Meet the jury for the 2026 Houses Awards

The jury for the 2026 Houses Awards has been revealed, comprising a group of leading figures in architecture and design.

This year’s program comprises 10 awards categories, including Australian House of the Year, New House under 200 square metres, New House over 200 square metres, House Alteration and Addition under 200 sqaure metres, House Alteration and Addition over 200 square metres, Apartment or Unit, Sustainability, House in a Heritage Context, Emerging Architecture Practice, and Small Projects.

Andrew Burges has 25 years’ experience in architectural practice, including 20 years as principal of Andrew Burges Architects (ABA). Prior to forming his practice in 2001, Andrew worked in firms in Sydney, New York and Boston, developing expertise in large-scale urban masterplanning and urban housing proposals, civic and sporting structures. Recently, ABA were the winners of City of Sydney’s International Design Competition for Gunyama Park and Green Square Aquatic Centre (GPARC) and the City of Parramatta’s Design Excellence competition for Parramatta Aquatic Centre (PAC). Since its completion, GPARC has won numerous international and national awards, including the award for Public Architecture at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2021 National Awards.

Zuzana Kovar is a registered architect and co-director of Zuzana and Nicholas architects, which she established with Nicholas Skepper in 2013. The practice engages in commissioned architectural work, architectural competitions, writing, exhibition work and teaching. The practice has been recognised for exemplary work in residential architecture, particularly for sensitive adaptations, renovations and extensions to traditional housing. Zuzana and Nicholas’s project Red Hill House and Studio was honoured as Australian House of the Year at the 2024 Houses Awards. It also won the 2024 House Alteration and Addition under 200 square metres category.

Qianyi Lim is a registered architect with experience working in practices across Australia, Asia and Europe. Lim co-founded Sibling Architecture in Melbourne in 2012 before establishing the Sydney studio in 2017. Since then, Sibling has delivered widely recognised projects, including the Stable House, winner of the 2022 NSW Australian Institute of Architects’ Wilkinson Award, and the South East Centre for Contemporary Art, winner of the Institute’s 2024 NSW Award for Public Architecture. An architectural educator and critic, Lim is an adjunct associate professor of practice at the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney, and a panel member on the NSW State Design Review Panel.

Michael Roper is a founding director of Architecture Architecture. He has taught extensively both in Melbourne and abroad and was the founding program manager at the ANCB Metropolitan Laboratory in Berlin. He is chair of the University of Melbourne’s Architecture Advisory Board, serves on the Australian Institute of Architects Victoria Awards Committee and was a founding member of Nightingale Housing. He has written for architectural journals, served on several juries for the Victorian architecture awards program, and is a regular guide for Open House Melbourne. Roper is a co-author of Among Buildings, which reflects on significant Melbourne architecture through photography and poetry, and Paul Couch, Field Studies, which introduces readers to one of Australia’s most significant and enduring architects.

Chairing the jury will be Alexa Kempton, who is the editor of Houses magazine. She has more than 20 years’ experience in architecture and design media, and has been part of the editorial team at Architecture Media for 10 years. Alexa is a former editor of ArchitectureAu and managing editor of Architecture Australia.

Pippa Soccio, the senior research scientist in building monitoring at CSIRO, will be the sustainability advisor, while Christine Phillips, an architect and associate professor, will be the heritage advisor.