Australia’s most outstanding homes have been revealed today in the 2023 Houses Awards shortlist, and some of them are in unexpected places.
The expert judging panel has identified a trend among contenders that’s seeing architects and designers building on unconventional and underutilised sites, as generous city and suburban lots become largely a thing of the past.
It’s a make-do movement that this year includes a wine-cellar conversion, a city pad on an old garage, a family home built over natural freshwater springs, and a modern addition to a wonky heritage site.
Houses magazine editor Alexa Kempton chairs the judging panel. For her, the annual awards – which look at the best contemporary new builds and renovations across nine categories – are about “celebrating inventiveness, skill and ingenuity in residential architecture”.
“Many of the projects that we’re looking at now were designed and built during Covid in various stages of lockdown,” she tells Broadsheet. “I think seeing the incredible skill and achievement of these projects really is testament to the commitment of the architects, the clients, the builders, and all of the consultants who get these projects built.”
Out of the 100-plus builds nominated, Kempton says it’s no surprise that so many unconventional sites have made the shortlist. Tricky spaces need good architecture.
“The Houses Awards is exactly the kind of place we would expect to see this type of project. Because architects are very skilled problem-solvers. That’s fundamentally what they’re trained to do,” she says.
“It’s really shining a spotlight on the creative thinking and problem-solving of architects, as opposed to just aesthetically beautiful houses.”
Studio Elroy in Manly is in the running for the House in a Heritage Context and Apartment or Unit categories, while its architects – Lintel Studio for Architecture – are nominated for Emerging Architecture Practice. Crafted from the existing basement of a heritage building – once a 26-square-metre services closet – the studio is a beautiful living environment on a tiny scale, with plenty of space to store things away. (There’s even a fold-down bed.)
Celilo Springs by Western Architecture Studio is nominated for the Sustainability category, as well as New House Under 200 Metres Square. Utilising a sloping battle-axe block (the back section of a subdivided lot accessible via driveway), the Perth inner-city family home has no internal walls and connects with a landscape newly planted with 200 Western Australian species. Two natural water springs on-site are home to plenty of frogs and birds, forming a strong connection with nature.
Also making use of hard-to-access space is Pop Top by Licht Architecture, a small-footprint Hobart home perched on top of an existing garage nominated for New House Under 200 Metres Square. Maintaining privacy and access for occupants and neighbours was a must here, as was a light-filled living area that makes the most of vertical space.
And then there’s the Steel House / Stone House project in Sydney, which gets the nod for House Alteration and Addition Under 200 Metres Square, as well as House in a Heritage Context. Partners Jemima Retallack and Mitchell Thompson of Retallack Thompson played architect, client and builder while turning an existing 1830s sandstone terrace into their own home and studio, with a companion steel-framed structure owned and occupied by extended family. The build taps into a trend for multi-generational living and makes use of a problematic site (its negative aspects drove down the initial purchase price).
This is the kind of project we need to see more of, Kempton says. “It’s such an important message about sustainability. Working with the built fabric that we have and adapting it, so it can continue to be used in its current form without demolishing all of that material.”
Winners of the Houses Awards will be announced on July 28.
See the full shortlist here.
