2015 NSW Architecture Award winners

The 2015 winners of the Australian Institute of Architects’ NSW Architecture Awards have been announced at Sydney Town Hall tonight.

From a cliff-hugging home to one of the country’s largest medical research facilities the awarded projects represent NSW’s best new architecture across 12 categories.

The state’s most prestigious honour, the Sulman Medal for Public Architecture, went to Westmead Millenium Institute by BVN for successfully bringing together staff from six sites within a ‘singular place of calm engagement’.

‘This is a project where every aspect has been considered. The sensitivity and deftness of this consideration has transformed the building’s logic into an uplifting and inspiring environment for collaboration and research,’ the jury said.

At the other end of the scale, the coveted Wilkinson Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New) was awarded to the Institute’s 2015 Gold Medallist Peter Stutchbury for his cliffside project, Light House.

‘The jury was unanimous in their decision … it is a remarkable and exquisite outcome on a tight, complex site – the edge of a cliff, 80 metres above the sea. This home is poetic and investigative, and a delight to experience,’ the jury noted.

Adaptive reuse projects were big winners on the night picking up accolades in several categories including Sustainable Architecture

and Commercial Architecture, demonstrating the value and opportunities of giving existing buildings new life.

JPW’s intervention of 50 Martin Place, one of the city’s most significant heritage buildings, for Macquarie Bank took out the Sir Arthur G Stephenson Award for Commercial Architecture along with a Commendation for Sustainable Architecture and the COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture. ‘The new works touch lightly on the most important heritage areas of the building [while] more dramatic interventions have brought the building up to Macquarie’s demanding workplace standards,’ the jury said.

The NSW Government Architect’s Office also won multiple awards for their reinvention of a building which they originally designed in 1967. Cameraygal (formerly Dunbar building) was a Brutalist-style science laboratory which has been transformed into a centre for learning and innovation for TAFE with increased connections to outdoor spaces. The project received honours in the Educational, Heritage and Sustainable categories.