3 July 2019

 

THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Well aren’t we lucky to have been exposed to such a compelling and thought-provoking National Conference this year that was held in our Melbourne Convention Centre. A huge congratulations to Monique Woodward and Stephen Choi for the delivery of a new forum, a platform for recognition. A platform to encourage leveraging the actionable.

Congratulations and thanks also to all of the speakers who contributed to ensuring that our collective voice is heard loud and clear. This was a conference that said the stuff that needs to be said. Let’s keep talking. Let’s keep actioning.

The National Conference is also a time for acknowledging and awarding the achievements of our members. Most notable was the announcement of the Gold Medal that was awarded to Hank Koning FRAIA and Julie Eizenberg RAIA. We look forward to announcing over the coming months the Gold Medal tour dates where Julie and Hank will share their professional trajectory to date.

Other award winners included the National President’s Prize that was awarded to Tim Ross, the Leadership in Sustainability Prize that was awarded to Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living, the Paula Whitman Leadership in Gender Equity Prize that was awarded to National President, Helen Lochhead, the Neville Quarry Architectural Education Prize that was awarded to Vivian Mitsogianni, the Student Prize for the Advancement of Architecture that was awarded to Bobbie Bayley and Owen Kelly, the BlueScope Glenn Murcutt Student Prize that was awarded to Sobi Slingsby and the Dulux Study Tour that was awarded to Jennifer McMaster, Ben Peake, Alix Smith, Carly McMahon and Phillip Nielsen.  Congratulations to all award recipients.

 

NATIONAL RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN

At our National Council meeting held in Melbourne on the 19 – 20  June 2019, the introduction of a National Reconciliation Action Plan was put forward and unanimously supported by all councillors. This is a long overdue but very important step in the right direction. Thank you to all of those who have contributed to this space over the last few years instigating action. We will keep you informed of our progress relating to its implementation.

 

THE VICTORIAN STATE AWARDS

Well that’s a wrap. Last Friday evening saw many of our members exceptional work and contributions to our Victorian built landscape celebrated. Congratulations to all of our 2019 Victorian Architecture award winners. The awards are also a time to reflect on what has been achieved over the past year and the enormous contributions our members are making to the evolution of our cities and regions. This is incredibly important, and we applaud you all.

We would like to congratulate our Victorian Medal winner Peter Elliott Architecture and Urban Design for their significant wins on the evening. With a total of 5 Named Awards and Prizes, the Parliamentary Annexe has been celebrated and acknowledged for the significant contribution it has made to our state. Many of the award-winning projects define an important working relationship between client, architect, consultants and contractors. These strong working relationships are imperative for the success of robust architectural outcomes. Parliamentary Annexe is an important contributor to this model.

We were also joined on the evening the Right Honourable Lord Mayor, Sally Capp who this year presented the Enduring Architecture Award. It is great to see our City of Melbourne continuing to advocate for the very important role considered architectural interventions have on defining our varied city scape.  The award celebrates a building that has remained relevant through time with the award going to Nonda Katsalidis’ Melbourne Terrace.

On the evening the Victorian Emerging Architect Prize was announced, and this year’s 2019 winner is Rodney Eggleston from March Studio. Congratulations to all award recipients. Please refer to the link for a list of all awarded projects.

And lastly thank you to our wonderful MC Cameron Bruhn. So lovely to have a familiar voice in the room. And a huge thank you to all of the Institute staff in particular Ruth White, Jason Stanton and Kelsey Calder for the making of a fun evening and a seamless event.

A big thank you has to go to all the Awards Partners listed below;

 

Principal Partner

BlueScope

 

Major National Partner

Dulux

 

National Corporate Partners

Bondor

AWS

Lysaght

Fielders

 

Supporting Partner

USG Boral

 

National Insurance Partner

Planned Cover

 

National Media Partner

Architecture Media

 

State Partners

City of Melbourne

Heritage Council of Victoria

OVGA

Dormakaba

Laminex

University of Melbourne

HP

McKay Timber

 

Participating Partners

Creffield Digital Print

Monash University

Len Design

 

ACKNOWLEDEMENT OF COUNTRY

This year, the Awards saw the introduction of a wonderful Welcome to Country, which was delivered by Gheran Steel, CEO Boon Wurrung Foundation. It was a very generous and considered welcome. 

Each year the Awards Committee are looking at new initiatives and importantly this year it was requested that all shortlisted projects for the 2019 Victorian Awards be acknowledged based on their Registered Aboriginal Party. Please refer to the attached link to these diagrams.

The 2020 awards will see the introduction of all submitting practices needing to locate the country that their project is located within.

 

OTHER BUSINESS

We suspect you might all be over hearing about ‘novation’ so we will give you a break for this month. The results of the National Novation Survey will be ready for issue to our membership over the coming month. Please also stay tuned for the announcement of the details associated with our Novation Forum which will provide the opportunity for a broad and open discussion to take place reflecting on the good, the bad, the ugly and the successful outcomes. We look forward to your contribution.

Strength in numbers. A collective voice.

 

Amy Muir

Victorian President