Houses

Welcome to this special issue of Houses, which celebrates the winners of the 2022 Houses Awards and honours excellence and ingenuity in Australia’s residential architecture and design. The highest accolade, Australian House of the Year, is awarded to

Australia is the land of good sheds, from rudimentary rural things to finely detailed houses. Many of our best architects have built lauded careers by designing beautiful versions of the shed. But more recently, the back shed typology in suburban gar

When I arrive to tour this house in the northern Melbourne suburb of Preston, the architects, the client and I stand in the front garden to talk about the original interwar home. While Emlyn Olaver and Lucia Amies of Olaver Architecture and client La

French fashion icon Coco Chanel famously advised the dresser to pause with intention when stepping out: “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.” Her quip can equally be applied to architectural undertakings, strongly a

“I’m beyond happy!” says Jo, the client for Hermon, as she shows me around Wowowa’s transformation of a substantial Edwardian villa in the inner Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn. It’s what every architect wants to hear, particularly about a project that

With gallery-style showrooms featuring the most evolved fireplaces the world over, Stoke Fireplace Studio invites homeowners, architects and designers alike to experience fireplace shopping a little differently. Showcasing the most innovative designs

Award for Australian House of the Year is supported by Autumn House is a superbly executed update to a Victorian terraced house in Melbourne’s north. The design grapples with many of the problems that constrain alterations and additions to terraced h

Award for New House over 200 square metres is supported by Spurning the idea that a coastal home should frame a single view, this house celebrates its dramatic coastal setting while also offering a beautifully warm and calming refuge. Recessive in th

Award for New House under 200 square metres is supported by Corner House is an elegant solution to a clear and compelling client brief. The house is driven in plan and section by the constraints of the site and the brief to allow for both independenc

Award for House Alteration and Addition over 200 square metres is supported by In recent times, we have demanded more of our homes than ever before: post-pandemic, they have become places for care, learning, work, play, interaction and retreat. Autum

Award for House Alteration and Addition under 200 square metres is supported by As its name suggests, Cascade House steps effortlessly down its sloping terrain, traversing a significant four-metre level change across the site. The visually recessive

Award for Apartment or Unit is supported by Le Corbusier said: “A house is a machine for living in. Baths, sun, hot-water, cold-water … hygiene, beauty in the sense of good proportion.” The 1960s red-brick apartment block that is home to Inala Apartm

Award for Garden or Landscape is supported by This cleverly layered home succeeds in providing abundant opportunities for outdoor living in a suburban setting, skilfully meeting disparate needs for refuge, retreat and conviviality. The planning of th

Award for House in a Heritage Context is supported by Fusilier Cottage is a Georgian bluestone building with sandstone dressings built in the late 1830s. The state-heritage-listed property is a local landmark and a highly valued part of Hobart’s hist

Award for House in a Heritage Context is supported by Autumn House is a wonderfully cohesive family home orchestrated from disparate parts. In a Victorian streetscape of attached terraces, the home occupies a double block. Studio Bright’s design reta

PLACEMENT STUDIO Award for Emerging Architecture Practice is supported by Placement Studio is an emerging Melbourne-based practice founded in 2019 by Stephanie Kitingan, Jacqueline O’Brien and James Flaherty, who first worked together under the skill

Google “Matt Elkan Architect” and you’ll uncover a treasure trove of inspiring work. In the main, that work is beautiful residential projects, which respond to Australia’s unique climate and tropical conditions, and which speak both of minimal beachs

Architects who build their own houses are a bit like scientists who experiment on themselves. Their aspirations are high, but there is invariably no one else for them to experiment on, no one to fund it and no one who believes in the results it might

There are compelling contradictions and complexities in the multidisciplinary artworks of Ian Strange. The Perth-born artist, who over the past decade has lived and worked in the USA and Australia, is known for his eerie explorations of domestic circ