The winner of the Metropolis of Melbourne’s 2025 Metropolis Design Award, which recognises design excellence in structure, panorama structure and concrete design, has been named as a part of the council’s annual Melbourne Awards program.
This yr’s winner is Melbourne Place by Kennedy Nolan – a brand new lodge within the metropolis centre that concerned a “full design” of the constructed exterior and inside. The undertaking emerged from collaboration with the broader undertaking group and consumer on the lodge model, which relies on the thought of the lodge as a spot for vacationers and locals alike. The undertaking’s design is particular to the actual architectural and cultural id of the east finish of Melbourne’s CBD, using a red-hued brick and concrete materiality that reinforces the location’s twentieth-century high quality.
The jury, which comprised professor Martyn Hook (affiliate deputy vice-chancellor, Precincts, at RMIT College), Sarah Lynn Rees (affiliate principal and lead Indigenous advisor, Jackson Clements Burrows Architects), Tim Leslie (principal adviser, Design Evaluation, on the Workplace of the Victorian Authorities Architect), Naomi Barun (president, Australian Institute of Panorama Architects) and Lucia Amies (affiliate editor, ArchitectureAu), described the undertaking as a “catalyst to renewal” of the encircling city material.
They praised the design group’s “subtle and intelligent design method”, which resulted within the undertaking’s “playful, quirky” kind, activation of the road and surrounding laneway, and regionally impressed materials palette. Additionally they admired the evolving method to panorama, led by Amanda Oliver, throughout the constructing’s facade.
Melbourne Place was chosen because the winner from a shortlist of 4 finalists.
ArchitectureAu is the presenting companion of the Melbourne Awards 2025 – Metropolis Design Award.
