SA Architecture Awards recognise $100 million 'vertical village' and an 'inclusive' heritage pub refit

Uniting Communities’ Woods Bagot-designed U City took out both the City of Adelaide Prize and Public Architecture Award over the weekend. Built on the former site of the striking 1965 Maughan Church, the 20-storey multi-use tower integrates retirement residences, specialist disability accommodation and accessible serviced apartments alongside United Communities’ social services hub and ground floor commercial and retail spaces. Woods Bagot also claimed an Interior Architecture Award for BHP’s Adelaide headquarters.

Troppo Architects’ creative redevelopment of south-west corner pub the Whitmore Hotel won both the Keith Neighbour Award for Commercial Architecture and Heritage Award. With the heritage pub overhauled to accommodate alcohol startup Sparkke Change, the project saw a microbrewery, beer garden and rooftop bar incorporated into the original building’s footprint, while embracing the brand’s socially progressive messaging with unisex toilets and improved sightlines among the structural measures aimed at improving the once-shady den’s accessibility and inclusivity.

Studio Gram’s fitout of Fino’s long-awaited metropolitan move topped a competitive pool of 16 entries to pick up the Robert Dickson Award for Interior Architecture. Jurors praised the “duality between raw dilapidated tenancy and refined furnishings and interior find(ing) connection with the raw produce and fine food of the restaurant”, a fitting balance that also reflects the restaurant’s rustic origins in a city context.

Other notable winners include Grieve Gillet Andersen’s Pembroke Middle School Redevelopment, which took out the Dr John Mayfield Award for Education Architecture, Khab Architects who received the John S Chappel Award for Residential Architecture for their ‘Spinifex House’, HASSELL who claimed the Jack McConnell Award for Public Architecture for the Salisbury Community Hub. Cheesman Doley Brabham and Neighbour received the Jack Cheesman Award for Enduring Architecture for its 1963 Maurice Doley-designed Methodist Memorial Youth Centre at Nunyara, a fine example of South Australian modernist architecture.

“With site visits replaced by online interviews, jurors rose to the challenge and were able to debate and remotely explore the merits of the entries,” SA Chapter president Tony Giannone said of this year’s COVID-affected process, which awarded a total of 39 honours. “We have all had to adapt and be flexible to a different delivery mode for the Awards Program this year, however we’re confident in the process and proud to deliver the program despite this year’s extraordinary circumstances.”

The South Australian award winners will go onto the National Architecture Awards, to be revealed in November.

2020 South Australian Architecture Awards winners

Commercial Architecture
Keith Neighbour Award – Sparkke at the Whitmore by Troppo Architects

Educational Architecture
Dr John Mayfield Award – Pembroke Middle School Redevelopment by Grieve Gillett Andersen
Award – Pulteney Grammar Middle School by JPE Design Studio
Award – Kildare College Brigidine Centre by Walter Brooke

Enduring Architecture
Jack Cheesman Award – Nunyara Chapel by Cheesman Doley Brabham and Neighbour

Heritage
David Saunders Award – Smyth Memorial Chapel by Arcuate Architecture
Award – Sparkke at the Whitmore by Troppo Architects

Interior Architecture
Robert Dickson Award – Fino Vino by studio-gram
Award – BHP Adelaide by Woods Bagot

Public Architecture
Jack McConnell Award – Salisbury Community Hub by HASSELL
Award – U City by Woods Bagot

Residential Architecture – Houses (Alterations and Additions)
John Schenk Award – Outside [the] Box by Troppo Architects
Award – Through the Looking-Glass by John Adam Architect

Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
John S Chappel Award – Spinifex House by Khab Architects