Leaders of Australian architecture have been honoured at the 2015 Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards held in Melbourne on 19 March.

Prizes were awarded by the Australian Institute of Architects to respected practitioners, emerging architects, academics and students for their exemplary contribution to the profession across a range of disciplines.

The Institute’s highest honour, the Gold Medal, was awarded to NSW based architect Peter Stutchbury (see separate release).

Architecture Media’s Managing Director, Ian Close, and Publisher, Sue Harris, were jointly awarded the 2015 President’s Prize by National President David Karotkin. Under the guidance of Close and Harris, Architecture Media, in addition to publishing the profession’s preeminent magazine Architecture Australia, has expanded to include extensive offerings within the digital realm, awards and events – all aimed at broadening the exposure of the profession.

Australia’s leading scholar and applied researcher on Aboriginal housing and settlement, Professor Paul Memmott, is the 2015 recipient of the Neville Quarry Architectural Education Prize. Memmott, a Life Fellow of the Institute, was recognised for his outstanding contribution to the advancement of the profession through research, education, public service and advocacy focused primarily on the welfare of Indigenous Australians.

The Leadership in Sustainability Prize was presented to Professor Emeritus Allan Rodger in recognition of over 40 years’ contribution at a local, national and global scale to research, community understanding and architectural education in the field of sustainability including the establishment of a UIA working group in 1990 looking at the implications of the greenhouse effect for architecture and the built environment.

WA Chapter Councillor and director of WA practice Post-, Nic Brundson, was honoured with this year’s National Emerging Architect Prize. Brundson is also the co-founder of Spacemarket, a not-for-profit urban program that pairs empty urban spaces with potential tenants.

Institute Life Fellow, Louise Cox received the William J Mitchell International Committee Prize in recognition of a significant contribution to the profession internationally. Cox was elected as the first female National President of the Institute in 1994 and went on to become President of the International Union of Architects from 2008 to 2011. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2014 and was invested with the rank of Chevalier d’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, one of the highest honorary distinctions granted by the French Republic, in 2011.

Former SONA President Barnaby Hartford-Davis was the recipient of the Student Prize for the Advancement of Architecture. In 2011, Hartford-Davis co-founded the One:One student and architect design-build event in Sydney which has since expanded to nearly every state. The jury were impressed with Hartford-Davis’s ‘major role in advocating for the student body in addressing unpaid internships and highlighting students’ rights at work’.

Five ‘passionate and committed’ emerging architects have been selected to participate in the 2015 Dulux Study Tour visiting Tokyo, Paris and London, where they will experience firsthand some of the best architectural sites and practices. The recipients are Nic Brunsdon, Bonnie Herring, Casey Bryant, John Ellway and Monique Woodward.

For the first time, the biennial BlueScope Glenn Murcutt Student Prize has been jointly awarded. Matthew Hyland from the University of Tasmania and Jin Chen Lee from the University of New South Wales were praised for their submissions which each ‘responded to two very different conditions, yet both displayed depth of understanding for place-making and each achieved authenticity,’ the jury noted.

2015 Winners

Gold Medal
Peter Stutchbury, Peter Stutchbury Architecture (NSW)

Emerging Architect Prize
Nic Brunsdon, Post- and Spacemarket (WA)

National President’s Prize
Ian Close and Sue Harris, Architecture Media (Vic)

Student Prize for Advancement of Architecture
Barnaby Hartford-Davis, RMIT (Vic)

BlueScope Glenn Murcutt Student Prize
Matthew Hyland, University of Tasmania (Qld)
Jin Chen Lee, University of NSW (NSW)

Leadership in Sustainability Prize
Professor Emeritus Allan Rodger LFRAIA (Vic)

William J Mitchell International Committee Prize
Louise Cox AO LFRAIA (NSW)

Neville Quarry Architectural Education Prize
Professor Paul Memmott, University of Queensland (Qld)

Dulux Study Tour Prize
Bonnie Herring, Breathe Architecture (Vic)
Casey Bryant, Andrew Burns Architect (NSW)
John Ellway, James Russell Architect (Qld)
Monique Woodward, WOWOWA (Vic)
Nic Brunsdon, Post- and Spacemarket (WA)

The Institute would like to thank BlueScope for their sponsorship of the BlueScope Glenn Murcutt Student Prize, Architectural Window Systems for their support of the Emerging Architect Prize and Dulux for sponsoring the Dulux Study Tour Prize.