‘Legacy-making' Sydney metro stations take out top prize in NSW Architecture awards
Sydney's recently opened network of city metro stations have taken out one of the top prizes at the Australian Institute of Architects' 2025 NSW Architecture awards, announced on Friday night.
Dozens of Australian architecture firms, engineering companies, landscape designers and public art experts shared in the 2025 NSW architecture medallion for their work on the Central, Barangaroo, Gadigal, Victoria Cross, Martin Place, Waterloo, Sydenham and Crows Nest stations in what the judges hailed as a 'legacy-making' and 'city-shaping' cross-sector collaboration.
'The project is transformative, not just in transport terms but in how it redefines civic experience in Sydney,' the judges' citation said.
'This is infrastructure that supports not just movement, but social and cultural connection as a catalyst for future development and change. It demonstrates the far-reaching impact architects can have on shaping public life and delivering tangible benefit to society and the environment.'
More than 130 NSW projects were shortlisted for the awards, with the first building constructed for the new city of Bradfield and the surrounding area of Aerotropolis – the site of Sydney's future second international airport – collecting the Premier's prize.
Hassell's First Building – the first stage of an advanced manufacturing readiness facility – is a prefabricated timber pavilion that can be disassembled, expanded or relocated for future use.
'A new city requires a big dream … it's incredibly exciting to see that dream taking shape here in Bradfield,' the premier, Chris Minns, said of the Hassell design.
'The way this building plays with natural light, the way it sits at home in the landscape, it's incredible attention to detail, it's craftsmanship – not to mention the innovation and progress that will happen here. In short, it's a beautiful place.'
GroupGSA's restoration of a collection of early 20th-century industrial buildings in Rosebery won the Lord Mayor's prize – restricted to projects within the City of Sydney – for the project's imaginative commitment to heritage, sustainability and urban vitality.
The brick factories and industrial sheds, constructed between 1921 and 1940, and the neighbouring textile mills have been unified into a single precinct, connected by a central pedestrian spine that knits tenant spaces, showrooms and retail outlets together and presents a freshly energised street front for passersby.
'This is not capital-A architecture,' the judges said. '[It is] the result of extraordinarily skilful handling – in patching, opening up and scrapping back found fabric – creating an interesting, cohesive experience for workers, visitors and the neighbourhood.'
'Like a trifle made to a cook's whim' was how judges described BVN's Yarrila Place, in Coffs Harbour, which won the Sulman medal for public architecture.
The new civic and cultural space in the north coast town emerges from the ground with a solid brick base before giving way to deep green ceramic panes, curved and glazed like leaves of the enormous fig tree the building is anchored to.
'BVN have taken all the ingredients of a civic hub – library, gallery, museum, makerspace, civic offices and chambers, and more – and layered them with deliberate unpredictability,' the judges said.
'Proportions, adjacencies and stackings defy conventions.'
Heritage work was acknowledged with Design 5's massive remodelling of the White Bay power station, which collected the Greenway award for heritage, while the conservation award was won by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer and Purcell Architecture for its research-led, methodical and careful approach to restoring Australia's oldest building in continuous use, the NSW Parliament House in Sydney.
The Colorbond award for steel architecture went to a residential house in Leura. Marra+Yeh Architects' Eco-House, set in a rare hanging swamp, was praised for its holistic and deeply thoughtful approach to sustainable architecture.
The house's roof design deflects prevailing winds and captures water for reuse in bushfire defence and irrigation, while its interior configuration is season adaptable, ensuring comfort and minimal energy use year round.
BVN collected another award in the residential category for its transformation of a typical suburban block of land in Byron Bay into a dwelling christened the Lighthouse, which seamlessly blends interior with exterior with an open, central garden forming both the entry and heart of the home.
Also in the residential category, Casey Brown Architecture was recognised for its major interior remodelling of Babylon, architect Edwin Kingsberry's eccentric 1950s residence perched on the ridge dividing Pittwater and Avalon. Its new interior was 'full of contradictions – ramshackle and refined, rich and restrained,' judges said.
The final result was a highly original interior that was 'unexpected, joyful, and completely unique'.
Among the dozens of other winners, of particular note were AJC Architects' win in the Enduring Architecture category for its Moore Park Gardens residential project in Sydney and Tzannes' 39 Martin Place, which won the Sir Arthur G Stephenson award for commercial architecture.
Wardle's handsome industrial park of the future design, Bourke & Bowden, situated in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Alexandria, was also recognised in the commercial category.
The Australian Institute of Architects' NSW president, Elizabeth Carpenter, said in a statement the 2025 winners highlighted a profession that was 'not only responding to urgent challenges, but leading with integrity, innovation and care'.
'The awarded projects are powerful reminders that architecture is both an art and a responsibility – one that connects communities, strengthens cultural understanding, and shapes more sustainable and inclusive futures,' she said.
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