QLD Architecture Award Winners 2026

Queensland’s most outstanding new architecture has been revealed in the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2026 Queensland Architecture Awards. The awarded projects represent the cutting edge in architectural innovation from the state’s sharpest design minds.

The recipients for 2026 (detailed on the following pages of this media release) act as a roadmap to the new building projects that are shaping Queensland’s contemporary built environment. This year’s awards celebrate not only the Brisbane projects redefining metropolitan design, but also the depth of architectural excellence being delivered across the length and breadth of Queensland. Awarded projects from Rockhampton and the Sunshine Coast to Far North Queensland and the Gold Coast highlight the important contribution regional architects and communities continue to make to Queensland’s built environment.

The Australian Institute of Architects is the country’s peak body for architecture, and the Queensland Architecture Awards are the state’s premier design awards program.

Australian Institute of Architects 2026 Queensland Architecture Awards Jury Chair, Professor Michael Keniger, explained the commonalities in this year’s award winners.

“The winners of the Queensland Architecture Awards feature many examples of adventurous and ambitious commercial and community buildings that are helping to revitalise Brisbane’s CBD. Projects in this category displayed a high degree of public generosity and embodied perceptive responses to maximise the best aspects of Queensland’s particular climate” said Professor Keniger.

“Further, in the residential winners, we saw examples of houses that are reshaping our preconceived notions of the traditional ‘Queenslander’ home and embarking on ambitious new typologies. Some of the most adventurous new houses were located in regional locations and earned significant attention for the quality of construction within their particular settings.”

“A further aspect of this year’s Queensland Award winners is that there is a significant number of imaginatively and thoughtfully designed educational buildings including one of the leading awards for 2026. At the peak of educational architecture is a significant research project that is likely to be recognised for the inventive resolution of its structure and for the research activities that it will house and encourage.”

“All in all, the 2026 Queensland Architecture Awards program offers a broad spectrum of inviting and purposeful architecture that taken together illustrates the possibilities for an enhanced and vibrant future.”

For more information and details of all the Award Winners go to Queensland Architecture Awards