The Australian Institute of Architects has announced the winners of their 2018 International Chapter Awards. Recognizing projects from beyond Australia, but designed by members of the Australian Institute of Architects, the jury has honored six projects from a shortlist of 17.
The projects span commercial, interior, public, residential, and small architecture, with winners hailing from across Asia and the Pacific, including three in Singapore.
The four winning projects will now be considered for the Jorn Utzon Award for International Architecture, which will be announced on November 1st. In addition to the four awards, two commendations were awarded in the fields of commercial and small project architecture.
At the awards ceremony, renowned Singaporean architect Dr. Liu Thai Ker was presented with the William J Mitchell International Chapter Prize, which is awarded each year “in recognition of significant contribution by an Australia-linked practitioner to architecture globally."
In the last 25 years, Dr. Liu has served as a planning advisor for many municipal governments in China, and master planned more than 30 cities worldwide. His approach is “scientific” with an emphasis on evidence-based provisioning of basic amenities, transport, and accommodation but an aspiration to thus enable intellectual and cultural life.
-Prize Jury
The full list of winners and honorable mentions, complete with jury comments, is available below.
Commercial Architecture
Commendation: Kampung Admiralty, Singapore / WOHA
Interior Architecture
Winner: Australian Embassy Bangkok, Thailand / BVN
From the red sand of the desert to the cities along the coastal fringe, the Australian landscape forms an intrinsic part of our national identity. This connection between land and culture provides the conceptual framework for the Australian Embassy in Bangkok, creating a distinctively Australian space within an urban Thai setting.
Public Architecture
Winner: New Wings at The Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore / GreenhilLi Architecture + Design
The success of the elegant new architecture, with its soft metallic sheen, airy volumes and crisp titanium detailing, lies in its distinctive yet productive cooperation with the materiality, form and use history of its heritage partner. Notably, no part of the heritage building has been erased or obscured, rather it provides a counterpoise to the new.
Residential Architecture
Winner: House 412, Sri Lanka / Pulina Ponnamperuma + Robust Architecture Workshop
By being “technologically robust” and pushing for the visible and considered craft of various trades, the building is allowed to act as both a teaching ground and a positive example of technique thereby helping build capacity and understanding of what is possible in the local workforce.
Small Project Architecture
Winner: School-in-a-Box, Papua New Guinea / Stephen Collier Architects
The architects have responded to the challenges of the Papua New Guinea environment by creating an easily transportable pod or box, the contents of which create a pop-up school. Responding to the needs of people who have very little, the box includes a tent for shelter that allows for rainwater to be collected, solar panels to power laptops and a printer and plywood joinery for sitting and working.
The school in a box is an exemplar of how simple, thoughtful and useful design can positively influence communities and the environment, and have an influence way beyond an intended purpose.
Commendation: Bayshore Park Underpass, Singapore / GreenhilLi Architecture + Design
News via: Australian Institute of Architects
