Nominations now open for our Urban Design Awards

Let’s celebrate the best in sustainable and innovative architecture and design which improves communities by shaping the physical environment.

The awards recognise the significant contributions of architects, landscape architects, urban designers, artists, design students and city builders to the look, feel and liveability of our city.

Key points to know:

  • Submit a high-quality A1 design board - see 'Design board resources' for templates.
  • Assessed by an independent jury of industry experts.
  • Assessed against the principles in the Boroondara Design Excellence Guide (PDF 18MB) and the vision of 'sustainable and inclusive community'.
  • Finished in the last 5 years and fits in an award category.

Award categories

Residential

Celebrates exceptional residential projects that set a precedent through their architecture, detailing, massing, relationship to the public realm and the natural environment. Select one sub-category only for your project:

  • alteration or addition
  • single dwelling
  • townhouse
  • multi-residential.

Commercial

Celebrates outstanding commercial projects that demonstrate excellence in architectural design, sustainability, and community impact, creating vibrant and accessible spaces for business and public interaction. Examples of eligible projects include office buildings, retail spaces, hotels and mixed-use developments.

Civic

Celebrates exceptional design in projects serving the public and accessible to the community including education, healthcare, recreation, cultural, community, and civic buildings. The emphasis is on creating inclusive, accessible, and engaging environments that serve the public and enhance community life.

Student

Celebrates the future of exceptional design by inviting university students in urban design, architecture, landscape architecture and other design programs to submit theoretical or studio projects set in or relating to Boroondara.


Entry requirements

  • Nominate a project in one award category that demonstrates excellence in urban design within Boroondara.
  • Completed or built (exception for student award category) in Boroondara in the past 5 years (and not nominated before).
  • New construction, renovation or restoration projects - or student designs submitted for the student award category.
  • The project considers sustainability and heritage.
  • If required, access the project site by the jury.

Note: We no longer require the building to have a Planning Permit from the City of Boroondara.

An A1 architectural design board using our guide and template (available on this page), submitted online as your entry and formatted to be printed. The presentation boards must include:

  • High-quality images - at least 3 and no more than 6 - of site plans, construction drawings, renders and photographs.
  • Project details - no more than 500 words - that covers:
    • project title or address
    • project objective or scope
    • background or context
    • project team
    • key deliverables or outcomes
    • budget
    • stakeholders or engagement
    • how the project responds to the 5 key design principles from the Boroondara Design Excellence Guide:
      1. Considering context: Right for its location, and complements the physical, natural, social, heritage and economic environment.
      2. Sustainable design: Uses renewable resources, and reduces operating costs, energy use and waste.
      3. Building quality: Uses high-quality materials that are durable and contribute positively to the look and feel of the neighbourhood.
      4. Local ecology: Contributes to creating neighbourhoods that are green, healthy and full of life.
      5. Liveable and vibrant places: Connects with surrounding streets and public places and make the neighbourhood safer, more attractive, active and easy to get around.
  • Design professionals, clients, owners, community groups and residents may self-nominate projects.
  • Projects funded by the City of Boroondara and designed or prepared by consultants are eligible.
  • The Boroondara Urban Design Awards seeks broad representation from the design community, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people and equity-deserving groups. The awards also seeks projects that achieve equal outcomes for and amplifies the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people and equity-deserving groups that strengthens relationships and builds trust.

Note: Members of the City of Boroondara Council, employees, jury members and their families are not eligible.


Jury and finalists

Three finalists in each category will be judged for the award. Finalists will be invited to the awards night in August.

The jury will assess how entries respond to:

Note: The jury reserves the right not to present awards in every category and to reallocate submissions into appropriate categories.

Jury members

Liam Wallis

Liam Wallis

Founder and Managing Director of HIP V. HYPE, member of Landcom Design Review Panel and Property Council of Australia VIC: Sustainability Committee.

Katherine Sundermann

Katherine Sundermann

Katherine is Principal at MGS Architects, Senior Lecturer of Urban Planning and Design at Monash University and President of Urban Design Forum Aust.

Markus Jung

Markus is the Course Director of the Masters of Architecture and Urban Design at Swinburne University of Technology.

Learn more about our jury members

Liam Wallis

Founder and Managing Director of HIP V. HYPE, Liam is a creative entrepreneur driven by a desire to use business as a tool to create a better, more resilient, prosperous world for all.

Liam grew up in Melbourne and studied science, Japanese, architecture and property at the University of Melbourne, and Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He established HIP V. HYPE in 2002 — a multidisciplinary business that operates as both a sustainability consultancy and a developer of sustainable, research-based residential properties.

He believes in quality, the value of design and the importance of an evidence based approach to designing and delivering projects. Liam’s vision is to develop higher-quality apartments and townhouses that are more environmentally sustainable and more socially responsible. He views each new project as an opportunity to improve on the last, using new technologies and sustainable construction methods, and is excited and driven by this challenge.

Liam is also focused on the creation and curation of more innovative and sustainable models for property development.

He founded the successful Hypecast podcast and Collective Exchange, an in-person talk series, to facilitate more effective action on climate change.

Katherine Sundermann

Katherine is Principal at MGS Architects, Senior Lecturer of Urban Planning and Design at Monash University and Joint- President of Urban Design Forum Australia.

She is an architect and urbanist with extensive experience working in Australia, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Katherine is passionate about supporting the public interest, in terms of how our cities are designed and governed and in creating the right governance and spatial frameworks for inclusive, resilient neighbourhoods.

At MGS Architects, Katherine has delivered planning frameworks, policy, research, urban strategies and masterplans, including the award-winning City of Ballarat Creative Precinct Masterplan. At Monash University, she leads research into best-practice urban regeneration models and alternative housing models, and at Urban Design Forum she advocates for the public interest in planning reform.

Markus Jung

Markus is the Course Director of the Masters of Architecture and Masters of Architecture and Urban Design at Swinburne University of Technology.

Markus is a multi-award-winning German architect and urban designer, and co-director of XPACE architecture + urban design.

He has a background and international record of achievement in a wide range of major architecture projects, urban design, water sensitive, and climatic and integrated design. He specialises in processes of metropolitan transformation and densification at all scales. His projects focus on post-industrial site redevelopments and mixed-use urban precincts adjacent to public transport infrastructure.

Markus has held permanent academic positions at the ETH Zurich (2004-10), Zurich University of the Arts (2010-11), Monash University (2011-2020), and was a Visiting Professor at Southwest Jiaotong University Chengdu (2016).

Markus is a regularly invited speaker and critic at international conferences, workshops and design review panels at universities and organisations in Australia, Europe, USA, and China including RMIT, University of Melbourne, Southeast University Nanjing, Bauhaus Dessau, Urban Affairs Association, Liverpool University, and the Venice Architecture Biennale.


Awards night keynote speaker

  • Jill Garner

    Jill is a highly respected architect with 40 years of experience across practice and government in Victoria. Jill became the first woman Victorian Government Architect in 2015. She leads the expert Office of the Victorian Government Architect (OVGA) team while also maintaining a hands-on role in several significant projects - including Melbourne Arts Precinct Regeneration, Melbourne Olympic Park masterplan rollout (2012-2022) and Federation Square review of public purpose and built form.

As a passionate advocate for architecture and design in government, and a commitment to building legacy for community, Jill promotes the value of contextual, integrated design thinking and a collaborative approach across design disciplines.

Jill’s impactful advice and advocacy work with the OVGA includes Chair of the Victorian Design Review Panel; Chair and/or jury member for diverse government project competitions; Chair and/or jury member for diverse government awards; and regular industry, government, public and university speaking engagements.

Jill is committed to exemplary design and was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant services to architecture, to professional associations and to education. She is a Life Fellow (LFRAIA) of the Australian Institute of Architects and holds a Master of Architecture by Design (RMIT University) and a Bachelor of Architecture (RMIT University).

Why we celebrate design excellence

Our community has told us through the Boroondara Community Plan 2021-2031 that they value advocacy to protect the distinct character of our neighbourhoods and streets as new development occurs.

Held every 2 years, the Boroondara Urban Design Awards recognise and celebrate projects that make our built environment better, from multi-dwelling developments to heritage extensions, new schools or commercial buildings. It’s about striving for design excellence that makes a positive impact on our city.

The Urban Design Awards aim to:

  • Promote excellence in urban design and celebrate high-quality, exemplary architecture and design that enriches Boroondara’s character.
  • Increase the community’s awareness of the benefits of good urban design and the positive contribution it makes to our public environment.
  • Advocate for sustainability to be at the heart of any future development and at the forefront of design thinking in our city for the benefit of current and future generations.

Terms and conditions

All submitted materials will be retained by the City of Boroondara and will not be returned. By submitting an entry, you grant the City of Boroondara a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive license to use, display, distribute, modify, crop, reproduce, and create derivative works of the submission materials for any purpose related to the Boroondara Urban Design Awards program. This license is provided without any fee or compensation. You also waive all moral rights in the submission materials and represent that you have the authority to grant these rights.