Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) is proud to celebrate projects we have supported among the winners of the 2026 Australian Institute of Architects Awards, with award-winning work crisscrossing the country.
The awards recognise excellence in architecture across Australia, celebrating the architects, clients and project teams contributing to the quality of the nation’s built environment.
Australian Capital Territory
The new Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) Woden, designed by Gray Puksand, received the Enrico Taglietti Award for Educational Architecture, an Award for Interior Architecture and the Social Impact Prize.
The 22,500-square-metre, 6 Star Green Star education precinct contains Australia’s largest mass timber building by volume. Connection to Country is integral to the design, from the river Country landscape to coloured terracotta bands expressing valley, bush, mountain and sky.
New South Wales
RLB-supported winners include the new Sydney Fish Market, 33 Alfred Street and 42 Honeysuckle Drive in Newcastle.
The new Sydney Fish Market, designed by 3XN GXN in association with BVN Architecture and ASPECT Studios, transforms the Blackwattle Bay foreshore, bringing its working wholesale and retail operations together with 6,000 square metres of public realm. The new civic destination is anticipated to welcome six million visitors each year.
At Circular Quay, 33 Alfred Street demonstrates another form of transformation. Completed in 1962 as Sydney’s first skyscraper, the State Heritage-listed building has been renewed as a contemporary Premium-grade workplace while retaining its modernist character. Reuse of the existing structure reduced embodied carbon by 75 per cent.
Meanwhile, mass timber is making its mark on Newcastle’s skyline. Designed by Bates Smart for DOMA, 42 Honeysuckle Drive pairs a Little National Hotel with an eight-level commercial building constructed with cross-laminated timber floors and glulam beams and columns. The fully electric development delivers architectural impact with significantly lower embodied carbon.
Queensland
Inspired by the traditional Queensland Shade house, 205 North Quay, designed by Hassell, REX and Richards & Spence, received the Queensland Medallion, the Beatrice Hutton Award for Commercial Architecture and the Art & Architecture Prize.
The commercial tower responds to Brisbane’s subtropical climate through greenery, shaded outdoor terraces and a naturally ventilated plaza. Designed to achieve net zero operations through 100% renewable electricity, it brings together workplace, wellness and public spaces.
Cbus Property’s 443 Queen Street, by WOHA with Architectus and Kris Kowalski Architects, received the Job & Froud Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing and an Award for Sustainable Architecture.
Australia’s first residential tower to achieve a 6 Star Green Star rating, the 47-storey development was designed for Brisbane’s subtropical climate, with natural ventilation, shaded terraces and sky gardens woven through the building.
Palm Beach Aquatic & Community Centre, by Liquid Blu and COX Architecture, received the FDG Stanley Award for Public Architecture, while Cow Bay Primary Health Care Clinic, by Clarke and Prince Architects, received an Award for Public Architecture and the Social Impact Prize.
Other Queensland winners supported by RLB include Redcliffe Social Housing (Solstice), by Arkhefield, and Brisbane Metro, by Arup.
South Australia
Award-winning projects supported by RLB include Adelaide Aquatic Centre (Kauwingka – Place of Water), Adelaide Town Hall, Noarlunga Hospital Mental Health Rehabilitation Unit, Tonsley Technical College Factory of the Future and Yitpi Yartapuultiku Cultural Centre.
The new Adelaide Aquatic Centre, designed by JPE Design Studio with Warren and Mahoney and Karl Winda Telfer, was conceived as ‘a landscape within a landscape’, bringing together sport, wellness, nature and community within the Adelaide Park Lands.
At Adelaide Town Hall, conservation and refurbishment works have renewed one of the city’s most historically significant civic buildings. The work included conservation of the landmark Albert Tower and reconstruction of its lantern, alongside the careful revitalisation of the historic 1866 auditorium and surrounding spaces.
Victoria
RLB-supported winners in Victoria include St Kilda Pier, by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects with Site Office Landscape Architecture and AW Maritime; Merri Northcote, by Six Degrees Architects; Nightingale Umarkoo Wayi, by Kennedy Nolan; Gore Street, by Woods Bagot; 500 Bourke Street, by FK; and Younghusband, by Woods Bagot.
Together, the projects span public infrastructure, housing, commercial architecture and adaptive reuse, demonstrating different approaches to creating more sustainable and enduring places.
At Younghusband, more than 17,000 square metres of underused industrial space has been transformed into a mixed-use community precinct. Its light-touch adaptive reuse approach retained most of the existing fabric, achieving an 84% reduction in embodied carbon and net zero operational performance.
Western Australia
The University of Notre Dame Australia Fremantle Campus Library and Student Hub, by Hames Sharley, is one of several RLB-supported winners in the West. Others are: Nine The Esplanade, by REX and Hassell; One Midland Square, by Hassell; and Gibbon Crossing and Parkland Heart at Perth Zoo, by Iredale Pedersen Hook Architects with Hassell.
At the University of Notre Dame, what began as a refurbishment of the heritage-listed campus library expanded to encompass four additional buildings. The result is a contemporary ‘living library’ and student hub that creates a new heart for the campus while strengthening the university’s connection with Fremantle’s historic West End.
Together, these award-winning projects reflect the breadth of RLB’s work across Australia and the strength of the partnerships behind the places where people live, learn, work and connect.
RLB congratulates our clients, architectural partners, project teams and colleagues on their achievements in the 2026 Australian Institute of Architects Awards.
To discuss how RLB can support your next project, get in touch with your local team. https://www.rlb.com/oceania/about/contact-offices/.
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