AFP forensics facility takes out ACT’s top architecture award

The Australian Federal Police’s leading-edge Forensics and Data Centre in Majura, designed by HASSELL, was awarded the Territory’s top architecture award at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2018 ACT Architecture Awards at the National Gallery of Australia on Saturday night (23 June).

ACT Minister for Planning and Land Management, Mick Gentleman presented HASSELL with the prestigious Canberra Medallion for the AFP facility.

This project also took out the top honour in the commercial category, winning the John Andrews Award for Commercial Architecture.

Australian Institute of Architects ACT Jury Chair, Rob Henry, said that for the first time, the new AFP building brought together 200 experts in digital, biological and chemical forensics, weapons intelligence and fingerprint and facial identification into one complex.

‘This brief could so easily have succumbed to an explicitly defensive architecture. Instead, the Forensics and Data Centre extracts generosity and openness from a highly sensitive program to engender a collaborative and collegiate workplace and find a welcome ease of fit between organisation and built form,” he said.

ACT Chapter President, Philip Leeson, said a record number of entries in this year’s awards was a promising sign that Canberra homeowners saw the benefit of good quality sustainable design and that business leaders saw the return on investment achieved through architectural design.

“Many of the projects were commissioned by the private sector including a number of education buildings and several private residences,” he said.

The CSIRO’s new Black Mountain research facility, Synergy, by BVN received multiple accolades, winning the sustainable and public architecture categories with the Derek Wrigley Award for Sustainable Architecture and the Romaldo Giurgola Award for Public Architecture, as well as an Award for Interior Architecture.

The redevelopment of Australia’s first fully enclosed shopping mall, Monaro Mall in the Canberra Centre, by Universal Design Studio and Mather Architecture, was highly acclaimed by the judges, receiving the JS Murdoch Award for Heritage, the W Hayward Morris Award for Interior Architecture, an Award for Commercial Architecture and the Robert Foster Award for Light in Architecture.

“An ambitious project, the practice team has successfully and sensitively restored, revealed, reinstated and re-imagined Monaro Mall’s heritage values, intent and finishes. Monaro Mall is now a light-filled and material-rich contemporary retail transformation which demonstrates the powerful potential of adaptive reuse of heritage buildings over demolition,” Mr Henry said.

On the residential architecture front, Swan, by Collins Caddaye Architects, a bold home on a semi-rural property, seven years in the making, received the Malcolm Moir and Heather Sutherland Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New).

The Emerging Architect Prize was awarded to Shannon Battisson from The Mill: Architecture + Design.

Robert Foster was acknowledged for his contribution to art and architecture through the Lifetime Contribution Prize.

A total of 38 Named Awards, Awards and Commendations were presented on the night from a record field of 58 entries. Named Award and Award winners will now progress to the National Architecture Awards to be announced in Melbourne on Thursday 1 November 2018.

Full list of winners:

Commercial Architecture

• The John Andrews Award – Australian Federal Police Forensics and Data Centre by HASSELL
• Award – Monaro Mall, Canberra Centre by Universal Design Studio and Mather Architecture
• Commendation – Dairy Road (3.4) by Craig Tan Architects

Educational Architecture

• The Enrico Taglietti Award – STEM Centre by Collins Caddaye Architects
• Commendation – RN Robertson Building by CCJ Architects

Heritage

• The J S Murdoch Award – Monaro Mall, Canberra Centre by Universal Design Studio and Mather Architecture

Interior Architecture

• The W Hayward Morris Award – Monaro Mall, Canberra Centre by Universal Design Studio and Mather Architecture
• Award – St Christopher’s Precinct by Cox Architecture
• Award – Synergy by BVN
• Commendation – Capital Airport Group Office Fitout by Cox Architecture

Public Architecture

• The Romaldo Giurgola Award – Synergy by BVN
• Award – St Christopher’s Precinct by Cox Architecture
• Commendation – High Commission of Samoa in Australia by Cox Architecture

Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)

• The Gene Willsford Award – Chowne Street House by PHILLIP LEESON ARCHITECTS
• Commendation – Puutalo House by JUDD.studio
• Commendation – TL House by Ben Walker Architects
• Commendation – DC House by Ben Walker Architects

Residential Architecture – Houses (New)

• The Malcolm Moir and Heather Sutherland Award – Swan by Collins Caddaye Architects
• Award – Box House by Paul Tilse Architects
• Award – Inset House by JUDD.studio
• Commendation – Moss River House by Cox Architecture
• Commendation – Sawtooth House by JUDD.studio

Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing

• The Sydney Ancher Award – St Germain by Cox Architecture
• Award – St Christopher’s Precinct by Cox Architecture

Small Project Architecture

• The Cynthia Breheny Award – Phased Change House by Erin Owens | MAKO Architecture
• Award – Kingston Boat Sheds by Tait Network
• Commendation – Parents room, Monaro Mall, Canberra Centre by Mather Architecture

Sustainable Architecture

• The Derek Wrigley Award – Synergy by BVN
• Award – RN Robertson Building by CCJ Architects
• Commendation – The Link by CCJ Architects

Urban Design

• The Sir John Overall Award – Throsby Infrastructure by Tait Network
• Award – ANU Pop-Up Reunion Village by OCULUS with Craig Tan Architects
• Commendation – St Christopher’s Precinct by Cox Architecture

Enduring Architecture

• The Sir Roy Grounds Award – St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Charnwood by Mitchell Giurgola Thorp Architects
• COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture Award – Roberts Residence by formi building creators

Chapter Awards and Prizes

• Canberra Medallion – Australian Federal Police Forensics and Data Centre by HASSELL
• The Pamille Berg Award for Art in Architecture – Chowne Street House by PHILIP LEESON ARCHITECTS
• The Robert Foster Award for Light in Architecture – Monaro Mall, Canberra Centre by Universal Design Studio and Mather Architecture
• Architectural Professional of the Year – Remco Alexander de Vries, SQC Architecture
• President’s Medal – Harold Guida, Guida Moseley Brown Architects
• Clem Cummings Medal – Rachael Coghlan, CraftACT
• Emerging Architect Prize – Shannon Battisson, The Mill: Architecture + Design
• Lifetime Contribution Prize – Robert Foster
• ACT Chapter Student Medallion – Joel Smith, University of Canberra
• Daryl Jackson Alastair Swayn Graduate Prize – Joel Smith, University of Canberra
• John Redmond Prize – John Roberts, University of Canberra