ARCHITEAM MEDAL WINNER

ARCHITEAM MEDAL

As the highest honour bestowed by ArchiTeam, this medal recognises projects that exemplify the very best in architectural design and practice. It celebrates work that not only achieves excellence across all criteria but also advances the profession and demonstrates architecture's capacity to positively impact society.

As the highest honour, projects should demonstrate:

• Exceptional achievement across all general criteria
• Innovation that advances architectural practice
• Exemplary response to project constraints
• Outstanding contribution to the built environment
• Leadership in sustainable design practice

All entries are eligible to win the ArchiTeam Medal and an award must be given in this category. This is the highest award and judges may award this to an entry of general excellence, or for something more specific, from any category.

Winner:  Meeniyan Community Hub | Public Realm Lab

Judges Citation: 

The Meeniyan Community Hall by Public Realm Lab redefines the potential of small-town architecture, transforming a modest community brief into a work of enduring civic generosity. Rooted in Meeniyan’s fabric, the design draws on familiar local forms—roofs, verandahs and sheltered thresholds—to create spaces that feel authentic and distinctly of place. The new building and its historic neighbour are composed as buildings in dialogue, forming a streetscape of quiet strength and coherence. Executed with precision and restraint, its use of galvanised steel and biogenic hemp masonry celebrates sustainability and craftsmanship, turning pragmatic materials into symbols of pride.

Balancing ambition with economy, the intentionally small team at Public Realm Lab have successfully demonstrated how thoughtful planning and deep contextual awareness can elevate everyday infrastructure into meaningful public architecture.

VIDEO

SUSTAINABILITY MEDAL WINNER

SUSTAINABILITY MEDAL

(Sponsored by: Island Block & Paving)

This medal recognises exceptional achievement in sustainable design and environmental stewardship, celebrating projects that demonstrate leadership in addressing climate change and environmental challenges through architecture. It rewards innovative approaches to sustainability that go beyond standard practice to create truly regenerative solutions.

Projects should demonstrate:

• Exceptional environmental performance metrics
• Innovation in sustainable design solutions
• Integration of passive design principles
• Material selection for environmental impact
• Long-term sustainability considerations

All entries are eligible to win this Medal and an award must be given in this category. This medal can be awarded to a design or advocacy project. Weight should be given to the response to the Sustainability Checklist.

Winner: Subtle Shift | Steffen Welsch Architects

Judges Citation: 

Subtle Shift by Steffen Welsch Architects shows how small, thoughtful changes can make a big environmental impact. Instead of adding more space, the architects cleverly reworked the existing home to make it more functional, comfortable and connected, proving that sustainable design doesn’t need to mean building bigger. By reusing materials, improving energy performance, and integrating solar power, battery storage and rainwater systems, the project achieved remarkably low energy use while reducing waste and embodied carbon. Just as importantly, it created a warm and flexible home that will serve its occupants for many years to come.

Subtle Shift stands out for showing how sustainability can feel effortless and beautiful; where comfort, resourcefulness and environmental care come together in everyday living.

VIDEO

Joint Winner:
East West Play Structure | Pop Architecture

Judges Citation

Pop Architecture’s East West Play Structure transforms constraint into delight, crafting a poetic and purposeful response to the loss of a beloved tree. Within a compact urban site, the architects distil memory, culture, and play into a single sculptural form that is both inventive and deeply grounded.

The stainless-steel mesh trunk and reclaimed timber “branches” invite climbing, hiding, and discovery—echoing the improvisational spirit of childhood while honouring Wurundjeri stories of place and season. Material economy becomes a lesson in sustainability, with salvaged timbers and reused tyres assembled with craft and care.

Every element—down to the carved fence finials—balances safety, storytelling, and tactile engagement.

The result is a modest yet monumental contribution: a richly layered structure that expands the definition of play, demonstrates the power of small-scale architecture, and stands as a joyful testament to imagination within tight physical and financial bounds.

Joint Winner:
This is Lumeah - featuring Paul Couch | Pepper & Well

Judges Citation:

This is Lumeah demonstrates the discipline and clarity that define exemplary small-scale architecture. Working within tight spatial and budgetary parameters, the project achieves a sophisticated recalibration of the existing fabric, revealing how constraint can become a generator of design intelligence.

Every gesture serves both purpose and poetry. Material choices such as the introduction of the Brown Mintaro slate, exposed concrete, and refined steel detailing, ground the work in tactility and honesty, while the re-planning of the ensuite distils function and experience into an economy of moves which will also allow the residents to remain here as they age.

The result is architecture that feels inevitable: calm, precise, and deeply resolved. This is Lumeah is a masterclass in how rigorous thinking, spatial efficiency, and restraint can yield spaces of generosity and enduring delight.

Sorrento Bathhouse 
Davidov Architects

Judges Citation:

Nestled quietly into the corner of this suburban coastal allotment, the Sorrento Bathhouse has successfully executed a project that explores the beauty found in simplicity, through the delicate balance between space, light and form.

Pragmatic, yet profound, the rigour placed in the detailing and choice in a palette of monochromatic, yet warm materials has created a space of refuge and calm, that subtly reference the ethereal work of Philip Johnson and experiential qualities of a Japanese onsen.

Located centrally, the spa takes pride of place, with carefully curated anti-rooms that offer utility, but also luxury through their connection to the surrounds, celebrating the rituals in bathing and the joy found in slowing down.

The result is an architecture of quiet luxury – refined, intentional and timeless.

Horsham House
Jake Taylor Architecture

Fishermans Walk
Megowan

Sorrento Bathhouse 
Davidov Architects

Hardiman Street
Of Diverse Research

Horsham House
Jake Taylor Architecture

WINNER
Residential New - Over $1M +

The Boulevard
Archier

Judges Citation:

Another banger from a celebrated Melbourne practice, this home is an essay in how to gracefully cascade down a sloping site and artfully snuggle into a richly treed surrounding, with a home drenched in landscape.

Highly crafted, highly skilled composition of elements that feel both weighted and hovering all at once. The seamless connectivity of inside and out is delight and impressed the jury immensely giving both Italian ruin energy coupled with the best of Australiana innovation with the manufacturing ambitions that sit behind the genius of this home.

Detailed within an inch of its life, the project is refined but clearly facilitates and is intended to champion the lived experience of the lucky family who live here -making space for fun with furry green rooftops and a gorgeous window shelf terrace detail. An inner suburban dream, that feels costal and relaxed. A skilled endeavor. Bravo team.

Point Lonsdale House
Field Office Architecture

Taroona House 
Archier

Broome St House
Philip Stejskal Architecture 

Point Lonsdale House
Field Office Architecture

Marraweeney 
Tom Robertson Architects

Taroona House 
Archier

Mount Nelson House
Tanner Architects

The Boulevard
Archier

Treeview Cottage 
tsai Design

Judges Citation: 

Treeview Cottage by tsai Design shows how good design can completely transform a modest home without enlarging its footprint. What was once a dark and inefficient cottage has been turned into a series of bright, connected spaces that feel generous and uplifting.

The judges were impressed by the clarity of the approach: instead of adding more, the design focused on removing, reorganising and reorienting. The result respects the history of the house while also making a confident, contemporary statement.

Recycled materials have been used with real care and craftsmanship, adding to the project’s sustainable credentials. The project is restrained yet joyful, practical yet imaginative. By working with what already exists, Treeview Cottage shows how sustainable, subtle alterations can deliver remarkable results. It stands as an inspiring example of suburban renewal, enhancing daily life while reminding us of the power of thoughtful design.

North Melbourne Terrace
Birthisel Wittingslow Architects

This is Lumeah - Ft. Paul Couch
Pepper & Well

Cascade House
Sonelo Architects

This is Lumeah - Ft. Paul Couch
Pepper & Well

North Melbourne Terrace
Birthisel Wittingslow Architects

Treeview Cottage 
tsai Design

Subtle Shift
Steffen Welsch Architects

Oval House 
Topology Studio

Judges Citation: 

Oval House demonstrates a considered approach to creating a civic minded dwelling. Conscious of its public location adjacent to Coburg Oval, its forms and materiality proudly draw upon the suburbs history instilling a sense of belonging within the neighbourhood.

The robustness of the material palette still manages to provide humane and considered interiors defined by the specific needs and lives of its inhabitants. The plan shows a mindful attention to detail in structuring spaces that accommodate the everyday functions of contemporary family life whilst prioritising access to garden and light on a typical suburban lot.

Recognising the contributory streetscape value and embodied energy present in the existing Victorian era cottage, the project demonstrates the ability for an alteration and addition to deftly transform and honour new and old. The result is a highly crafted home which will provide for another century of habitation.

Coburg House 
CARD

Coburg II  
Agius Scorpo Architects

Coburg House 
CARD

Oval House 
Topology Studio

Yarraville Peak
Weaver + Co Architects

Judges Citation: 

Yarraville Peak is an exemplary reimagining of the Victorian villa, balancing heritage character with bold contemporary invention. Weaver+Co Architects deftly re-organise the home around a sequence of gardens, creating luminous, connected living environments that are both intimate and expansive.

The design skillfully reinterprets original details—arches, tessellated patterns, stained glass—through new materials, colours and geometries, forging a dialogue between past and present that feels seamless rather than oppositional.

Careful attention to scale and roof forms ensures the addition respects its prominent corner context while contributing positively to the streetscape. Internally, the restrained palette of timber, plasterboard and locally sourced finishes delivers warmth, durability, and delight, while coloured light animates spaces with shifting moods. 

Spatial clarity, natural light, and sustainable detailing overcome the limitations of a compromised 1980s extension, producing a home of generosity and joy.

This project demonstrates how sensitive adaptation can elevate both the life of a family and the architectural legacy of place.

The Don 
Mihaly Slocombe

Fitzroy North House
Pop Architecture

The Linton House
Sonelo Architects

Gumnut House 
A for Architecture

Yarraville Peak
Weaver + Co Architects

The Don 
Mihaly Slocombe

Meeniyan Community Hub
Public Realm Lab

Judges Citation:

The successful demonstration of how modest community infrastructure can transcend its brief to create a true civic gesture.

Anchored in Meeniyan’s streetscape, the design draws from the town’s familiar forms of roofs, verandahs and the spaces in-between.

The carefully composed streetscape manages the new build and its relationship with the existing Town Hall as buildings in conversation.

The project has been conceived less as a building and more as an invitation – an artful definition of courtyards, laneways and gathering spaces that work together to underpin everyday use, celebration and ritual.

Executed with restraint, the project pairs robust tin and galvanised steel with biogenic hemp masonry—its sustainable construction now a source of community pride.

With thoughtful planning, careful treatment of site constraints and a commitment to sustainability within a modest budget, this project stands as a new benchmark for how small-town architecture can deliver lasting civic value.

Video

East West Play Structure
Pop Architecture

Syndal South Primary School  
WHD+A

East West Play Structure
Pop Architecture

Meeniyan Community Hub
Public Realm Lab

Swan Hill Specialist School
WHD+A

Syndal South Primary School  
WHD+A

Three-Fold 
Steffen Welsch Architects

Judges Citation:

Three-Fold explores an ambition far beyond the single dwelling, both in its replicability and adaptability. A neighbourhood of courtyard homes with an aggregated patchwork of gardens facilitates a strong relationship with nature, with households being able to grow and change with minimum built intervention over time and thus being able to retain established community connections.

FINALISTS

Composed as a simple arrangement of two single pitched roofs, the homes form an L-shaped plan opening onto a generous courtyard. A quiet architecture ensures buildability and economy, with sustainability and a responsible use of resources at its core. Indoor and outdoor spaces are able to be flexibly used, while all enjoy high amenity with generous window openings and terraces.

The jury recognises Three-Fold at a time when housing affordability, availability and adaptability is at an all time low and applauds the advocacy and real world applicability that this project represents. It

champions a broader view of sustainability that ‘climate-responsive design is not about sacrifice but about accommodating change, which results in building less, wasting less, and mitigating the impact of our built environment onto the planet.’

Beauty Point Boardwalk
Tanner Architects

Three-Fold 
Steffen Welsch Architects

Wollumbin Studio
Kuhnell Architecture

Placemaking Clarence Valley
Equity Office

Judges Citation:

This category recognises exceptional contributions to architecture beyond building design, celebrating initiatives, research and advocacy.

The category highlights the diverse ways architects can influence the built environment and society through leadership, education, and innovative practice.

Equity Office have developed novel methods for engaging non-fiscal stakeholders to be involved in design from inception to completion.

The project engaged four localities on Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr and Yaegl Country (Woombah, Glenreagh, Nymboida and Blicks)  where local participants were invited to reimagine public spaces after catastrophic damage from the 2019/20 bushfires, 2022 pandemic and Northern Rivers floods.

Equity Offices' Placemaking Clarence Valley assisted with the expenditure of over $1 million in program funding and has built links between community groups and Clarence Valley Council.

Equity Offices work develops ways in which academia can work between practice and community development to transform the Architectural discipline’s contribution to built environment recovery. 

Little Pot of Gold
Envirotecture

Placemaking Clarence Valley
Equity Office

HERITAGE AWARD – NEW

(proudly supported by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) & The Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT))

Entries in the Heritage Award are to highlight excellence in conserving, adapting, and revitalising heritage structures with sensitivity and innovation.

Projects should demonstrate thoughtful integration of new elements, respect for historical integrity, and sustainable approaches that enhance long-term viability. Consideration is given to research, material authenticity, and evidence-based conservation methods, alongside the project's impact on the community and cultural landscape.

WINNER - HERITAGE AWARD

This is Lumeah - Ft. Paul Couch
Pepper & Well

Judges Citation:

This small renovation embodies the best of contextual design. Guided by careful research and a deep understanding of the architectural philosophy of architect Paul Couch, the design resolution is respectful while offering its own legible contribution.

The previously compromised ensuite has been reimagined as a celebration of the building. Brown Mintaro back slate paving, chosen for its established links to Paul’s material preferences, grounds the design with warmth and tactility.

COMMENDATION

Yarraville Peak
Weaver + Co Architects

The exposed concrete partition and bench, together with the shower screen support, provide functionality while also expressing the structural honesty central to the building’s minimalist character, ensuring the new insertions sit seamlessly within their context. Every decision is measured and deliberate, while still introducing a sense of joy.

The outcome is a revived space of quiet elegance and enduring utility, one that reflects both the spirit of the place and the needs of contemporary living. This project stands as an exemplar of how thoughtful design can honour architectural legacy while providing renewed comfort and function.

Old Macaroni Factory
Grant Amon Architects

This is Lumeah - Ft. Paul Couch
Pepper & Well

Yarraville Peak
Weaver + Co Architects

COMMERCIAL AWARD

(Sponsored by Colorbond)

Finalists of this category celebrate excellence in commercial architecture, recognising projects that enhance public life, foster engagement, and create meaningful spaces for work, gathering, and commerce. It highlights the architect’s role in shaping dynamic environments that contribute to the built fabric while meeting functional and operational needs. ante.

BVIA on Bank 
Agius Scorpo Architects

Judges Citation:

This building celebrates the power of small practice showcasing that urban complexity and architectural rigor can be wonderfully executed by a small team of a talented few rather than always defaulting to large practice for commercial projects. Designed for a female-led developer, the decision to support female-led architecture firms is a power move that’s well and truly paid off.

The jury notes the pleasing heritage response with the geometric, highly ornate adjoining building and commends the architects on their smaller scale interventions that ground the tall building in place and offer a more intimate pedestrian experience.

COMMENDATION

Kastex Studio
Format Architects

Feeling both concurrently heavy and delicate, the design deploys its own contemporary ornamental expression with moments that champion both the light and a moody darker vibe. This building contains all the hallmarks of a successful outcome – flexibility, adaptability, shared spaces that provide opportunities for innovation and a sense of community. Congratulations team.

BVIA on Bank 
Agius Scorpo Architects

Kastex Studio
Format Architects