The Australian Urban Design Awards program is calling for final submissions, with entries closing on 20 July for the prestigious awards.
The Australian Urban Design Awards are broad in scope and attract entries for initiatives, built projects and publications. This year the awards’ categories have been refreshed to reflect the importance of good design at a local, regional and city scale.
The 2018 award categories are: Built projects – city and regional scale; Built projects – local and neighbourhood scale; Leadership, advocacy and research – city and regional scale; and Leadership, advocacy and research – local and neighbourhood scale.
At the 2017 awards, 12 entries were recognized across four categories, including three entries that were named winners.
Receiving the top accolade in the Delivered Outcome – Large Scale category, was Tonsley Innovation District by Oxigen, Woods Bagot, Tridente Architects, KBR, WSP and Renewal SA. The project transformed the site of Adelaide’s closed-down Mitsubishi factory into a multipurpose employment and education hub.
The Orange Regional Museum by Crone was named the winner of the Delivered Outcome – Small Scale Award, while the Government Architect NSW won the Policies, Programs and Concepts – Large Scale award for Better Placed, an integrated design policy for the state’s built environment.
Created in 1996 by the then prime minister Paul Keating’s Urban Design Taskforce, the Australian Urban Design Awards recognize contemporary projects and initiatives of the highest quality and seek to encourage cities, towns and communities across the country to strive for best practice in all projects.
Today, the awards patrons are prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission Lucy Turnbull.
In announcing the establishment of a Task Force on Urban Design, at the 1993 book launch for Glenn Murcutt: Three Houses by Elizabeth Farrelly, Keating said, “What we want to do is to put a bit of poetry into the souls of our town clerks and shire engineers.” Over the past 20 years, the awards program has sought to carry this message and communicate the critical role urban design plays in shaping the nation.
The Australian Urban Design Awards are organized by Architecture Media and convened by the Planning Institute of Australia with the support of the Australian Institute of Architects, the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, the Green Building Council of Australia, the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, Consult Australia, Engineers Australia, the Urban Design Forum and the Government Architects Network Australia.
The awards are sponsored by principal partner Cement and Aggregates Australia and Holcim.
For further information and to enter the awards, head here.
