Thursday, July 2, 2026 | London 24°C · Clear
DailyGlimpse

Works of ‘civic generosity’: NSW architecture awards winners 2026 – in pictures

Lifestyle
July 2, 2026 · 1:35 PM
Works of ‘civic generosity’: NSW architecture awards winners 2026 – in pictures

Skip to main contentSkip to navigation From the sweeping revamp of Central station to a garden oasis hidden within a city terrace, by way of a glamorous public school, western Sydney’s new airport and a dazzling farm shed in Byron Bay, here is a selection of this year’s winners of the Australian Institute of Architects’ NSW architecture awards

Green Square public school and community space has taken the lord mayor’s prize in the 2026 NSW architecture awards. Photograph: Martin Siegner

Thu 2 Jul 2026 08.00 EDT

Central station

The revamp of Sydney’s Central station has taken out top honours at the Australian Institute of Architects’ 2026 NSW architecture awards. The station is one of several significant projects that collected awards on Thursday, including the new Sydney fish market and the city’s soon-to-be-opened second international airport at Badgerys Creek.Photograph: Trevor Mein

Central station

The Woods Bago collaboration with John McAslan + Partners won the NSW architecture medallion as well as the Sulman medal for public architecture. The sweeping renewal seamlessly weaves the metro into the broader rail network, with judges praising the project for its ‘calm logic, abundant natural light, and a rich sense of material quality’.Photograph: Trevor Mein

Sydney fish market

The winner of the premier’s prize, the Sir Arthur G Stephenson award for commercial architecture and one of three awards for public architecture.Photograph: Rasmus Hjortshøj

Sydney fish market

The collaboration between 3XN, BVN and ASPECT Studios navigated multiple design and construction complexities, producing ‘a work of civic generosity as much as architectural ambition’.Photograph: Rasmus Hjortshoj

Western Sydney international airport

Another win for Woods Bagot, this one in collaboration with COX Architecture and Zaha Hadid Architects. The new airport, named after Nancy-Bird Walton, was one of three winners for public architecture.Photograph: Trevor Mein

Western Sydney international airport

‘The building offers a stress-free and human-centric journey with civic generosity and a design connected to place, emblematic of the next phase of Western Sydney’s transformation.’Photograph: Brett Boardman

Campbelltown station commuter car park

The Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects project won one of the top Australian Urban Design awards in March. On Thursday it collected the award for sustainable architecture for its ‘simplicity, clarity, and holistic integration of sustainability initiatives’.Photograph: Brett Boardman

Campbelltown station commuter carpark

Photograph: Brett Boardman

The lands by Capella

Last month this conversion of the historic sandstone lands department building into an opulent function and retail space in Sydney’s city centre was a major winner at the National Trust (NSW) heritage awards.Photograph: Timothy Kaye

The lands by Capella

On Thursday it was the winner of the Greenway award for heritage, a commercial architecture award and the award for interior architecture. Hassell and Purcell Architecture had together achieved ‘a generous and accomplished act ofarchitectural resurrection’, the judges said.Photograph: Timothy Kaye

Green Square public school

The lord mayor’s prize went to BVN for its design of Green Square public school, a project that also took out the William E Kemp award for educational architecture.Photograph: Martin Siegner

Green Square public school

The design team and client agencies demonstrated ingenuity, vision and commitment to design excellence, the judges said. ‘It sets a new benchmark for how dense urban communities can be supported through thoughtful, integrated design.’Photograph: Martin Siegner

EA House

The Southern highlands-based architecture firm Bokey Grant won the Blacket prize and one of four awards for residential architecture in the new housing category for its EA House, embedded in the side of a rocky escarpment in Mittagong.Photograph: Clinton Weaver

EA House

‘Where others saw only difficulty, the architects identified an opportunity to create a carefully crafted sanctuary for a young family, offering a compelling model for housing in a challenging environment,’ the judges said.Photograph: Clinton Weaver

Broken Workshop

Also perched on a challenging ridgeline, a new farm shed in rural Byron Bay was recognised in the category of small project architecture, with the Atelier Luke-designed building described by judges as ‘a joy to inhabit’.Photograph: 笹倉洋平/Yohei Sasakura

Broken Workshop

Photograph: 笹倉洋平/Yohei Sasakura

33 Alfred Street

The old AMP tower was Sydney’s first highrise and it copped a lot of flack over the years for its dated presence presiding over Circular Quay.Photograph: Chris Cook

33 Alfred Street

The JPW renewal was recognised in the heritage award for adaptive reuse, praised for its ‘refined, calm and assured’ result – ‘a dignified act of architectural conservation’.Photograph: Brett Boardman

Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway

The other heritage award for adaptive reuse went to a team lead by Collins and Turner, in collaboration with Design 5 – Architects, Aspect Studios, Eckersley O’Callaghan, for their redesign of the Sydney Harbour Bridge’s northern access cycleway.Photograph: Ruth Gold

Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway

‘Rather than compete with the Bridge, the cycleway sits alongside it as a finely calibrated contemporary addition,’ the judges said. ‘Its sinuous curve, elegant structure and carefully tested geometry allow the historic station entry, lettering and architectural details to remain legible and primary.’ The project was also the winner of one of three urban design awards. Photograph: Brett Boardman

Darlinghurst House

The Hugh and Eva Buhrich award for residential architecture in the alterations and additions category went to Anthony Gill Architects for Darlinghurst House.Photograph: Rory Gardiner

Darlinghurst House

Judges described the renewal of the standard terrace house and adjacent four-storey mixed-use building as a ‘layered city within the city’ which favoured a garden oasis over maximising the warehouse-size floor space. ‘A beautifully crafted solution to an urban puzzle.’Photograph: Rory Gardiner

More galleries

‘Hugging is forbidden’: women jailed for life – in pictures

Former public defender Sara Bennett spent 13 years photographing women convicted of homicide. She traces their lives in prison – and what happens as they re-enter the outside world

  • Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage award 2026 – in pictures

  • Canberra’s ‘night of nights’: Midwinter Ball 2026 – in pictures

  • A Taoist festival and a giant rabbit: photos of the day – Wednesday

  • From ultraviolet outfits to oodles of poodles: best of the 2026 iPhone photography awards – in pictures

More on this story

  • Best TV shows and movies streaming in Australia this month

  • Political lobbyists, Liberals and a fugitive developer are facing corruption allegations. Here’s what you need to know

  • From ultraviolet outfits to oodles of poodles: best of the 2026 iPhone photography awards – in pictures

  • Truck drivers ‘miraculously’ emerge nearly unscathed from explosions and fire after Hume Highway truck crash

Most viewed

Most viewed

Most viewed Across the Guardian

  1. ‘Hugging is forbidden’: women jailed for life – in pictures

  2. Ohio authorities rescue 16 children confined to one room for four years

  3. Young Indonesian couple publicly caned after kissing on TikTok

  4. Valuable Spanish painting left on street salvaged by man who liked its frame

  5. Trump hijacked US’s 250 anniversary to serve ‘political ideology and pet projects’, congressional report says

  6. Live Anger as report says Trump hijacked US anniversary to serve own agenda – US politics live

  7. Vatican excommunicates all members of ultra-conservative rebel group SSPX

  8. A storm, overpriced food and a sad ferris wheel: inside Trump’s dreadful state fair

  9. Live Kyiv attacks death toll rises to 20 as Russia warns it will ‘continue to increase pressure’ on Ukrainian capital – Europe live

  10. A goal, a red and a LeBron James shout: Folarin Balogun gets the spotlight in US’s wild World Cup win

Most viewed in Art and design

  1. ‘Hugging is forbidden’: women jailed for life – in pictures

  2. ‘It opened my eyes to the city’: the artist drawing every single pub in London

  3. Marilyn Stafford FotoReportage award 2026 – in pictures

  4. Click bait! Kraszna-Krausz photography book award winners – in pictures

  5. Ai Weiwei: Button Up! review – skeleton chandeliers, a real-life temple – and too much silly Lego

  6. Terence Gower: Enemies and Rascals review – so was US freedom born bad?

  7. Works of ‘civic generosity’: NSW architecture awards winners 2026 – in pictures

  8. A boy clowning around on a basketball court in a Colombian cocaine corridor: Mads Nissen’s best photograph

  9. ‘I thought of her as a volcano’: the triumphant art and very troubling death of Ana Mendieta

  10. From ultraviolet outfits to oodles of poodles: best of the 2026 iPhone photography awards – in pictures

← More Lifestyle View original