We are delighted and humbled by the recognition at the 2024 Victorian Architecture Awards! Wangaratta district Specialist School won the EmAGN Project Award and received a Commendation for Educational Architecture, Thank you to the jury, The Australian Institute of Architects, and all the stakeholders involved in bringing this project to life. Your expertise and dedication played a crucial role in this success.

Jury Citation:“The project demonstrated a collaborative leadership approach between a practice director in the EmAGN demographic and a graduate team member, who grew into the role of project architect throughout the project’s duration. Leadership was particularly evident throughout the sensory design zones, as the team were challenged to draw upon insights garnered from Sibling’s experience in exhibition design to champion innovative sensory solutions within the VSBA framework and tight budget.The project team demonstrated their commitment to collaboration, actively involving end-users and specialists throughout the design process. The team interrogated the initial design brief, to enrich the building’s functionality and flexibility through extensive end-user consultation. This ensured that the project has a high-level of research and understanding embedded within the design, to meet the diverse needs of students and educators. The built outcome is a playful, thoughtful, and a highly functional response, expertly balancing a challenging brief and tight budget. The jury believes the project sets a new benchmark for the design of inclusive spaces and exemplifies best practice in designing for students who have clinically diagnosed intellectual disabilities. The outcome is dignified, responsible and delightful.”

Architectural Photograohy by @derek_swalwell

Last week we attended the 2024 Dulux Colour Awards at Bennelong, Sydney Opera House.

We were pleased to have two projects shortlisted in the Commercial and Public Interior categroy; Aireys Inlet Primary School and Wangaratta District Specialist School…and even more thrilled to receive a commendation for Aireys Inlet Primary School!!!!

We are so pleased to have this small but mighty project recognised for its bold but thoughtful use of colour. The specific Dulux tones were chosen to reflect the natural bushland and coastal setting of the school. Located on the traditional lands of the Wadawarrung people and Gulidjan and Gadubanud peoples of the Eastern Maar, it was important that the building sat comfortably within its surrounds.

Read more about the project here.

The night was not complete without an obligatory photo with the Dulux dog! Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to Dulux for hosting such a special event and celebrating design through their awards.

Last month, our co-director Amelia Borg, presented at the University of Melbourne LEARN conference, Talking Spaces – Exploring the Strategic Design of Schools.

The conference explores connections between wellbeing, space, and learning through conversations about how schools can be strategically re-designed to better meet the current and future needs of students, teachers, and the wider community. Supported by stimulating provocations from expert panelists and workshop facilitators, including Amelia who shared our work into designing for the senses and wellbeing in education, focusing on the Wangaratta District Specialist School.

The conference was hosted at the Centre for Higher Education Studies where students also shared their expert voices and perspectives.

Congratulations to Tope Adesina for being one of the recipients of this years Australian Design Review’s 30UNDER30 mentorship program!

We are excited at this mentorship opportunity for Tope, to connect with other young architects and industry experts over the next 12months.
At Sibling, Tope has had a strong hand in shaping many of our education and cultural projects. His experience in public art projects has contributed to a unique understanding of the perceptions of public space.

A man of many talents, Tope is also the man behind the camera, lending his keen and careful eye to the photographic documentation of a number of our recent projects.

Well done Tope!

Sibling have been working on the exhibition design for the Science Gallery Melbourne’s inaugural show, ‘Not Natural’, which finally opened at the end of January.

The exhibition explores the growing fiction between natural and artificial systems, showcasing a number of speculative local and international projects dissolving the line between what is considered natural and not natural.

We will be sharing more about our approach to designing the exhibition for some of the weird and wonderful exhibits including live jellyfish and a machete-wielding houseplant! But for now, here are some pics from the opening event.

Not Natural is on show from now until June 29 at Science Gallery Melbourne.

We kicked off the year with exciting news: we were selected as recipients for the Creative Ventures grant funding!

Supported by the Victorian government, the Creative Ventures program provides two-year grants to small creative organisations to deliver a big impact.

Sibling received more than $180,000 in funding to support our research into sensorially-sensitive architectural design of spaces which cater to neurodivergent and sensorially diverse people.

This research has been a longstanding pre-occupation of Sibling, with earlier projects such as New Agency and Arts Project Australia establishing the groundwork for larger projects such as the recently completed Wangaratta District Specialist School.

We will be posting updates on our research as it unfolds, so keep an eye out on our socials.

Just in time for summer, we celebrated the opening of the new South East Centre for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Bega, NSW.
Located on Yuin Country in the far south coast of NSW, the redeveloped gallery doubles the area of the previous exhibition spaces and provides state of the art facilities to accommodate both community and international touring shows.

Sibling first started working on this project in 2018, so it was especially rewarding to finally see it open and occupied by the public.
SECCA has been warmly welcomed by the people of the Bega Valley Shire and is set to enhance the region as an arts and cultural destination. If you’re traveling up the east coast over the summer, be sure to drop in and check it out!

A huge congratulations to Andrea and Isabella who were awarded the Christopher Procter research prize and David Lindner research prizes respectively!
The prizes were awarded at the 2023 NSW Australian Institute of Architects Honours and Awards celebration at the Ace Hotel, Sydney.

Andrea’s research is titled “Chinatowns are disappearing around the world – how can architecture ensure their future?”
Jury Citation:
Chinatowns around the world are unique cultural and urban spaces which make a rich contribution to our cities. Through the 19th and 20th century they became places to congregate for many migrants from China and Asia more broadly. They served as vibrant hubs of significant cultural and economic activity, attracting locals and tourists alike.

Changing demographics, post Covid-19 challenges of our inner cities combined with the virus’ origin in Wuhan have left Chinatowns across the globe struggling to regain that vibrancy. Andrea’s research will focus on San Franscisco’s Chinatown which is one of the largest and oldest of its kind. Her study will be about its distinct cultural, economic and physical characteristics, as well as which local renewal strategies may be translatable into an Australian context.

Growing up with regular visits to Sydney’s Chinatown and now working on its reimagination as an architect and urban designer Andrea’s proposal is personal and highly relevant. It meets the mission of the Christopher Procter prize to enable research and professional development with a focus on improving our cities.”

Andrea has also received a Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship to further her research into this topic, where she will travel to the US, Europe and South Pacific.

Isabella’s research is titled “Soft Spaces: Designing for Pain in the Public Realm.”

Jury citation:
Isabella’s submission brings to the fore the high proportion of Australian’s living with the invisible experiences of chronic pain and disease and how good design within our built environment should consider people living with these conditions.

Her proposal builds on her previous research into this topic, where she catalogued how public spaces affect people living with chronic pain. The David Lindner Prize will enable Isabella to continue this research through establishing a set of recommendations in the form of a practical guide for future public buildings and spaces to palliate the effects of chronic pain. This research will be strengthened through collaboration with nominated industry leaders in this space as well as medical professionals.

Through highlighting the statistics around chronic pain and the impact of our environmental conditions on this, the jury considered that Isabella’s work could be a very poignant topic within the architectural profession about how we design our spaces with empathy and inclusion.”

Unprecedented is this year’s Australian Institute of Architects National Conference, hosted on Ngunnawal land, Canberra. The conference is an opportunity to ‘reflect on what has come before, focus on how we face the future and shape what is yet to come.’

Keynote speakers include Denise Scott-Brown, Stan Grant and Kevin Carmody.
Qianyi will be speaking on a breakfast panel on Tuesday 31st October, alongside Shoba Cole, Adam Haddow, Bradley Kerr and Kerstin Thompson on the importance of diversity to creating an equal playing field.
Hope to see you there for a thoughtful and engaging conversation, Tuesday 31st October 7am!

Sibling Architecture and ASPECT Studios has been shortlisted as one of four teams for the Griffith Park Precinct Design Competition for Canterbury Bankstown Council. The project is to envision a new masterplan for the Griffith Park Precinct in Bankstown, which will include the delivery of a new community centre building and park.

We are so thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Council on this and are well underway in developing some exciting concepts for the thriving and bustling centre in Western Sydney.