Winner: Anna Rubbo
Jury citation
Anna Rubbo, University of Sydney.
Associate Professor Anna Rubbo’s contribution to architectural education has been extensive and sustained, enlightening and broadening the experience of students of architecture, while also raising awareness more broadly about the relevance and value of architecture in the context of social, political and cultural life within and beyond Australia. A recipient of a commendation in 2005, Rubbo now receives this prize for her outstanding leadership and development in architectural education both before and since 2005.
Rubbo has contributed to international design education as the convenor of Global Studios in Istanbul, Vancouver, Johannesburg and Bhopal, engaging five hundred participants from sixty-six universities and thirty countries. This program introduces students to the social responsibility of architects and architecture, extending their knowledge of global housing issues and international environments, and providing a vehicle for their own contributions.
She has made a significant, ongoing contribution to architectural discussion within academia, the profession and the wider community, having organized over two hundred public lectures, as a founding editor of Architectural Theory Review and as author of many refereed publications and conference papers. She has also produced films and contributed to Australian and international architectural exhibitions. She has demonstrated her leadership and commitment as a role model for students, through her positions within the University of Sydney and external organizations such as UN Habitat and UIA Architects Without Frontiers.
Rubbo has worked tirelessly to bring together the interests of the profession and the wider community through education, promoting a wider awareness of the need for social inclusion including working with disadvantaged groups.
Jury: Assoc. Prof. Shelley Penn (chair), Prof. Des Smith, Prof. Peter Elliott, Stephen Ward, Sean McEntee.
Commendation: Barry McNeill
Jury citation
Barry McNeill.
Barry McNeill has had a long and distinguished career as a practising architect, educator, mentor, activist and advocate for architecture and the built environment. His enduring enthusiasm for and engagement with architecture as a cultural and environmental endeavour is exceptional, and he has contributed to better built environment outcomes through his own practice and through educating, advising and inspiring others.
McNeill was head and then director of the Department of Environmental Design at the Tasmanian CAE, where he transformed the teaching program to a “learning by doing” model, a leading approach in the 1970s. He led an interdisciplinary team approach, where environmental design studies became the foundation for architectural, urban planning and landscape architectural education. This broadened the base of traditional architectural learning by encouraging individual study, project-centred learning, work experience and community engagement. McNeill’s pioneering educational framework was an inspired and engaging model with a far-reaching influence - it is of continuing relevance.
Concurrent with his academic and practice commitments, McNeill has been an engaged and influential participant in numerous committees, commissions, boards and community organizations, and has advanced educational policy at state and national levels. His endeavours have left a lasting imprint on generations of architects, on architectural practice and the work of related disciplines.
Jury: Karl Fender, Peter Scott, Tone Wheeler, Tony Arnel.
