A complex and difficult internal renovation of a heritage building on the Australian National University campus has taken out Canberra's top architecture award.
The revitalisation of the Birch Building, led by architect firm Hassell, was awarded the Canberra Medallion at the ACT Architecture Awards.
The project was also recognised in categories for educational and heritage architecture.
The judges' citation said the building had useful, technical and practical spaces which were designed with people in mind. The project also demonstrated "best practice heritage architecture" with "clearly evident enthusiasm for the original late-modernist building crafts, details, colour palettes".
"All tasks are provided for, all personality types accommodated. There is intensity and respite and consideration of culture and collegiality. This is exemplary educational architecture," the judges' citation said.
The chair of the awards' jury, Erin Hinton, said the awards allowed the profession to reflect on and celebrate the significant and enduring contribution architecture makes to the region.
"Several project themes emerged across the categories such as architecture as a catalyst for bold civic and public engagement, architecture as a mediator between past and future, and architecture as foundational to the values of family, safety and retreat," Ms Hinton said.
Ms Hinton said it had been encouraging to see the breadth and depth of architectural practice had been delivered across the 46 projects entered into the 2021 awards.
Projects that were recognised included Bates Smart's Constitution Place, the London Circuit mixed-use precinct that is now home to ACT government offices, consultants and a hotel.
A knock-down-rebuild project in Lyons took out the top award for new residential architecture, the Malcolm Moir and Heather Sutherland Award for Residential Architecture.
Jingston House, designed by Rob Henry Architects, uses a C-shaped design with a courtyard to provide a "sense of tranquility within".
"Punctuated by subtle gestures of form and a refined palette, the project's facade is deeply attuned to the historically dominant architecture of the suburb," the judges said.
"Moving from outside to inside, you are at once enveloped by a sense of warmth; an ambience that draws on a skilled sensory resolution of place."
Australian Institute of Architects national president Shannon Battison won the Derek Wrigley Award for Sustainable Architecture for the house she designed for her family in Denman Prospect.
Judges said it was "a highly liveable, functional and cost effective family home which also achieves high levels of energy efficiency through passive solar design" that also demonstrated that "sustainable architecture does not need to be costly, and that it can be beautifully integrated into a comfortable and engaging family home".
Secret Garden House, an O'Connor project designed by CCJ Architects, won the Gene Willsford Award for Residential Architecture. The judges said the work had transformed a modest monocrete house into a "delightful and comfortable home charged with a new lease on life".
Additions to classic Canberra homes, including a redbrick Ainslie cottage and a Lyneham duplex, also received awards.
Ziwa House, which added to a mid-century duplex, exemplified "the potential of an enduring Canberra building vernacular to meet changing living arrangements", the judges said.
Robin Boyd, more than six decades after decrying the Australian ugliness and 50 years after his death, was recognised with the Sir Roy Grounds Award for Enduring Architecture for his work on Manning Clark's Tasmania Circle house.
Boyd, who was made a life fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 1969, died in 1971 aged 52.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
