The Adelaide Convention Centre Redevelopment: East secured the Jack McConnell Award for Public Architecture, a named award—the highest caliber of the 2018 South Australian Architecture Awards—that will elevate the adaptable 42,000-square-meter project to the National Architecture Awards. This eponymous distinction was named after the influential modernist architect who was both a former president of the Australian Institute of Architects and received the Institute’s Gold Medal.
At the AIA’s Victorian Architecture Awards, C.F. Row, a Melbourne housing development built within the original frame of a historical furniture warehouse, won the award for Residential Architecture—Multiple Housing. This will elevate the project to the national awards. The Elwood House received a commendation.
The Australian Institute of Architects operates in chapters in each state and territory. Chapter award winners proceed to the National Architecture Awards program announced on November 1 in Melbourne.
South Australian Architecture Awards
Adelaide Convention Centre Redevelopment: East in Adelaide
Jack McConnell Award for Public Architecture
Shaped by its unique internal features, the convention center has numerous “moving parts” to maximize the flexibility of its interiors and provide a series of different configurations and meeting spaces. These include operable walls, two 300-seat auditorium, and six massive hinged panels of tiered seating that can be activated to reveal a flat floor capable of exhibition or banquet mode events. Its rust-colored zinc panels pay homage to the Australian red earth and rock formations and provide a slightly crinkled, tiled texture with several panels to soften the appearance of the massive walls.
Victorian Architecture Awards
C.F. Row in Melbourne
Award for Residential Architecture—Multiple Housing
Located along 237 Napier Street, the bricolage of 52 dwellings sits within the rich urban fabric of Melbourne’s oldest inner-city suburb—Fitzroy. The site utilizes the historical façade of the former furniture warehouse dating back to the postwar years while harmonizing a collection of townhouses and apartments covered in aluminum cladding.
Elwood House in Melbourne
Commendation for Residential Architecture—Multiple Housing
The four-story development reflects the local grain and scale of its Melbourne precinct while simultaneously evolving this particular site into a more refined solution for the area. Drawing on the character of the local vernacular, the new multifamily complex transforms the typically low-scale residential language of the city.