NSW school wins Sulman architecture prize for library

A new library at Ravenswood School for Girls on Sydney’s north shore has won the coveted Sir John Sulman Medal for Public Architecture.

The Mabel Fidler Building by BVN Architecture won the top honour at last night’s NSW Architecture Awards at Luna Park, held by the Australian Institute of Architects. The jury noted its elegant planning and sculptural presence.

A large translucent structure is suspended above a traditional masonry base in a design that was informed by teachers and ­students.

“The Mabel Fidler Building expresses the aspirations of a community and is a fine model for a school of the future,” the jury said.

The Wilkinson Award for Residential Architecture went to Cliff Face House in Sydney’s Pittwater region, designed by Fergus Scott Architects with Peter Stutchbury Architecture.

Built to appear like a veiled scaffold along a sandstone cliff, the house descends from the access road in such a way that it doesn’t obscure the view of passers-by. At its base is a public lawn and tidal flats.

The sandstone cliff forms the inner walls, and an external walkway has operable perforated copper screens.

“The irregular internal rock face encouraged moments of architectural improvisation in a house whose overall order reveals a deep well of experience,” the jury said.

Across the state there were 173 entries, with 30 awards handed out on the night. The winners will progress to the National Architecture Awards to be held in Perth in November.

Architectus + ingenhoven architects designed the 1 Bligh Street building, in the Sydney CBD, which took out both the Sir Arthur G. Stephenson Award for Commercial Architecture and the Milo Dunphy Award for ­Sustainable Architecture.

The six star green star rated building, with its internal void through the whole building, was hailed as setting an environmental benchmark in ­Australia. “The possibility of a vertical workplace campus emerges,” the jury said. “It is the promise of what a tall building might be in Sydney.”

Bell Romero Houses in Mosman, by Chenchow Little Architects, won the Aaron Bolot Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing.