The University of Canberra today named the winners of its Lodge on the Lake Design Ideas Competition. The announcement was made one hundred and one years to the day after Walter Burley Griffin won the international competition to design Canberra as Australia’s federal capital.
The presentation was made at Canberra’s Gallery of Australian Design (GAD). The competition – a Centenary of Canberra initiative by the gallery and the University of Canberra – asked participants to visualize an official prime minister’s residence at Attunga Point on the south bank of Lake Burley Griffin, though there’s no intention to use the designs to build a new Lodge.
First prize of $80,000 was awarded to the team of Melbourne-based graduate architect Jack Davies with Nicholas Roberts (NZ) and Henry Stephens (Copenhagen). Their design incorporates concrete, Australian timber and recycled materials. “Casual, yet imposing” is how professor Lyndon Anderson, the competition jury chair, and dean of arts and design at the University of Canberra described it. “This design stood out as one that most successfully integrates the built forms with the subtle landscape of Attunga Point. It responsibly owns the landscape, is beautifully sited and celebrates the lake edge location. It also reflects the informal nature of contemporary Australian lifestyles and architecture, while providing attractive larger spaces for public gatherings.”
Second prize of $20,000 was awarded to the collaboration of Alan Pert and a team from Nord Architecture (Glasgow), together with Atelier Ten Environmental Design Consultants + Engineers (UK and US). Third prize of $10,000 was awarded to Sydney-based designers Monica Earl and Nic Moore. A commendation went to Canberra-based designer Narendra Kaley.
The competition brief asked that the designs take account of ceremonial, private and security functions of a prime minister’s residence, and specifically include a private home and study, function spaces and support services, as well as a landscape design for the 6.8-hectare site, incorporating a jetty, swimming pool and areas for garden parties for up to four hundred people.
The competition jury was chaired by Professor Lyndon Anderson (dean of arts and design at the University of Canberra), and included director of the National Gallery of Australia Ron Radford AM; leading architects Kerry Hill AO, Kerstin Thompson and Howard Tanner; distinguished interior designer Louise Bell; leading landscape architect OI Choong; and former president of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Neil Hobbs, who was the guest editor of Landscape Architecture Australia No 138, the Canberra Centenary issue.
An exhibition of the finalists’ designs will be on display at the GAD from 15 August to 19 October 2013.
