2015 Australian Interior Design Award Winners

An immersive and experimental retail environment, two dynamic office fitouts that set a new standard for sustainable design, and a robust and highly crafted school are amongst the winners in the 2015 Australian Interior Design Awards, the peak awards program for Australia’s design industry.

Now in its twelfth year, the Australian Interior Design Awards are co-presented by the Design Institute of Australia, Diversified Communications Australia and Artichoke magazine. With over 400 entries across the program’s thirteen categories, the Awards celebrate the achievements of Australia’s design community in a diverse range of projects.

One of the big winners in this year’s program was young Melbourne practice SIBLING. The eight-person team was the recipient of the Premier Award for Australian Interior Design for the dazzling fitout DUST, which also received the Retail Design Award and a Best of State Award (Victoria). In a first for the program, the recipient of the Premier Award was also recognized with the award for Emerging Interior Design Practice. The jury praised the project’s approach to retail design: “The designers have created a space that celebrates the experimental journey, taking the user beyond a typical retail encounter into an immersive, sensory engagement. Courageous in its approach, the interior experiments with notions of infinite expansion and challenging visual immersion. The project elevates traditional values of retail design to a new level.”

The gala awards dinner at Melbourne’s Sofitel on Collins on Friday 15 May drew together an impressive cohort of established practitioners and emerging design talents. “Each year, the Awards highlight the innovative thinking that has shaped recent Australian interior design practice as well as hinting at the new directions that will shape the next generation of design projects in this country,” says event manager Jacinta Reedy.

For the first time this year, the Australian Interior Design Awards celebrated the impact of good design. Recognising the business, social, human resource, environmental and/or cultural outcomes of interior design, the inaugural Award for Interior Design Impact was awarded to BVN for the Mabel Fidler Building at Ravenswood School for Girls. “This project demonstrates the considerable value added to a project when the client and the design team have the courage to question traditional ways of designing and delivering projects, and when they devise new ways of working together, with time to test and experiment,” the jury said.
The winners of the 2015 Australian Interior Design Awards are:

Premier Award for Australian Interior Design
SIBLING for DUST

Award for Interior Design Impact
BVN for Ravenswood School for Girls, Mabel Fidler Building

Sustainability Advancement Awards
Bates Smart for TransGrid Sydney Office
Carr Design Group for Australia Post, StarTrack House Sydney

Emerging Interior Design Practice
—Award
SIBLING
—Commendation
Studio You Me

Hospitality Design
—Award
George Livissianis for Cho Cho San
—Commendations
Hecker Guthrie for Gia
studio-gram x mash for Parwana Kutchi Deli
Inarc Architects for Huntingdale Golf Club
Hecker Guthrie for Polperro Winery

Installation Design
—Award
Museum Victoria Design Studio for Empty Coolamons: In Memoriam to the Stolen Generations
—Commendations
Creative Spaces for WA Police Pavilion
Gloss Creative for Emporium Melbourne, Upscaled
Design Clarity for The Fox Hotel Heineken Installation
DesignOffice for Pop Down Bar
DesignOffice for Filter

Public Design
—Award
John Wardle Architects and NADAAA in collaboration for The University of Melbourne – Melbourne School of Design
—Commendation
Clare Cousins Architects for The Channel
Woods Bagot for MUSE – Macquarie University Student Experience

Residential Decoration
—Award
Whiting Architects for Kerferd
—Commendation
Hare + Klein for Cliff Top House
Arent&Pyke for Figtree House

Residential Design
—Award
Smart Design Studio for Jersey Rd
—Commendation
Whiting Architects for Kerferd
MAKE Architecture for Local House
studiofour for Alfred Street Residence

Retail Design
—Award
SIBLING for DUST
—Commendation
Studiobird for Napoleon Perdis Chapel
Woods Bagot for Living Edge Showroom
Luchetti Krelle for Nutorious

Workplace Design
—Award
SJB Interiors for Kennards Self Storage
—Commendation
Bates Smart for TransGrid Sydney Office
Geyer for JWT Sydney Headquarters
Arnold Lane for Interactive
Bates Smart for Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Sydney

Best of State Awards for Residential Design
New South Wales — Smart Design Studio for Jersey Rd
Victoria — Whiting Architects for Kerferd
Queensland — Surroundings Architects for Dock Street Warehouse
South Australia — Williams Burton Architecture + Interior Design for Medindie Residence

Best of State Awards for Commercial Design
News South Wales — George Livissianis for Cho Cho San
South Australia — studio-gram x mash for Parwana Kutchi Deli
Western Australia — Creative Spaces for WA Police Pavilion
Victoria — SIBLING for DUST
Australian Capital Territory — Craig Tan Architects for Roji Salon
Queensland — BVN for BVN Brisbane Studio

Best International Design Award
Hecker Guthrie for Gia

This year’s awards juries comprised of some of Australia’s most experienced design practitioners: Hamish Guthrie, Hecker Guthrie (Vic); Sarah-Jane Pyke, Arent&Pyke (NSW); Dan Cox, Carr Design (Vic); Genevieve Lilley, Genevieve Lilley Architects (Tas), Geraldine Maher, Jackson Architecture (Vic); Hamilton Wilson, Wilson Architects (Qld); Grant Filipoff, Bates Smart (NSW); and Robyn Lindsey, Geyer (Vic). The jury was supported by John Gertsakis, Infoactiv Group (Vic), as Sustainability Advisor.

The inaugural jury for the Award for Interior Design Impact comprised Jury Chair Richard Johnson, Johnson Pilton Walker (NSW), Rosemary Kirkby, Rosemary Kirkby Associates (NSW) and Geraldine Maher, Jackson Interiors (Vic).

To find out more about this year’s winning projects, please visit australianinteriordesignawards.com Winning projects will be published online on Monday 18 May 2015.