Category 5: Innovation

AWARD Winner
Project: Bentleigh Secondary College, Meditation and Indigenous Cultural Centre, Victoria
Architect: dwp/suters
Bentleigh’s Meditation and Indigenous Cultural Centre is commended for its innovation and conceptual veracity in delivering on its three goals of sustainable design, a space for mindfulness meditation and a space to focus on indigenous cultural curriculum. This is a beautifully executed design that is exceptional in its simplicity and harmony.

COMMENDATION (2)
Project: Doveton College
Architect: Brand Architects
Doveton College is impressive for the level of integration of educational and community services achieved for the birth to year 9 children and a wide range of community services and activities. This is a school that has created an identity as a whole of community centre and is achieving high levels of engagement and participation. The design of the school projects a sense of urban village while staying true to being child centred, an exciting manifestation of innovation in a challenging environment.

Project: Galilee Catholic School, Stage 3, South Australia
Architect: Russell & Yelland Architects
Galilee Catholic Primary School faced the challenge of creating a school that would support taking the Emilio Reggio philosophy from its origins in early childhood education through to the primary school years as well as dealing with a modest budget and site constraints. The goal was to develop common and linking space to express the school as community concept alongside the notion of home spaces to support young children in smaller groups. The outcome is an impressively executed mix of light and visually linked home rooms and shared learning space with verandas functioning to extend the common spaces and create linkages between the building and the outside environment. The building exemplifies effective problem solving in that it lifts the site and budget limitation into creativity and innovation resulting in a beautiful and functional environment that supports the learning of the children.