IDEA 2022 | Shortlist.

Architecture, Arts & Events - by Open Journal

Single Residential shortlist: Autumn House by Studio Bright. Image by Rory Gardiner.

31st August, 2022

This years Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) shortlist has just been revealed across a myriad of categories. We look at some of the projects that have shaped the design industry across the year through a commitment to sector, use, colour, innovation, sustainability and community engagement.

We begin our expiration of the 2022 IDEA shortlist with a category that is quickly gathering momentum to close the metric with some of the world’s largest cities – Multi Residential. As apartments continue to be more readily embraced in Australia, evolving the Great Australian Dream which has long retained focus on the single family home, Neometro™ has remained committed to the pursuit of educating buyers about the engaging relevance, design possibilities, economy and community apartment living inspires particularly in inner-urban Melbourne. Their 17 Union Street, Brunswick project, a collaboration with BKK Architects and Claire Cousins Architects, demonstrates high-density living’s propensity for cultivating homes designed to wear in, not out and weave into the patterns of their neighbourhoods.

Multi Residential shortlist: 17 Union Street, Brunswick by Neometro™. Image by Derek Swalwell.

Moving into public spaces, Brahman Perera’s iteration of the new Entrecôte in Prahran leverages Hospitality design to dovetail a timeless decadence with a spirit of joy. The resulting atmosphere reflects the sentiment we feel when seeing hospitality once again brimming after a period of dormancy. Anchored by a visual language which resurrects quintessential Parisian cafe’s, the space is lifted within its Melbourne context by colour, detail and a dedication to textile arrangements that verges on artistry.

Hospitality shortlist: Entrecôte Prahran by Brahman Perera. Image by Lillie Thompson.

Moving into larger public spaces, the Victorian Pride Centre by BAU GAA Brearley Architects and Urbanists and Grant Amon Architects holds a shortlist place as much for its approach to interior design and sustainability as its capacity to bring the built environment up to speed with the vernacular. As the first purpose-built centre for LGBTIQ+ communities in Australia, the striking space defined by sculptural elements and light provides a public working hub, health and welfare centres, bookshop, theatrette, archives, roof top terrace and a gallery.

Public Spaces shortlist: Victorian Pride Centre by BAU GAA Brearley Architects and Urbanists and Grant Amon Architects. Image by John Gollings.

Public Spaces & Sustainability shortlist: Victorian Pride Centre by BAU GAA Brearley Architects and Urbanists and Grant Amon Architects. Image by John Gollings.

And finally, as we slowly emerge from an abject fascination yet fear of colour into a bold new era, the shortlist for the Colour category is a joy yo behold. From Flack Studio’s mastery of brushstrokes in their Kensington and Troye Sivan houses and Brooke Aitken’s blush hues, right through to the proud primary flair that defines an unlikely sophisticated grunge at Ace Hotel Sydney, colour has stepped out from behind the neutral palettes of 2021 to reinvigorate our public and private domains and elevate our engagement with the spaces we occupy.