A small school that’s reinvigorating western Sydney’s Greek Orthodox
community has been named NSW’s best new public building at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2009 NSW Architecture Awards.
All Saints Primary School at Belmore by Candalepas Associates was announced winner of the prestigious 2009 Sulman Award for Public Buildingsat a special awards ceremony at the Sydney Hilton. All Saints is the
first primary school in NSW to receive the major award in 28 years, and
it marks a first time Sulman win for Angelo Candalepas of Candalepas
Associates.
All Saints Primary School at Belmore by Candalepas Associates (Photography: Brett Boardman)
In awarding the prize, NSW Architecture Awards Jury Chairman Sam
Marshall said the project serves the Greek Orthodox community based
around Belmore’s All Saints Church and offers “moments of delight”. He
said: “It has an unassuming civic quality that is appropriately
institutional, with a refinement and scale to the detailing that is
right for children and families”, with the building already having
“taken its place in the heart of the community”.
The school was one of three educational facilities dominating this
year’s public buildings awards – with Architecture Awards also
presented to the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Law, Library and
Teaching Complex by fjmt (Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp) and the Jane
Foss Russell Building at the University of Sydney by John Wardle
Architects in association with Wilson Architects and GHD.
University
of Sydney’s Faculty of Law, Library and Teaching Complex by fjmt
(Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp) (Photography: John Gollings)
In a multiple win for fjmt, the University of Sydney’s Faculty of
Law, Library and Teaching Complex also received an Award for
Sustainable Architecture and a Commendation for Urban Design (with
Jeppe Aagaard Andersen, Tinka Sack).
All up, a record 200 architectural projects were entered in this
year’s awards, ranging from projects at Casuarina near the Queensland
border to the Snowy Mountains and from toilet blocks to
multi-million-dollar public buildings – with the jury awarding 41
awards and commendations across 10 categories.
Sydney’s party hot-spot, ivy, on George Street in the CBD, by
Merivale Group, Woods Bagot and Hecker Phelan Guthrie, emerged as a
major architectural winner – receiving the Lloyd Rees Award for Urban
Design and a Commercial Architecture Award. The jury said: “ivy’s
planning deftly understates the scale of the complex, which includes 18
bars, nine restaurants, a ballroom, a garden atrium and rooftop
swimming pool, as well as two penthouse suites. In spite of its overall
area, most of ivy’s venues retain a sense of intimacy more akin to a
domestic environment, albeit an extravagant modern residence of the
late 1950s.” They added, the relocation of laneways had “ensured a new
vibrancy for these long-neglected spaces”.
ivy by Merivale Group, Woods Bagot and Hecker Phelan Guthrie (Photography: Trevor Mein)
The Milo Dunphy Award for Sustainable Architecture was presented to
the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) in Ultimo by
Smart Design Studio. The jury said, apart from the adaptive re-use of
the existing warehouse building, a well-considered array of specific
initiatives was successfully adopted. Jury Chair Sam Marshall said:
“Across the range of projects visited, it was encouraging to see that
environmentally sustainable design is no longer an add-on, but is
fundamental, and seems to be both driven by client and architect. While
this is comforting, we still have a long way to go given the widespread
changes needed to be made over the next five years to save the planet.”
Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) by Smart Design Studio
An exceptionally strong field of residential projects from across
NSW were shortlisted for the State’s top residential award - the
Wilkinson Award for Residential Architecture – which went to the Whale
Beach House by Neeson Murcutt Architects, representing the second win
in three years for design team Rachel Neeson and Nick Murcutt. The
couple now join an elite group of architects to receive the award more
than once, with Australia’s best known architect Glenn Murcutt holding
the record at six wins.
Whale Beach House by Neeson Murcutt Architects (Photography: Brett Boardman)
A further five Architectural Awards and five Commendations were
presented to outstanding new residential projects in this category,
reflecting the strength of this year’s entrants. Of these, the Snowy
Mountains House by James Stockwell received three major awards – an
Architecture Award for Residential Architecture, the Blacket Prize for
regional architecture and the Colorbond Award, with the jury saying the
“building’s arched façade, curved spine and cocoon-like internal spaces
are daringly anchored with fins of galvanized steel, at once tethering
the house to its windswept site”.
Snowy Mountains House by James Stockwell (Photography: Patrick Bingham Hall)
A small budget, small-footprint house on the Central Coast, the
Recycled Fibro Cottage by Michael Dysart and Partners P/L, received
this year’s Small Project Architecture Award, with the jury saying:
“This project celebrates the humility of simple weekenders, and the
light touch of a masterful architect whose work here is both timeless
and selfless.”
Recycled Fibro Cottage by Michael Dysart and Partners P/L
In a departure from recent years, when public buildings vied for top
heritage honors, this year’s Greenway Award for Heritage Architecture
has been awarded to a small budget residential project in Redfern – the
Fitzroy Terrace by Welsh + Major Architects, with a further
Architecture Award going to Luigi Rosselli Pty Ltd for a sensitive
alteration and addition to a Professor Leslie Wilkinson house at Double
Bay.
Fitzroy Terrace by Welsh + Major Architects (Photography: Brett Boardman)
And in an encouraging sign for the mass housing market in NSW, a
Special Jury Prize was given to The Logic at Homeworld in Sydney’s
western suburbs by Environa Studio. The jury said: “The majority of new
housing in NSW is designed by non-architects and the project home
market in particular has, for many years, favoured quantity (floor
space) over quality (liveability and sustainability). This has meant
that buyers had little access to innovative sustainable design, and
little opportunity to adapt standard project-home designs to meet the
climatic/orientation needs of individual sites. The Logic represents an
initiative to offer a better compromise to project-home buyers between
cost per square meter and good (and more sustainable) design. The jury
was enthused by the potential of this approach to deliver better
designed and more sustainable homes to the broader market.”
This year’s Premier’s Prize, awarded by Nathan Rees and presented by
Government Architect Peter Mould, went to Epping to Chatswood Rail Link
by HASSELL. In his citation, Premier Rees said: “Providing public
transport is an important, expensive and difficult issue for all
cities. Sydney is no exception, but the new rail link between Epping
and Chatswood has delivered first-class infrastructure for the city and
its commuters. The architecture of its stations presents a complex and
difficult design exercise. Solving at once issues of urban presence,
customer amenity, engineering complexity and interiors that have a
100-year life expectancy is no mean feat. The fact that these issues
have been resolved and the result is also fine architecture is a
compliment to designers and clients alike.”
Epping to Chatswood Rail Link by HASSELL (Photography: Simon Wood)
Another building standing the test of time and presented with this
year’s 25 Year Award was The Curry House 2 by acclaimed architect Bruce
Rickard. In its citation, the jury said this was “a seminal building by
a talented and unassuming architect who has had an enormous influence
on most Sydney architects”. They said “the strong, confident hand of
Rickard is ever present, as is the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright and
the shinto shrines of Ise”. The Curry House 2 won an RAIA Merit Award
in 1983 and is included on the Institute’s list of important 20th
century buildings.
The Curry House 2 by Bruce Rickard (Photography: Neil Fenelon)
All Architecture Award winners are now in contention for the
National Architecture Awards, to be announced in Melbourne on Thursday,
October 29.
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