Evelyn Reynolds

Architects, interior designers, specifiers and design students from Australia and New Zealand can now submit recent projects that demonstrate an exceptional use of colour into the 2026 Dulux Colour Awards.
The 2026 awards categories span Commercial Interior – Workplace and Retail; Commercial Interior – Public and Hospitality; Commercial and Multi-Residential Exterior; Residential Interior; Single Residential Exterior; Temporary or Installation Design; and Student.
The Australian Grand Prix-winner – the program’s top honour – will be chosen from the category winners. In 2025, the top prize went to Sarah and Sebastian Armadale by Richards Stanisich, a Melbourne jewellery store that pairs a bold green palette with striking reflective surfaces.
This year’s judging panel comprises Simone Haag of Simone Haag Interior Decoration; Ben Peake of Carter Williamson Architects; Buster Caldwell of Wonder Group; Sarah-Jane Pyke of Arent and Pyke; and Alix Smith of Hassell.
Entries are open until 20 February 2026, with finalists scheduled to be announced 9 April 2026. The winners will be unveiled on 27 May 2026.For projects to qualify, they must have been completed between 1 September 2024 to 31 December 2025 and must not have been entered in the program previously.
The full suite of winners from 2025 can be found here. For more information on the awards including how to enter, visit the Dulux website. More

The winning projects of this year’s Ammodo Architecture Award have been announced, with 26 recipients selected from 168 entries across more than 60 countries. Now in its second year, the award showcases exemplary contributions to socially and ecologically responsible architecture.
In the Social Engagement category, which recognises projects where designers have used their skills as the primary tool to support social and ecological responsibility, NMBW Architecture Studio was one of 12 practices to receive an award. Their winning project, Sanders Place, involved the adaptive reuse of a two-storey brick factory in Melbourne into a co-working hub for developer Tripple.
The award’s advisory committee noted that transforming the closed industrial building into an open, welcoming space reconnects people with nature and community.

View gallery

“The project skilfully reimagines an existing factory through acts of careful subtraction and reuse, introducing five courtyards – including a central garden where trees grow through the floor – that bring light, air and life into the building,” the committee said.
“With rooftop solar panels, heat recovery ventilation and extensive material reuse, Sanders Place exemplifies how sustainability and human wellbeing can be integrated with beauty and restraint. It demonstrates how architects can ‘liberate themselves from chains’ to create meaningful, ecological and socially engaging architecture, even in highly regulated urban contexts.”
The award includes a €50,000 grant to support the further development of the practice’s projects, which, according to a media release, NMBW intend to use to “fund a design-research initiative exploring how architecture in Melbourne and Sydney can be revitalised through decolonising design, adaptive reuse and multi-sensory engagement.”
“Focusing on disused colonial-era buildings often located on significant Indigenous sites, NMBW will investigate how to transform these structures into inclusive, living public spaces,” the release notes.
The Ammodo Architecture Award advisory committee was chaired by Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of the World Press Photo Foundation, Amsterdam, and included Andrés Jaque, architect, dean and professor, Columbia University GSAPP, New York; Anupama Kundoo, architect and professor, TU Berlin; Floris Alkemade, architect and former Chief Government Architect of the Netherlands; Mariam Issoufou, architect and professor, ETH Zurich; and Loreta Castro Reguera, architect and professor, UNAM Mexico City. To ensure global representation, projects were sourced through an invitation system organised by regional ambassadors. More

The Low Carbon Challenge, founded in the ACT in 2020, has been newly launched as a national initiative, calling on Australian architects to lead the decarbonisation of our built environment.
Supported by the Australian Institute of Architects’ Architecture Industry Decarbonisation Plan 2025–2050, the inaugural Australian Zero Carbon Housing Challenge offers a platform for the industry to demonstrate their commitment to efficient and sustainable housing, and to showcase how design excellence can drive carbon reduction, improve wellbeing and build resilience from a project’s outset.
National president of the Institute Adam Haddow commented that the previous Canberra Low Carbon Housing Challenge had already demonstrated how strategies like passive solar orientation, low-carbon material selection, compact form and integrated renewable energy make significant contributions to reduced embodied and operational carbon emissions, with more than half of the competition’s entries achieving net-zero or near-net-zero carbon outcomes.
“The challenge has influenced ACT’s policy discourse: when each new home in Canberra contributes roughly 500 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, architects noted that planting thousands of trees would be impractical – better to stop the emissions in the first place,” he said. “Now, the Australian Zero Carbon Housing Challenge … builds on that track record. It offers a platform for registered architects, graduates and practices to embed quality, consumer protection, and climate outcomes from the outset.”
Led by volunteer architects and researchers, in partnership with Cerclos, the challenge invites Australian registered architects and practices, and architectural graduates and students to submit designs for housing up to three-storeys high that delivers measurable reductions in operational energy and embodied carbon, as assessed using a whole-of-life carbon analysis with the Rapid LCA app.
“The competition rewards design excellence, practicality, and consumer value – not gimmicks,” Immediate past national president of the Institute Jane Cassidy said. “By focusing on front-end design intervention, the challenge helps ensure that new housing doesn’t lock Australia into carbon debt.”
Citing a report from the Green Building Council of Australia, which warned that a typical all-electric Australia emits more than seven times the carbon it will produce in operation, Cassidy commented, “It shows that the greatest leverage lies in design decisions made at the start: materials, structure, embodied services, even deconstruction potential.”
Haddow added that modelling by the CRC for Low Carbon Living and the ASBEC has shown that fast-tracking sustainable housing could inject over half a billion dollars into the Australian construction sector by 2030.
“With economic upside, climate urgency, and design integrity aligned, this challenge is more than symbolic: it’s foundational,” he said.
Registration details for the Australian Zero Carbon Housing Challenge can be accessed online. More

Artist Troy Emery and Cox Architecture have been awarded first prize in the Tapestry Design Prize (TDP), presented by the Australian Tapestry Workshop (ATW).
This year’s prize focuses on one of Australia’s most significant modern homes – Boyd House II / Walsh Street designed by Robin Boyd. Since its inception in 2015, the TDP has been a celebration of the meeting point between architecture, design and contemporary textile art – a space where creative disciplines entwine and reimagine how tapestry can transform built environments.
This year’s iteration invited designers and architects to respond to the intimate domestic spaces of Boyd’s Walsh Street residence. From over 150 applications, five finalists were selected, each interpreting a different room within the house. Their proposals were handwoven by ATW’s master weavers, translating digital sketches and architectural concepts into rich, tactile surfaces of wool and cotton.

View gallery

The resulting works — five distinct tapestries, totalling 1,487 hours of weaving and over 39 kilometres of yarn — were unveiled during a special exhibition at Walsh Street on 14–16 November 2025.
Troy Emery and Cox Architecture’s tapestry Longing (Camilla) is a two-dimensionalinterpretation of Emery’s 2024 sculpture Lupa, an amorphous animal-like companion. In the domestic site of Walsh Street, Camilla echoes Boyd’s family life with their pet cat of the same name. The excess tendrils of yarn drip down out of the plane of the woven surface towards the floor, stretching the silhouette of the animal figure and evoking emotion and memory.

View gallery

Commenting on the winner’s work, the jury – consisting of Kennedy Nolan principal Patrick Kennedy, Nexus Designs director Sally Evans and InteriorsAu editor Cassie Hansen – said the piece was selected for it “authentic innovation and deep resonance with Robin Boyd’s Walsh Street house.”
“The work reimagines the potential of tapestry as an art form: its materiality, tactility and artistic nature. The result is a piece that could only exist as tapestry, not painting or print. Thoughtfully positioned within Walsh Street’s living room, its location, scale and textures harmonise with its architectural context, engaging with the materials and tones of Boyd’s design. Evoking the domestic intimacy of the site, the work draws inspiration from the home’s former resident cat, Camilla. Distinctive, conceptually rich and masterfully realised by weaver Saffron Gordon, this tapestry represents a significant and contemporary evolution of the medium,” said the jury.
The winning team received $5,000, while all finalists receive $1,000, along with a People’s Choice Award to be decided by public vote.
The 2025 finalists were:

Jack MacRae, Wilson Architects

Troy Emery and Cox Architecture

N’arwee’t Professor Carolyn Briggs AM and Greenshoot

Yvette Coppersmith and Anouska Milstein, A.mi

Mouriya Senthilkumar and Ian Tsui More

Australian projects have taken out awards in this year’s World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards, presented live in Miami. Of the 460 projects that made the shortlist, 36 were Australian, and two have been named category winners.
In the Completed Buildings category, Woods Bagot has won the Creative Reuse subcategory for its Younghusband project, which involved the regeneration of over 17,000 square metres of former industrial landscape in inner-west Melbourne into a thriving urban village. Using a “light touch” methodology, the project retains and restores much of the 120-year-old heritage fabric, while new insertions enable functional spaces for retail, fashion, wellness, food and beverage, startups, arts and culture, and temporary events. Younghusband is also shortlisted for the Sustainability Prize.
In the Retrofit subcategory, BVN’s Sirius Redevelopment was named the winner. Originally opened in 1981 as social housing, the Sirius building remains a highly visible landmark within the historic Rocks precinct of Sydney. BVN was part of a consortium that worked to retain the structure when it was slated for demolition, reimagining a new chapter for the building centred around public activation, precinct connectivity and enhanced apartment amenity for contemporary living.

View gallery

While three of the four overarching awards categories have been revealed, the winning and highly commended projects in the Landscape category are yet to be announced.
The category winners will be considered for the World Building of the Year, World Landscape of the Year, and Future Project of the Year Awards.
A full list of winners and entrants can be accessed online. More

From 66 entries, 24 have been shortlisted by the jury in the 2026 AA Prize for Unbuilt Work, which seeks conceptually rigorous, inventive responses to contemporary architectural issues. The prize promotes debate and to generate ideas about architecture by rewarding compelling work in its conceptual stages.
The shortlisted proposals are:
A New School of Architecture – HSP
Acting in the Meantime – Eliza Ng
Are You Being Served? – Eliza Innes
Asyndeton: Unseen Fantasies of Reality – Pei Kai Tan
Beneath the Shadows of Palm: Blueprints for Rural Palm Oil Territories – Danielle Lee
Biography of Design – Design Foundry
Building Community Resilience in a Disrupted World – IDA Alliance
Built Back Better: Urban Resilience for the Township of Lismore – Carmelo Nastasi
Ex Libris Singapore – Lily Éire Parsons
Flinders Island Community Vet – Bence Mulcahy
Friends of the Void – Jamie Bond
Gutless Wonder – Yasmin Fennessy
Kidscapes – Kali Marnane and Tess Martin in collaboration
NSW Pattern Book – In Common Studio
P2 Contemporary – Cicely Brown, Finn Holle and Sophie Shaw
Patterns of Footscray – Card
Play, Her Way … – Sophia Di Giandomenico
ReVault 2.0 – Supermanoeuvre
Richmond Sportslink – Bates Smart
Roads that Separate, Walls that Connect: Civic Propositions for Parramatta Road – Keita Sugimoto and Thomas Papetti
Spectral Dialogues – Katie Taylor
The Art of Darkness – Scar
The Greater Sydney Building Society – Billy McQueenie
Walyalup/Fremantle – What If – Whadjuk Balardong Elder Robyn Collard with Simon Pendal Architect
The 2026 AA Prize for Unbuilt Work jury comprised Ingrid Bakker of Hassell; Kirsteen Mackay from the Office for Design and Architecture SA; Deo Prasad of the University of New South Wales; Stuart Vokes of Vokes and Peters; and Georgia Birks, associate editor of Architecture Australia, as jury chair.
The winner of the prize will be announced on 2 February 2026 on ArchitectureAu and in the Architecture Australia magazine.
The AA Prize for Unbuilt Work is organised by Architecture Media, and supported by presenting partner Adelaide University. More

The Sydney Fish Market has reached construction completion, with market proprietors now set to complete final fit-outs ahead of its 2026 opening.
Designed by Danish-born, international architecture practice 3XN with Australian practices BVN and Aspect Studios, the project relocates the existing fish market in Blackwattle Bay to an adjacent site. The milestone marks the culmination of nearly a decade of planning, design and construction, with designers first sought in 2016 and development approval granted in 2020.
The new Sydney Fish Market is the largest public market hall in the southern hemisphere and is expected to attract over six million domestic and international visitors each year.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the “milestone is an opportunity to reflect on all the hard work that has gone into completing this magnificent building on Sydney’s harbour foreshore.”

View gallery

The new market is supported by 481 marine piles and 6,000 tonnes of steel reinforcement. It comprises more than 400 roof cassettes and 594 glulam timber beams, which were transported by barge from Glebe Island. Beneath the building, seawall tiles, coral panels and hanging fish habitats have been installed to support marine life in Blackwattle Bay.
The defining feature of the project is its distinctive 230-metre-long roof, with panels patterned to resemble fish scales. Designed to harness climatic conditions, the roof collects rainwater for recycling, generates energy through photovoltaic panels and includes skylights that draw natural light through the market. The roof can also be illuminated for special occasions via multi-coloured LED lighting.

View gallery

Another notable feature is a glass facade around the building, designed to enable visitors to observe the market in action, including live fish auctions.
According to a NSW government communique, the site accommodates more than 6,000 square metres of public space, and includes five art installations in the Civic Plaza intended to celebrate First Nations heritage and the area’s industrial history.

View gallery

Retail space in the new market will be double the capacity of the current market, featuring a mix of local seafood vendors, specialty food shops,and a range of dining options, from casual takeaway to premium waterfront restaurants.
The new Sydney Fish Market is anticipated to open on 19 January 2026, while the existing fish market site is earmarked for a redevelopment that will deliver more than 1,500 homes. More

The winners of the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Design Awards have been announced, recognising excellence, ingenuity and innovation across the state’s design community with seven category winners and a student design award.
Taking out the top prize in the Architectural Design category was Woodleigh Futures Studio, a zero-waste building by McIldowie Partners, Joost Bakker and Woodleigh School, which is an independent school on the Mornington Peninsula.
The Northern Memorial Park Depot by Searle x Waldron Architecture, The Greater Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, Oculus, OPS Engineers, Buro North and Lucid was highly commended in this category.

View gallery

The other finalists in the Architectural Design category included:

Assemble, 15 Thompson Street, Kensington – Hayball, Assemble, Hacer Group, Oculus and Atelier Ten
Auburn High School Senior Centre – Wowowa Architecture
Canopi Valley Lake – Niddrie Quarry Housing – Bird de la Coeur Architects, CDA Design Group, RedC and MAB
ECHO.1 – C Street Projects, Neil Architecture, Speckel, Detail Green, Ascot Consulting Engineers and Structplan
Eva and Marc Besen Centre – Kerstin Thompson Architects and Tarrawarra Museum of Art
Gargarro Botanic Garden – TCL, Gargarro Botanic Garden and Brandrick Architects
Kangan Institute Health and Community Centre of Excellence – Architectus and Bendigo Kangan Institute
Melbourne Place – Kennedy Nolan Architects, Longriver, Tracy Atherton (hotel consultant) and ADCO Constructions (builder)
Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence – ARM Architecture, Munarra Limited, Department of Premier and Cabinet, First Peoples State Relations, the University of Melbourne and the Victorian School Building Authority
Pakenham Station – Genton, North Western Programme Alliance, John Holland, Metro Trains Melbourne, KBR and Level Crossing Removal Project
Pascoe Vale Primary School Gymnasium and Performance Centre – Kosloff Architecture, GLAS Landscape Architects and Kent Morris (artist)
Quiet Studio – Studiobird, Autex Acoustics and Universal Practice
Templeton Primary School – Kosloff Architecture and GLAS Landscape Architects
Terrain – Terrain
Truganina Community Centre – Wyndham City Council (client), Jasmax (architect), CICG (contractor), Outlines (landscape architect), Lisa Waup (artist) and Lucid Consulting (ESD).

In the Design Strategy category, Plan for Victoria – a youth-led transport and planning design initiative by Y Lab and the Department of Transport and Planning – was named the winner.
Minister for Creative Industries Colin Brooks commented, “These awards showcase the creativity, ingenuity and technical expertise that make our state Australia’s design capital, and demonstrate how design can drive business growth and social change.”
The Victorian Premier’s Design Awards are managed by Good Design Australia on behalf of the Victorian government, with the full list of winners accessible online. More