Evelyn Reynolds

A modular island home designed by Blok Modular with Vokes and Peters has been honoured as the Australian House of the Year at the 2024 Houses Awards.
Blok Three Sisters, which also won the category award for Apartment or Unit, was praised by the jury “as an example of successful experimentation not only in design, but also in procurement, assembly and – most importantly – the ways an extended family can live alongside each other.”
“Each unit is an example of the minimum needed to get the most out of this coastal location. The project is pragmatic and shows that architecture doesn’t need to be flashy,” the jury citation reads.
“Australia needs more examples of stealth density that demonstrate how our freestanding residences might gradually evolve. […] The jury felt this terrace-like, modular design was not only a successful response to this laid-back coastal setting, but also a worthy and replicable model for co-living that could be readily adapted.”
Winning the New House over 200 square metres category was Studio Bright’s Hedge and Arbour House – in the words of the jury, “an intriguing yet rigorous built form interlaced with landscaped spaces” situated on the edge of suburbia and bushland. The award for New House under 200 square metres was bestowed upon Sawmill Treehouse by Robbie Walker, which was described by the jury as “a beautiful sculpture, perched on slender columns among the trees.”
The full list of winners are as follows:
Australian House of the Year
Blok Three Sisters – Blok Modular with Vokes and Peters
New House over 200 square metres
Hedge and Arbour House – Studio Bright

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New House under 200 square metres
Sawmill Treehouse – Robbie Walker

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House Alteration and Addition over 200 square metres
Cloaked House – Trias

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House Alteration and Addition under 200 square metres
Carlton Cottage – Lovell Burton Architecture

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Apartment or Unit
Blok Three Sisters – Blok Modular with Vokes and Peters

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Small Project
Window, Window, Window – Panov Scott

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House in a Heritage Context
Mess Hall – Architecture Architecture

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Sustainability
Cake House – Alexander Symes Architect

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Emerging Architecture Practice
Ellul Architecture

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Commendations
See the 28 commended projects.
Houses Awards are organised by Architecture Media, supported by Artedomus, Blum, Brickworks, James Hardie, Roca, Fulgor Milano, Architectural Window Systems, The Heritage Council of Victoria and Latitude. More

The Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects has announced that nominations are open for both their 2025 Dunbar Fellowship and their 2026 Philip Y. Bisset Planning (Architecture) Scholarship.
Established in honour of the late Jennifer Taylor – an architectural scholar, critic and educator – the Dunbar Fellowship supports Queensland architects and graduates to pursue research in Asia and the islands of the South Pacific (excluding Australia and New Zealand).
According to a communique from the Institute, the $30,000 award enables architects to undertake one year of structured study or research that reflects Taylor’s vision for a more outward-looking Australian architecture – one deeply engaged with the cultures, traditions and material wisdom of our nearest neighbours. The successful applicant’s findings are expected to be presented to the public and published in a report accessible to practitioners, educators, policy-makers and the wider community.
Executive director of the Queensland Chapter Anna Svensdotter commented, “This Fellowship is about expanding the field of architectural thinking and ensuring that the profession continues to evolve in response to the diverse cultures and climates of our region.”
“It’s a chance for architects to step away from project delivery and engage with deeper questions of place, heritage, ethics and innovation — and to share those learnings for the benefit of the broader public,” she said.
Open to final-year Master of Architecture students in Queensland, the Philip Y. Bisset Planning (Architecture) Scholarship supports research and travel related to planning, public architecture and civic life, with the aim of generating ideas for how the built environment can improve the lives of Queenslanders.
“The Bisset Scholarship invests in the next generation of architects as civic leaders,” Svensdotter said. “It enables students to ask bold questions about how architecture can support healthier, more inclusive, and more sustainable communities.”
Established in honour of Philip Y. Bisset, a Queensland public servant and advocate for better planning and design outcomes, the $15,000 scholarship has previously supported students’ research into community housing in Indigenous communities, post-disaster urban recovery and the transformation of waterfront public space. Presentations from the 2024 Philip Y. Bisset scholars are expected in September–October this year.
Applications for the 2025 Dunbar Fellowship and their 2026 Philip Y. Bisset Planning (Architecture) Scholarship are open until 30 September 2025. More

Designs for a residential tower in Melbourne’s Docklands are currently on exhibition with the Victorian ministerial permits register. Authored by architecture practice FK, the 38-storey tower proposal from Salta Properties is located just north of the city’s Marvel Stadium and comprises 560 built-to-rent apartments.
Located at 696-699 La Trobe Street, on the corner of Harbour Esplanade, the project site is home to a previously approved mixed-use development, also by Fender Katsalidis (FK). The previous scheme included three towers – the tallest with an overall height of 128 metres.
According to a report from Urbis, the project’s planning consultant, “The site has an important connection to the CBD as it marks the termination of La Trobe Street. It is one of the remaining harbour front infill blocks in a locale that has been masterplanned at a larger scale.”
“The development is anticipated to become synonymous with the Docklands as a recognisable urban marker in the context of the area that frames Docklands Stadium as forming part of the city when view from the waterfront,” Urbis notes.

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The massing of the proposed design, which reaches just over 130 metres in height, is separated into a seven-storey podium – host to a residents’ lounge, bike workshop, cafe, sitting areas, lounges and services – and residential tower above.
Of the apartment offering, 10 percent of the component of the building over 75 metres in height are designated as affordable.
In addition to the proposed residents’ uses, the scheme includes a 483-square-metre co-working area on ground floor, a fitness centre on level seven, and dining areas, lounges and external amenity on the top floor.
The proposed tower takes an interlocking form. According to Urbis’s report, the masonry and concrete podium, which is designed to have “a sense of monumentality,” is contrasted with a lighter, aluminium and glazed tower articulation. The report describes the architectural language as one “that seeks to provide a sense of solidity and human scale in a precinct that has many modern glass edifices and anonymous glazed shopfronts.”

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A landscape design from Oculus includes a protected urban forecourt with a large civic gesture “intended as an artistic landmark,” Urbis’s statement notes. The podium rooftop and rooftop terraces at level 27 also involve “substantial landscaped areas.”
The proposal is on public exhibition. More

In his latest exhibition, digital craftsperson Marcus Piper expands the definition of drawing through experimental compositions involving light, sound, objects and viewer interaction. The exhibition also draws on Piper’s background in graphic design, industrial design, art, music, photography, typography, printmaking and publishing. The exhibition Optic 01: Drawing Parallels is on show at Useful Objects in Collingwood until August 30.
The exhibition features a series of mirror-based sculptures, darkroom photograms and digitally-animated prints that challenge conventional boundaries between mediums. A key highlight is a sculptural coffee table that “draws itself” — a suspended drawing within its frame shifts in depth and form through internal reflections as the viewer moves around it.

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“This exhibition is about a way of viewing the world. Or, seeing it differently – with you in it,” says Piper. “It draws heavily on my enduring habit of marking parallel lines and creating depth from a two-dimensional plane through experimentation with processes and materials.”
A consistent monochrome palette runs through the show. From photograms created using transparent sculptures and 15 seconds of refracted light, to digital animations generated from a six-hour musical score, the works span the analogue and the digital — a space Piper calls home.
“I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t challenge things,” Piper says. “Challenging the idea of perfect is also part of it and inviting the process into the outcome.”

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One installation, the Nota triptych, demonstrates Piper’s performative method. It began with the artist composing a full-length piece of music, which triggered movement in an animation of his drawings. Still frames from the resulting digital performance were then printed onto glass and mirror.
“Everything I do is crafted,” Piper explains. “My tools are (generally) digital but I bridge the analogue era. I am also a person. It is that simple but really important as a definition outside the pigeon holes of designer or artist.”

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The exhibition doesn’t just invite viewers to look — it requires their presence. Three wall mirrors printed with drawings reflect both the audience and the room around them. The drawings shift with light, angle and perspective, creating an experience that’s never the same twice.
“I love the idea that you create the drawing and it will never be seen the same twice,” Piper says. “Ultimately, I just want to share that experience of being ‘in the drawing’ with anyone who comes across the work.”
Presented by Useful Objects, Optic 01: Drawing Parallels is on until August 30. More

The Queensland government have announced that expressions of interest (EOI) are open for the preparation of an integrated masterplan for Brisbane’s Victoria Park precinct, which will form the heart of the city’s 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The news follows the an EOI period for the design of four new and upgraded sporting venues that opened earlier this month and closed less than a week ago.
In a media communique, the government asserts that the “co-location of key 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games infrastructure provides the opportunity to create a world-class recreation and lifestyle hub” at Victoria Park.
The inner-city precinct, which includes the Brisbane Showgrounds and surrounds, is envisioned as a place for recreation, events, entertainment and lifestyle.
At its heart, the Queensland government notes, “The main stadium at Victoria Park will become the new, world-class, 63,000-seat home to AFL and cricket in Queensland, and attract major national and international events, leaving a lasting legacy for 2032 and beyond.”
During the 2032 games, this stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as athletics events.
Together with the neighbouring National Aquatic Centre at the Spring Hill Centenary Pool site, the main games stadium is a major part of the jointly funded $7.1 billion Games Venue Infrastructure Program being rolled out over the next seven years, in which the state and federal governments will deliver 17 new and upgraded venues across Queensland.

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The government’s EOI invites Queenslanders to shape the future of Victoria Park precinct through community consultation.
In its first phase, the project involves the development of the precinct masterplan, which will include technical site investigations, planning, and design activities to support infrastructure delivery.
Alongside the main stadium and aquatic centre, the precinct includes the Brisbane Athlete Village at the showgrounds site, which will deliver housing post-games.
The state government notes that “the masterplan will identify the major pieces of connectivity and public realm infrastructure required for the precinct to operate both during the games and the decades beyond,” and “will focus on world-class and iconic public and green spaces.”
Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning Jarrod Bleijie emphasised that the project “is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for industry leaders” to help deliver significant civic infrastructure.
“With the precinct to include Brisbane Stadium in Victoria Park, the National Aquatic Centre in Spring Hill and the Brisbane Athlete Village in Brisbane Showgrounds, it will become a key part of Queensland’s Games legacy,” Bleijie said.

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The Queensland government notes that it is working closely with Brisbane City Council, the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland (RNA), and other key stakeholders to ensure integrated design outcomes across the precinct.
According to the government’s communique, community feedback on the Victoria Park Precinct Master Plan will play a pivotal role in shaping features such as open spaces, public realm enhancements and parklands.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner welcomed the opportunity for Brisbane residents to have their say.
“We reimagined Victoria Park from a golf course into a vibrant, world-class precinct with more for residents to see and do,” he commented. “We’ve delivered a pump track, picnic shelters, an urban common and Brisbane Metro, which already provides direct access to Victoria Park ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
“This is a great opportunity for us and the community to have input into the State Government’s vision for this incredible precinct,” Schrinner added.
The EOI for master planning principal contractors and sub-contractor teams can be accessed online, and will close on Friday 1 August 2025, ahead of a request for tender process to shortlisted proponents. More

Built-to-rent platform Novus, and M and G Real Estate have announced that they have secured approval of a residential development in Chatswood, designed by Rothelowman.
The project is the fourth overall and the second Sydney build-to-rent (BTR) scheme from Novus and Rothelowman. It follows approval of the duo’s Novus on Harris project, located in Parramatta, in April last year.
Rothelowman Principal Ben Pomroy noted, “Novus on Albert continues our growing partnership with Novus, built on a shared commitment to housing. Prioritising the occupant experience, the design encourages engagement between people and place through layered landscape, crafted detail, and robust materials – contributing meaningfully to Chatswood’s evolving urban fabric.”

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The $290 million Chatswood scheme is situated adjacent to the suburb’s major lifestyle and retail precincts – including Westfield, Chatswood Chase and the Concourse Arts Precinct – with direct connections to the Chatswood Transport Interchange.
Across 27 storeys, the proposal comprises 198 purpose-designed BTR apartments including studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, along with a pool, wellness areas, co-working spaces, a rooftop lounge and outdoor terrace, and ground-floor retail.
A statement from Novus says that “the tower has been carefully designed to maximise solar access, amenity and privacy, while capturing panoramic views over the Lane Cover River to the west and Sydney’s CBD to the south.”

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Novus co-founder and chief development officer Jason Goldsworthy said the pathway to achieving state significant development approval “involved working alongside the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, Willoughby City Council and Government Architect NSW to reach a positive outcome for Sydney’s Lower North Shore and aid in the housing shortfall being experienced across the state of NSW.”
“Novus on Albert is part of the new wave of sustainably designed and developed residential buildings,” Goldsworthy explained. He noted that the project includes initiatives to promote improved thermal performance, reduced reliance on mechanical air conditioning and increased energy efficiency, resulting in a 5-star Green Star rating and an average 7-star NatHERS rating.
Construction is due to commence in early 2026. More

The Northern Territory government has unveiled imagery of the latest plans for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Gallery of Australia (ATSIAGA) in the town centre of Alice Springs/Mparntwe.
Designed by a team comprising BVN and Susan Dugdale and Associates alongside landscape architects Aspect Studios and Clarsen and Clarsen, the plans for the institution at 7 Wills Terrace – previously called the National Aboriginal Art Gallery – were originally filed for development consent last year.
However, Minister for Logistics and Infrastructure Bill Yan said that due to cost blowouts, the NT government has recently “re-scoped the gallery to deliver a project that’s affordable, achievable and world-class.”
“This gallery will be a world-class cultural landmark that celebrates the world’s oldest living cultures, while driving jobs, tourism, and economic growth for Alice Springs,” Yan said.

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The architects’ new design for ATSIAGA is, according to the NT government, currently halfway complete. A development consent application for the redesigned project, which was submitted earlier this month, is now on public exhibition.
Reduced from five storeys, the new scheme is a three-storey, 4,000-square-metre building that includes 1,300-square-metres of exhibition space for major touring and international exhibitions, supported by specialist facilities, including a secure loading dock, conservation and registration spaces and staff areas.
On the proposed ground floor, an entry foyer and cafe are designed to connect to a landscaped forecourt to the east, which provides a buffer between the new gallery and the site’s neighbouring rotary club. According to the NT government, the project also includes “significant parking upgrades” for the over 50s community, the Anzac Oval and the proposed gallery.

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Yan said the project will transform Alice Springs into a national cultural hub while generating tangible economic and social benefits.
“ATSIAGA is about more than art, it’s about jobs, private investment, cultural tourism and strengthening our national identity,” he said. “It will empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices through co-curation with artists and communities and position the Northern Territory as a global leader in showcasing First Nations culture.”
The NT government anticipate that following development of the design and regulatory approvals, the gallery will take between 18 and 24 months to construct, and be ready for opening in late 2027.
The proposal is on public exhibition until 22 August. More

The Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) has officially opened their Woden campus, approximately 10 kilometers south of Canberra’s CBD.
Designed by architecture practice Gray Puksand in collaboration with Infrastructure Canberra, CIT and Lendlease, the 22,500-square-metre facility will accommodate up to 6,500 students a year. Concept designs for the project were released in August 2022, three months after the architects were appointed.
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A press release from the architects notes that “the campus is designed to embed education within the public life of the local community.” At ground floor, activated street frontages, publicly accessible spaces and direct links to transport – including a public transport interchange currently in construction – are designed to dissolve “the boundaries between learning and civic participation.”
Partner at Gray Puksand Barry Hackett commented, “CIT Woden speaks to a broader evolution in institutional interiors, where civic buildings are designed not only for access, but also for comfort, dignity, and engagement. It is a campus designed not just to serve a curriculum, but to support how people live, learn and gather.
“In doing so, it reflects the evolving role of vocational education in Australian cities, where institutions are increasingly seen as a driver of community connection, urban renewal and economic opportunity,” said Hackett.

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According to their communique, Gray Puksand’s design for CIT Woden responds also to the identity of the campus’s setting on Ngunnawal Country. The architectural form draws from the surrounding landscape, with facade geometries referencing the Brindabella Ranges. At roof level, a circular oculus featuring a wedge-tailed eagle, or Mulleun, is intended to represent a totem of the Ngunnawal people.
The design process included consultation with Yerrabingin on the integration and expression of Country throughout the campus. The collaboration informed spatial strategies, cultural references and materials used across the public realm and interior design.
CEO and co-founder of Yerrabingin Christian Hampson said, “We applied our designing with Country practice Wanganni Dhayar, that brings together First Nations communities and built environment professionals to guide a Country centred approach to CIT Woden. This approach informed spatial planning to the expression of landscape and light.”
Each floor of the five-level building is distinguished by colour, with muted earth tones at ground level and lighter sky tones above encouraging clear wayfinding.
Smart classrooms, specialist labs and open collaboration areas are distributed throughout to support various work, training and study modes in industries such as business and management, creative industries, cyber and IT, hair and beauty, and hospitality, culinary and tourism.

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The campus design integrates sustainability as a core framework, with CIT Woden being declared by Gray Puksand as one of the first institutions of its kind to combine mass timber construction with fully electric systems.
The 6-Star Green Star campus incorporates approximately 1,200 cubic metres of engineered timber across both the exterior and interior, and is supported by 100 percent renewable energy from the ACT grid, rooftop planting, water harvesting and solar photovoltaic infrastructure.
Reflecting on Gray Puksand’s approach, Hackett noted, “Designing an educational precinct of this scale without fossil fuels pushed us to rethink every system and assumption. CIT Woden demonstrates that large, high-performance education buildings can meet ambitious sustainability targets without compromising functionality or long-term public value.”

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The architecture firm claims that the major investment into the campus and surrounding infrastructure will deliver broad and long-term civic and economic value, improving “pathways into training and employment across critical industries to support the territory’s future.”
Former acting CEO of CIT Christine Robertson added that the campus “gives our students a place they can feel proud of, one that reflects the quality of training provided and the vital role vocational education plays in the community. The campus will strengthen our ability to attract and retain learners, foster meaningful educational outcomes, and build workforce capability across the region.” More