A centre of excellence for sick children and their families and a magnificent house showcasing the beauty of its surrounding panorama have taken out the top honours in the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2017 North Queensland Regional Architecture Awards.
Announced at a special ceremony in Cairns, the Act for Kids Child and Family Centre of Excellence by m3architecture received the Walter and Oliver Tunbridge Award for Building of the Year.
In awarding the project the jury described the Centre as an “emblematically tough but tender collection of structures” that “pivots around a grove of trees at the forested edge of the university campus” and “choreographs a passage for children’s healing”.
Stuart Street House by Outcrop Architecture won the North Queensland House of the Year Award with the jury commending the deference the house paid to the landscape.
“A stair climb, living room inverted balcony, swimming pool and barbeque deck” which “offer indelible engagement of varying scale with the beauty of the panorama, while the colour palette respectfully complements the rugged hillscape”.
The Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (Townsville), James Cook University by Jackson Architecture also received a Regional Commendation with the jury noting that the “clarity and legibility of the plan belies the technical complexity of this research facility and carefully controlled daylight floods deep into the plan of the laboratories”.
All three projects will now progress to the coveted Queensland State Architecture Awards to be announced in Brisbane on 23 June.
Regional Commendations:
- Stuart Street House by Outcrop Architecture, North Ward
- Act for Kids Child and Family Centre of Excellence by m3architecture, Townsville
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (Townsville), James Cook University by Jackson Architecture, Douglas
Main image: Act for Kids Child and Family Centre of Excellence by m3architecture. Photo by Peter Bennetts