2026 Queensland Architecture Awards Highlight Ambitious Designs
The 2026 Queensland Architecture awards have revealed a collection of projects that mark a transformative phase in the state's architectural landscape.
Judges noted that this year's winners pushed design boundaries across all categories, demonstrating ambition that extended from Brisbane's central areas to its regional outskirts.
“[There are] many examples of adventurous and ambitious commercial and community buildings that are helping to revitalise Brisbane’s CBD,” said jury chair, Prof Michael Keniger.
“All in all, the 2026 Queensland Architecture awards program offers a broad spectrum of inviting and purposeful architecture that taken together illustrates the possibilities for an enhanced and vibrant future.”
The Queensland Medallion, the highest accolade, was awarded to a commercial high-rise on North Quay overlooking the Brisbane River.
The BNE Commercial Tower, a collaboration between Hassell, REX, and Richards & Spence, emerged from a design competition initiated by Cbus Property. The design features an elevated commercial lobby with a shaded open-air public plaza beneath, and includes high-rise landscaped outdoor terraces accessible to workers along the building's sides.
The project also secured the Beatrice Hutton award for commercial architecture and the art and architecture prize, recognizing the 31-metre-long bas-relief sculpture titled City Reach by Brisbane-based artist Bruce Reynolds, cast in situ across the full underside of the Herschel Street awning.
Judges commended the design's boldness and its ability to foster an inventive and generous relationship between the tower and its surroundings.
Radical Residential Redefinitions
A daring reinterpretation of the traditional Queenslander house earned Peter Besley the Robin Dods award for residential architecture for his home named Birdwood.
Located amid bushland in Mount Coot-tha, just 6 km west of Brisbane’s CBD, Birdwood was praised for its audacity.
“There is a sedate and well understood range of understandings that define the qualities and resilience of the conventional Queenslander house,” the judges stated.
“Virtually all of these are overturned and challenged by the adventurous shaping and redefining of the design of Birdwood.
Overall, this is an adventurous house that brings to life alternative and imaginative ways houses might better respond to the demands of Queensland’s climate.”
Canal-Side Multigenerational Home on the Gold Coast
Another residential award was granted to a canal-side multigenerational home on the Gold Coast, designed by Burleigh Heads architecture firm ME.
The Dolphin Court House was praised by judges for its "considered rather than ostentatious" design, described as a "calm and confident addition to the Gold Coast waterfront."
The home also received an award for interior architecture, lauded for its carefully orchestrated spatial progression from gate to courtyard, then to living spaces and beyond. Central to the open-plan design is a staircase described as "a sculptural theatre piece in steel," rising from a plinth clad in earthy Australian red stone and timber.
“The detailing throughout is meticulous and superbly executed,” judges said.
“Recycled timber, terrazzo and locally sourced stone complete a palette that is warm, tactile and consciously Australian.”
University of Queensland’s Plant Futures Facility
Sharing the interior architecture award was the University of Queensland’s Plant Futures Facility, a new research centre that also won in the educational architecture category.
Designed by m3architecture, the building features multi-hued layered brickwork and curved edges that create a conceptual walled garden. Judges noted the design masterfully fulfilled a challenging windowless brief essential for maintaining climate-controlled artificial internal environments.
“Externally the building resembled a club sandwich,” they observed, “while internally, whimsical curvilinear mirror walls gave it a ‘Kubrickian-like atmosphere.’”
Heritage Award for Warwick Police Station Upgrade
One of two heritage awards was presented to the upgrade of a turn-of-the-20th-century police station in Warwick, a rural township in south-west Queensland known for its heritage buildings constructed from local sandstone.
Phillips Smith Conwell Architects completed the project with only essential keyhole modifications to the original structure. Judges highlighted the attentive integration of the heritage component with the new contemporary annexe.
“The project reflects a range of regional sensitivities and a mature handling of site elements,” they said.
Bold Interior Design at Brisbane’s Golden Avenue Restaurant
In the interiors category, a Middle Eastern restaurant in Brisbane’s CBD was recognized for its design.
J.AR Office’s design for Golden Avenue was praised for its “bold and indelible” contribution to the city’s culinary culture, featuring an opulent reference to the Gardens of Babylon that brings the outdoors inside.
“With its rich balance of delicate Murano glass with robust concrete, granite and marble, the design exuded a quality of ‘decadent subterranean permanence and durability,’” judges said, describing the restaurant as a memorable venue and “an institution in the making.”
