The Design Institute of Australia has revealed the winners of its 2019 South Australian and Northern Territory Design Awards, with an eye-popping array of projects from small bars to big-ticket research facilities.
Also claiming Gold was a beguiling foray into suburbia by bar-and-restaurant fitout wizards Sans Arc Studio. Dubbed the ‘Plaster Fun House’, this Torrensville cottage reno transposes all the clean lines and surfaces, artful tile choices and carefully chosen colour schemes of a Peel Street bar to a domestic setting in a way that seems tailor-made to set the design blogger world on fire (spoiler: it did).
Speaking of swish bar interiors, that ever-escalating arms race of hip new Adelaide drinking holes continues to produce some interesting interior concepts – while also keeping Adelaide’s wood panelling sector alive and well. This year saw Silver awards go to Studio AKA’s fitout of west end ‘dive bar’ Cry Baby, Studio-Gram’s fitouts of King William Road chicken joint Joybird, Paloma Bar and Pantry by Claire Kneebone and RAD Studio’s Gilbert Street Pizzateca spin-off Madre. Completely overhauling the former home of Feliciano, the refit also won the award for Outstanding Collaboration.
But, of course, the Design Institute of Australia’s remit extends beyond architecture to include product and graphic design, with a Gold award going to Black Squid Design’s refreshingly minimalist beer label redesign for Pikes Beer Co., reeling the traditional fish motif of the historic family brewer into more contemporary aesthetic waters.
Capping off the year’s design awards was the recognition of South Australian fashion industry icons George Gross and the late Harry Watt, whose label George Gross & Harry Who has had a formative impact on the state’s place in the fashion world since 1973.
2019 Design Icon Award
George Gross & Harry Who
Outstanding Awards
Premier’s Award
University of South Australia Cancer Research Institute by Swanbury Penglase with BVN
Collaboration Award
Madre by RAD Studio
Spartan Electrical Award
Mill Film by Studio Nine Architects
Built Environment
Hospitality
Silver – Cry Baby by Studio AKA
Silver – Joybird by Studio-Gram
Silver – Paloma Bar & Pantry by Claire Kneebone
Silver – Madre by RAD Studio
Silver – West by Studio-Gram
Commercial
Gold – Mill Film by Studio Nine Architects
Silver – Education Support Hub by Walter Brooke
Silver – University of South Australia Cancer Research Institute by Swanbury Penglase with BVN
Residential
Gold – The Esplanade by Williams Burton Leopardi
Gold – Plaster Fun House by Sans Arc Studio
Gold – Fish River Ranger Accommodation by UniSA Design Construct Program
Education
Gold – Adelaide Botanic High School by DesignInc
Gold – Sleep Ops by Exhibition Studios
Silver – Pridham Hall by JPE Design Studio
Silver – Telethon Kids Institute Discovery Centre by Exhibition Studios
Student
Gold – Hotel Derecho by Sara Threadgold
Silver – Tinker Taylor by Stephanie Haarsma Communication
Visual Communication
Gold – Gemtree by Parallax Design
Gold – Pikes Limited Release Beer by Black Squid Design
Digital Communication
Silver – JPE Website by Parallax Design
Product
Industrial
Silver – Go Micro Smartphone Microscope by Andrew Rogers Industrial Design
Walter is a writer and editor living on Kaurna Country.