BVN added to their impressive awards collection at the Royal Australian Institute of Architects NSW Awards announced on 22 June, when they were given two awards.

They won an Interior Architecture Award for the Wilkhahn Asia Pacific Factory and Showroom.

This is the ninth Interior Architecture Award won by BVN in the last 10 years – a remarkable record testifying to BVN’s outstanding design standards.

Abbie Galvin, Project Principal for the Wilkhan Asia Pacific Factory and Showroom said, ‘This is the second time BVN have had the pleasure of working with Wilkhahn in the redevelopment of their factory and showroom.  It is rewarding to see that the success of this innovative co-location of the factory and showroom has been recognised by the RAIA Awards jury.’

Located in Sydney’s inner western suburbs, the building blurs the edges between factory and showroom, production and display.

The building is entered via a dramatic ramp which leads through the factory, across a garden, and terminates in a viewing platform, enabling the progression of manufacture and assembly to be understood and allowing the movement, sounds and smells of the manufacturing process to be experienced. The platform transfers into the showroom, where the customer is positioned high above the showroom floor allowing clear visibility of the final products. The platform forms a mezzanine for administration and sales staff with a series of demonstration ‘rooms’ below. A stair allows descent onto the showroom where the furniture is curated in a series of simple displays across the floor.

Ms Galvin noted that, ‘The structure of ramp, platform, stair and mezzanine, clad in birch plywood, are treated as a dramatic insertion into the existing warehouse space with the organic quality of the birch contrasting with the industrial steel structure. The seamless detailing of the plywood acts as an organic visual foil to the robust steel shell of the warehouse, allowing the furniture to be the focus.’

The Colorbond Steel Award was the second award given to BVN for the design of the ICT Building at Newcastle University.

According to the awards jury this is a ‘teaching space hovering 4.5 metres above a car park at the University of Newcastle that has created a significant contribution to the public realm.’

At the same time BVN were being given an International Award by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for the L5 Building at the University of New South Wales.

The RIBA awards are considered to be one of the highest levels of commendation an architect can receive and BVN’s Design Principals for the L5 Building, Lawrence Nield and Andrew Cortese, are in London to receive the award from RIBA President, Jack Pringle.

These latest awards add to BVN’s growing architecture prize collection, that exceeds more than 100 in the last decade alone.