Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions) Award
The Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions) Award recognises the thoughtful transformation of existing homes across Queensland. Presented by the Australian Institute of Architects, this award highlights projects that enhance and adapt residential spaces, balancing functionality, sustainability, and aesthetic excellence.
These designs respect the original character of the home while reimagining it to align with modern living needs. Whether through sensitive restorations, seamless extensions, or complete reconfigurations, they reflect Queensland’s unique climate, lifestyle, and architectural heritage, creating harmonious connections between indoor and outdoor spaces.
Projects in this category must be residential in nature, generally falling within BCA Class 1a, and must include renovations or alterations or additions to an existing building, whether or not the building was residential in nature in the first instance. Projects with up to two self-contained dwellings may be entered in this category.
Award Winners Throughout the Years
2024
The Elina Mottram Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
River Loop House | Vokes and Peters
Jury citation
A series of interventions to this modest mid-century home sensitively reconcile the qualities of new and old. Considered additions and subtractions reframe how River Loop House is occupied, with design decisions seemingly directed by imagining how to inhabit a space with joy.
The careful unpicking and re-stitching of structure and space creates a seamless composition while improving access to garden, natural light, and breeze. The repositioned kitchen recalibrates connections to family, street, and community in unexpected and delightful ways.
The deliberate staging of rooms with restrained, complementary materials is in keeping with the character of the home, which sits comfortably at the human scale. The modesty and joy of River Loop House is the flawless craft of masterful hands at the top of their game.
Award for Residential Architecture (Alterations and Additions)
High Street | Lineburg Wang
Jury citation
The High Street Residence orchestrates an unforgettable experience, seamlessly choreographing this unassuming Workers Cottage into an exceptional piece of architecture.
Like a skilled dancer gracefully gliding across the stage, this cottage captivates inhabitants and visitors alike, transporting them beyond the mundane into a realm of wonder where they not only connect with the building’s storied past but also find themselves firmly anchored in the present.
The project promises to create cherished memories for a new generation of residents.
Award for Residential Architecture (Alterations and Additions)
Sidney House | OH Architecture
Jury citation
Picking up on the client’s aesthetic interests and meaningful life events, OH Architecture has made a carefully composed addition to a 1970s brick house that works with a simple palette of brick, fibre cement, and concrete.
This modest modification creates a thin layer of new spaces at the front of the house that enables privacy, a distinct address, and a vertical connection to the lower level through an intimate landscape.
The close relationship between architect and client has led to the sensitive recycling of meaningful elements in both the building and landscape, bringing an enduring life to the house.
OH Architecture is commended for recognising what is meaningful to their client and articulating it in the language of architecture.
Commendation for Residential Architecture (Alterations and Additions)
KANGAROO POINT HOUSE | NIELSEN JENKINS
Jury citation
Situated on a compact corner lot, this low-lying residence in Kangaroo Point has been artfully reimagined to carve out an entrance void that enhances the allure of multiple spaces.
With the new lower spaces slightly below street level, the house seems to sink into the landscape, creating a constant connection to an enveloping garden that provides separation and privacy.
Carefully framed views and cozy nooks emerge, while edges are dissolved to borrow additional space from the outdoor setting.
National Partners
