Victoria’s top architecture honours revealed: 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards

The winners of the highly anticipated 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards have been unveiled, celebrating collaboration and sustainability in design and paying tribute to the influential role of architecture in shaping the way we live, work and play across Melbourne and regional Victoria.

A total of 16 Named Awards, 23 Architecture Awards and 25 Commendations, were granted from a competitive pool of 130 shortlisted projects following in-person assessments by independent juries. The University of Melbourne Student Precinct and Nightingale Village emerged as the most awarded projects of the year, demonstrating a commitment to collaborative design, sustainability, and community.

The University of Melbourne Student Precinct received the Victorian Architecture Medal, the highest honour awarded by the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects annually. Designed by a collection of Australia’s foremost designers, the project also received the esteemed named awards in the Educational Architecture and Urban Design categories as well as an Architecture Award for Heritage Architecture – Creative Adaptation.

Victorian State President, David Wagner FRAIA said the University of Melbourne Student Precinct was made possible through a co-design process, a demonstration of the transformative power of architecture that reflected broader outstanding design outcomes in this year’s awards.

“This year’s awards recipients have indelibly shaped our built environment, showcasing the world-class ingenuity and expertise that resides in our state. The impressive range and diversity of winning projects are a testament to the strength of the architectural profession in Victoria, illustrating architecture’s broad reach in urban, suburban, and rural contexts,” Wagner said.

As part of a strengthened commitment to supporting projects that provide a sustainable built environment for Victorians, this year’s Victorian Architecture Awards saw the introduction of a new Sustainability Checklist as a key component in the awards assessment.

Victorian State Manager, Daniel Moore RAIA said: “Winners of this year’s Victorian Architecture Awards represent a milestone in the field, showcasing the importance of sustainable design principles in the best projects. The juries in each category have demonstrated that good architecture can be both subjectively evaluated for beauty and objectively measured in terms of energy efficiency. It was a pleasure to see winning projects across all categories demonstrate a strong commitment to environmental, economic, and social sustainability considerations.”

In honour of influential female architects Dimity Reed and Maggie Redmond, two new named awards were introduced this year, paying tribute to their ongoing influence and marking the first time that named awards have recognised living and practising designers.

The Maggie Edmond Enduring Architecture Award was awarded to Brambuk: The National Park and Cultural Centre, which has functioned as a vital cultural hub and interpretation centre for the Gariwerd (Grampians) National Park for more than three decades. Designed by Burgess in close collaboration with Jadawadjali and Djab Wurrung people, Brambuk was constructed by using traditional building techniques married with advanced timber technology to realise a responsive, organic building.

University of Melbourne Professor Philip Goad said “Since its opening in 1990, Brambuk has become a powerful symbol for the many ways in which architecture can be a tool for reconciliation. Today, for its visitors and First Nation communities, Brambuk continues to speak convincingly across cultures, landscapes, and time.”

Nightingale Village was the recipient of the Dimity Reed Melbourne Prize, The Allan and Beth Coldicutt Award for Sustainable Architecture and architecture awards in the Urban Design and Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing categories. It was among a series of winning projects that explored, challenged and reinforced the evolutionary growth of Melbourne.

Winners in the Heritage Architecture category exhibited a variety of impressive achievements in seeking to preserve Victoria’s history – including long-overdue acknowledgement of pre-Colonial heritage – with the top award granted to Queen Victoria Markets Shed Restoration A – D, H – I.

Capturing exemplary examples of public, urban, and residential design, the overall strength and number of winning projects from Victoria’s regions stood out in this year’s awards. The Regional Prize winner, Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre was heralded for its triumphant contribution to the local community, further receiving an Architecture Award for Public Architecture.

The highest honour in Commercial Architecture was awarded to Delatite Cellar Door by Lucy Clemenger Architects, in recognition of the project’s focus on immersive, multisensorial experiences and understated details showcasing local craftsmanship and locally sourced materials.

Another outstanding addition to regional Victoria, The William Wardell Award for Public Architecture recipient Bendigo Law Courts delivered a bold environmental sustainability agenda, engaging with Dja Dja Wurrung Traditional Owners and local trades to deliver a project that works as a beacon for reconciliation and longevity.

In its second year as an award, and first with a dedicated jury and site visits, the EmAGN Project Award recognising early-career designers, set new benchmarks in the breadth and scale of projects. The 2023 winner, Office Mi—Ji’s AB House was commended for its thoughtful and technical detailing, bringing to life an industrialised steel aesthetic with confident sensitivity.

Many notable winners in the residential categories, including Sunday by Architecture architecture and spring creek road farm house by architect brew koch, were small in scale and footprint, but revealed new possibilities beyond the expected norms of a typical house, highlighting flexibility, ambiguity and openness to new ways of living.

Celebrating Victoria’s top honours for architecture, the 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards were revealed at a ceremony hosted by the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects on Friday 16 June. Projects that received an architecture award or a named award will now progress to compete in the National Architecture Awards program, announced in November.