New England architecture and architects feature in this year's NSW 2018 NSW Country Architecture Awards

Armidale - Refuge/Prospect, Armidale, by Virginia Wong-See architecture@altitude. Winner of the Award for Small Project Architecture. Photo by Brett Boardman.

This year's 2018 NSW Country Architecture Awards featured architecture and architects from across the broader New England.

Byron Bay architects Dominic Finlay Jones Architects took out no less than five awards and three commendations. These honours included the award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing presented for the Habitat Live Work project, which provides a new building prototype featuring basic, good-quality, lower-cost housing with articulated home-office workspaces and is set within a sustainable development encouraging collective creativity.

The jury said: ‘This is an excellent prototype development, which is imaginatively conceived and beautifully executed, and deserving of a multiple housing award.’

Kingscliff architects Aspect Architecture’s Elanora House, a flexible beach home suitable for multi-generational living, was crowned winner of the Residential Architecture – Houses (New) category, with the jury noting the project ‘does a number of small but significant things very well’.

Armidale's Virginia Wong-See of architecture@altitude took out the Small Project Award and Termimesh Timber Award for her ‘small and perfectly formed’ Armidale – Refuge/Prospect garden pavilion.

I really loved this one. Ms Wong-See describes it in this way: "The concept for Armidale Refuge/Prospect began as a simple place of refuge from strong westerly winds, transforming an ordinary place into one that continues to delight through foggy mornings, moonlit nights, fireside conversations and enjoyment of the surrounding trees and the birds that come to rest there."

The Armidale Express story on this particular award provides more details and a broader range of photos. Have a look and you will get a feel for why I really like this is a truly imaginative work.

The award for Urban Design went to Coffs Harbour’s Jetty4Shores Revitalisation project by Fisher Design and Architecture (Bellingen) with Mackenzie Pronk Architects (Sydney) and Coffs Harbour City Council. ‘The project effectively communicates the spirit of place and the genuine community affection for this site,’ the jury noted. ‘The cultural and environmental meanings of the site have been enshrined within the design.’

The final award in the program, the People’s Choice Award, was also announced at the Awards presentation night, held at the NSW Regional Architecture Conference on Thursday 4 October. This year the honour went to a project in the newly introduced Interior category: the Byron Shire Council Foyer, Mullumbimby, by Byron Bay architects SPACEstudio.

NSW Chapter President, Andrew Nimmo, congratulated all of this year’s award winners and noted the important contribution the profession as a whole was making to deliver more sustainable, cohesive communities.

‘Architects apply design thinking to everything they do in order to do more with less and help clients realise opportunities that they did not know existed,’ said Mr Nimmo. ‘This is just part of the value we describe when we speak of the design dividend, and each year we see the bar raised when it comes to the innovative design solutions and practices architects are implementing across regional NSW.’

If you would like to see photos of all the ward winners you can find them on the Australian Institute of Architects Facebook page.

Bellingen's Commercial Emporium - a further example of North Coast architecture

This photo by Gordon Smith shows Bellingen's commercial emporium, reportedly the first commercial cement brink building in Australia.

I love the way in which Bellingen has been preserved as something of a time warp!

Federal Hotel Bellingen - another example of North Coast architecture

Back in June I ran a post, North Coast Architecture - a note, that was an aide memoir to myself dealing with North Coast architecture. My feeling was that there was a distinctive style that had not been recognised or analysed.

A little later in Armidale-Kempsey Road - historical snapshot I gave another example from 1905. Now Gordon Smith has kindly posted an example from Bellingen.

The Federal Hotel was built around 1900. If you look at the photo, you will again see that wood is the main construction material. There is cast iron lacework on the balcony, but above that is the decorative wood fretwork that was so often used for decoration.

I wish I knew more about Australian architecture. The material that I have read is very macro, top down, with little about variations at a regional level.

North Coast Architecture - a note

In Diary of a travelling trainer - day two: Grafton, Sydney talking about my drive around South Grafton I noted there was a very distinct feel to North Coast architecture. Since then, I have kept an eye out for any material that might tell me something about the history and style of the buildings, but so far without luck. For that reason, I thought that I might put down a few rough notes for my own benefit.

Looking just at Grafton, you find the older buildings in both Grafton and South Grafton towards the river, essentially the old port areas. Because this was a timber area, wood construction was important. So we have two story pubs of wood construction with verandahs; there is a distinct style feel here including decorative use of wood that can also be found in the Macleay Valley to the south.

To analyse this, I really need to get photos to allow me to compare and contrast features.

The older houses in Grafton are not necessarily large but often very attractive. There seems little of the town house style architecture found in Armidale, although in both places iron lace work was commonly used as a decoration.

Outside the towns, the remains of the now diminished dairy industry with its milk sheds can still be found. As a child driving down from the Tablelands I always noticed the shift to the dairy style. Smaller houses, low, wood, with the milking areas nearby.

In part because of the connection between architecture, climate and economic activity, there appear to be shifting styles across New England. I always took this for granted. However, with change styles seem to be blurring, hence the need to document now.