs)
HERITAGE
Don Roderick Award for Heritage
Warroo Shire Hall: Riddel Architecture (Darling Downs)
Architecture Award
Barambah Station: Riddel Architecture (Sunshine Coast)
SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE
Architecture Award
Bond University Mirvac School of Sustainable Development: Mirvac Design (Gold Coast)
Architecture Award
Queensland State Archives Expansion Project (QSA2): Project Services (Brisbane)
RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE MULTIPLE HOUSING
Job & Froud Award for Residential Architecture Multiple Housing
Youngcare: Cox Rayner Architects (Brisbane)
Architecture Award
Lady Bowen Stage 3 Studio Units: Gall and Medek Architects Pty Ltd (Brisbane)
Commendation
Key Street Townhouses: Gall and Medek Architects Pty Ltd (Brisbane)
Commendation
Searene: BVN Architecture Pty Ltd (Central Qld)
RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE HOUSES
Robin Dods Award for Residential Architecture Houses
Busby Residence: Brian Hooper Architect (Central Qld)
Architecture Award
Cremorne Extension: Donovan Hill (Brisbane)
Architecture Award
Longhut: PUSH (Gold Coast)
Commendation
Sunrise @ 1770 House: Middap Ditchfield Architects (Central Qld)
Commendation
Fig Tree Pocket River House: Bligh Graham Architects (Brisbane)
Commendation
Grandstand House: PUSH (Brisbane)
SMALL PROJECT ARCHITECTURE
Hayes & Scott Award for Small Project Architecture
Oliver’s Cloister: Stephen de Jersey Architect (North Qld)
Architecture Award
Woodgate Beach Amenities and Picnic Shelters: Fulton Trotter Architects (Central Qld)
Commendation
Brookes Street Office North: James Russell Architect (Brisbane)
Commendation
Seaforth Beach House: PHORM Architecture + Design (Central Qld)
Commendation
Green House: aardvarc architects (Brisbane)
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE
G.H.M. Addison Award for Interior Architecture
Balnaves Foundation Multimedia Learning Centre, Bond University: Wilson Architects (Gold Coast)
Commendation
University of Queensland Science Learning Centre: m3architecture (Brisbane)
Commendation
Wickham Street Apartment: BASE Architecture (Brisbane)
ART AND ARCHITECTURE PRIZE
Art and Architecture Prize
International Terminal Brisbane Expansion: BVN Architecture Pty Ltd (Brisbane)
25 YEAR AWARD FOR ENDURING ARCHITECTURE
White House: Lindsay Clare Mitchell Pty Ltd (Directors: Kerry Clare, Lindsay Clare and Ian Mitchell)
COLORBOND AWARD FOR STEEL ARCHITECTURE CATEGORY
Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture
Amberley Stage 2 Redevelopment, 9th Force Support Batallion: BVN Architecture (Darling Downs)
Commendation
Automotive Building at Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE: Project Services (Darling Downs)
Images of the Busby Residence by Brian Hooper Architect are copyright Australian Institute of Architects.
