A portrait of regional practice
Relationships, service and flexibility
The population of far north Queensland, a region stretching from Hinchinbrook on the east coast north to the Torres Strait and west to the Shire of Carpentaria, is estimated to be 272,000.1 This is less than 7 percent of the population of Greater Melbourne or Greater Sydney and around 12 percent of Greater Brisbane’s population. In spite of this significant disparity of scale, practices from the region consistently receive commendations and awards in the Australian Institute of Architects’ state and national awards programs. Sometimes the awards are for collaborations with larger firms, but often they are for local projects, procured at a regional level, with a commitment of many years to bring the projects to completion.
One such example is the School of Arts, Cairns Museum building by Total Project Group Architects (TPG). In 2017 the project was awarded the Don Roderick Award for Heritage Architecture
