A jaw-dropping Bundaberg home and a unique timber fire station on the Fraser Coast are among the projects recognised at the 2023 Australian Institute of Architects regional awards. PHOTOS.
Designed by local architect Tomas O’Malley, the Millbank house ‘Coconut Ice’ also received the People’s Choice Award and a regional commendation for Residential Architecture – Houses (New) at the awards presided over by the Australian Institute of Architects.
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The two-storey home uses a striking pink and white colour scheme to delineate space, with open shared living areas on the ground floor leading up to more private spaces on the top floor.
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The minimalist approach used by Mr O’Malley was a reaction against the contemporary trend towards large, ostentatious homes.
“I feel really strongly about how house sizes in Australia have grown dramatically larger over the last few decades,” Mr O’Malley said.
Tomas O’Malley designed ‘Coconut Ice’, named House of the Year at the 2023 Central Queensland Regional Architecture Awards.
“I wanted to try to show that you can have a more modest size house that is still a really comfortable house to live in and still has a lot of kind of high quality architectural spaces without having to have something that‘s overly large or overly expensive and ostentatious.
It was partly an exercise in showing what you can do with a relatively modest floor area.”
The home was built on sustainable design principles, both in terms of using fewer materials in the construction of the home and in allowing for natural ventilation.
Coconut Ice does not have any artificial airconditioning or heating, with the open plan and orientation of the home allowing for natural ventilation and passive cooling.
Coconut Ice was named House of the Year at the Central Queensland Regional Architecture Awards.
Mr O’Malley, who lives in the home with his wife and two children, said the house had been comfortable despite the recent cold weather.
Also designed to enhance engagement with the surrounding community, the house has attracted plenty of interest from neighbours and passers-by.
“It certainly gets people to stop and look at it,” Mr O’Malley said.
“It’s different to what you see generally in suburban Bundaberg. Generally we’ve had good comments, but even people (for whom) it’s not to their tastes, to me that’s perfectly fine.”
President of the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects Amy Degenhart said that Coconut Ice was a “fantastic” example of sustainable design.
President of the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects Amy Degenhart said that Coconut Ice is a “fantastic” example of sustainable design.
“Coconut Ice … embraces the Zeitgeist of exactly what architects need to be doing now, which is leading the way in housing with sustainability and accessibility” Ms Degenhart said.
“It has set the scene for a lot of the things that the state government would like to see happen in housing.”
Another Wide Bay project recognised in Friday’s awards was the QFES North Coast Regional Headquarters in Maryborough.
Designed by Brisbane firm Baber Studio Architects, the headquarters and fire station received the regional commendation in Commercial Architecture.
Kim Baber designed the QFES North Coast Regional Headquarters and Maryborough station, recipient of the regional commendation in Commercial Architecture at the 2023 Central Queensland Regional Architecture Awards.
This building was also conceived with sustainable principles in mind, with the fire station being the state’s first timber fire station.
Specially treated timber produced by Maryborough firm Hyne Timber was used in the construction of the station.
Principal architect Kim Baber said that the use of the timber in place of concrete and steel saved around 1,750 tonnes of Co2 from entering the atmosphere.
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The timber comes from sustainable growth forests around Maryborough, with any timber extracted from the forests able to be regrown at eye-watering speed; Mr Baber said that the timber used in the construction of the fire station was able to be regrown in 45 minutes.
“(Timber) is really unmatched when you compare it to any other material in terms of the renewability,” Mr Baber said.
Australia is leading the way in the use of the groundbreaking sustainable timber materials.
The QFES North Coast Regional Headquarters and Maryborough station received the regional commendation in Commercial Architecture at the 2023 Central Queensland Regional Architecture Awards.
Ms Degenhart recently attended an exhibition of timber projects at the Chicago Architecture Centre in which Australian projects were represented more than any other country.
“Australia is leading in this technology … I’m just so pleased to see that being celebrated in this particular project,” Ms Degenhart said.
The Australian Institute of Architects Awards recognise innovative work by Queensland architects judged by a panel of public and industry representatives.
Friday’s awards was the first ceremony specific to the central Queensland region.
Coconut Ice and the QFES North Coast Regional Headquarters are among the entrants for the Queensland State Awards to be held in June at Brisbane City Hall.
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