2021 Emil Sodersten Award for Interior Architecture

Jury citation

The interior architecture of the new Smart Design Studio in Sydney is the unifying design language of this inviting, urbane campus. It is integral and finely calibrated to the architectural envelopes – stridently new and innovative structures and adaptively re-used industrial heritage fabric. In each of the interior spaces, the daily habits of use and activity are carefully anticipated and accounted for, and special moments of interaction and engagement are celebrated. This renovation is an architectural calling card for its architect occupants and speaks to Smart Design Studio’s approach to the practice of architecture (across scales and building types) and its commitment to advancing sustainability discourse and innovation.

Upon arrival into the formal reception room, first glanced through the elegant, steel-framed glazing along the western street edge, the language of the interior is evident. The ground plane is a warm hue, a landscape of terracotta tiles that unify the smallest and the most expansive ground-floor spaces. The functional workplace and residential spaces – arranged across two floors and fitted with purposeful, custom-made joinery that is calibrated to welcome, engage and occupy – are inhabited by arrangements of elegant furnishings and thoughtfully displayed artworks.

Downstairs, the architectural envelope is so crisp and white that it threatens to meld with the intense clarity of the Sydney light as it floods through the sawtooth roof and delicate trusses; this is the enduring image of the naturally lit and ventilated design studio. In this major room of the ensemble, five linear desks are used by the studio’s teams as a home base, with the everyday stuff of practice – models, samples, prototypes and the like – given elevated status.

The philosophy of Smart Design Studio is adroitly built into the fabric of the building, with the finessed relationship between inside and outside integral to this approach and the excellence of this project.

— Smart Design Studio (Stokes 14) was reviewed by Katelin Butler in Architecture Australia May/June 2021.

Project credits

Architect: Smart Design Studio; Project team: William Smart, Jo Ann Kok, Rosie Ives, Andy Ostojic, Josephine Cabezas, Goldie Peligrino, Huw Duncan, Ron Keir, Clayton Doueihi, Hon Loong Teng, Jarrod Van Veen; Builder: A. J. Bristow and Sons; Structural engineer: Northrop Consulting Engineers; Mechanical engineer: Froster Engineering; Acoustic engineer: ADP Consulting; Arborist: Jacksons Nature Works; Basix consultant: Graham Hunt; Principal certifying authority: BCA Australia; Electrical consultant: Umow Lai; Contamination consultant: Getex; Ecological consultant: The Carbon Reduction Institute; Heritage consultant: City Plan Heritage; Hydraulic consultant: Sparks and Partners; Landscape consultant: Christopher Owen; Lighting consultant: Steensen Varming; Planning consultant: Urbis; Surveyor: Geometra Consulting; Quantity surveyor: QS Plus; Specialist vault development: UTS; Traffic consultant: Inco Traffic Management; Other consultants: Quisinh Tran

Smart Design Studio is located in Alexandria, New South Wales, on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.