Adaptive re-use the focus of Boral Design Awards 2011/12

Winner of the Boral Design Awards 2010, Courtyard House by Aidan Murphy and Aaron Peters.

To transform a commercial building into a medium density residential development – that is the challenge set by the Boral Design Awards 2011/12, officially launched at events in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth this week.

Celebrating new conceptual solutions in residential building design, the awards’ brief asks the architectural community to devise a scheme that adaptively repurposes an existing city fringe propertyinto a medium density residential or mixed-use development.

Glenn Simpkin, Boral Divisional Marketing Manager, said “Australia’s need for sustainable, affordable and healthy inner city communities is growing. The theme of this year’s awards calls for a lifecycle approach to residential design in an urban environment, with entrants asked to preserve and incorporate 50 per cent of the building fabric into their concept.

“The Boral Design Awards is an opportunity to consider the individual benefits of building materials whichcontribute to sustainability and create high-quality dwellings that are thermally and acoustically sound. This includes specification from anextensive range of Boral products including timber, bricks, blocks, plasterboard, pavers, decorative and structural concrete, retaining walls, roof tiles, windows and doors.”

A new category for emerging professionals has been added to this year’s awards, with a total of three cash prizes on offer:

• Professional – open to architects, building designers, landscape designers and homebuilders. Prize $20,000
• Emerging Professional – open to architects and designers who have graduated and have been in practise for up to five years. Prize $10,000
• Student – open to all architecture or building design students who are enrolled at a university or TAFE. Prize $4,000

Entries are open now until March 1, 2012.

For more information: 1300 360 255 / www.designawards.boral.com.au