Sydney’s design win
City of Sydney projects have dominated this year’s National Architecture Awards with three projects winning five awards – an unprecedented number for one client in the National Awards’ 30-year history.
The Australian Institute of Architects’ National Architecture Awards celebrate commitment to architectural excellence and the public realm.
The City’s Surry Hills Library and Community Centre, by architects Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp, received a National Award for Public Architecture and a National Award for Sustainable Architecture.
Pirrama Park at Pyrmont, by architects Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects/Aspect Studios/CAB, received the Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design while the Paddington Reservoir Gardens, by architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer with JMD Design, received a National Award for Urban Design and National Award for Heritage.
“Architecture – or more precisely, the skill and insight of architects – is vital to our vision for Sydney. The transformations needed to reshape our city and meet the challenges of the 21st century require innovation, particularly for more sustainable living, and design excellence,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said.
Paddington Reservoir Gardens received international recognition from The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and Sydney Town Hall won the Australian Property Institute Office of the Valuer Generals Award (NSW) for delivering outstanding heritage outcomes in a re-development project.
Further evidence of the visionary outstanding work of Clover Moore’s City of Sydney – this council is arguably the best Sydney has ever had.Critics should also be reminded of the fact that had Clover not stepped forward to serve in 2004 we would have had a Labor Mayor and council led by Michael Lee and what an unmitigated disaster that would have been with the puppet masters in sussex street pulling the strings, rewarding their political donors and plundering the city’s healthy cash reserves.Instead of the architural excellence of the award winning Surry Hills library ,Pirrama Park and the Reservoir Gardens in paddington we would have been lucky to get a new red brick dunny block – and that probably would have been overhanging the harbour !