Selected from 83 finalists across Australia and New Zealand, the winners of the 38th Dulux Colour Awards were announced recently at the Sydney Opera House providing lots of fabulous interiors inspiration. “It is fitting that this year’s awards were presented at the Sydney Opera House, for it is the embodiment of exceptional design and precedent-setting architecture, qualities that the program epitomises,” says Andrea Lucena-Orr, Dulux colour and communications manager. And while the awards recognise the use of colour across interior design and architecture, today we’ll be focussing on the fabulous residential projects.
Taking out the ‘Australian Grand Prix’ and the ‘Residential Interior’ prizes, the monolithic ‘Alexandria House’ by Lachlan Seegers Architect was unanimously applauded for its commitment to a single hue. The design features Dulux Cumberland Red (a deep burnished red) on the ceiling of the home and demonstrates the power of colour in transforming our experience of architecture.
The colour blocking trend is one of the most significant to emerge from the awards and it’s something that all of the judges noticed. “Colour blocking has been used to great effect across several projects in which spatial boundaries have been defined through colour alone. We are also seeing colour saturation in internal and external applications, which requires a level of commitment, and a deep understanding, of colour,” says Andrea.
Designed by Architect George, ‘House in Surry Hills’ won the ‘Single Residential Exterior’ category and received a commendation in the ‘Residential Interior’ category too. It’s a project that uses colour blocking to fabulous effect.
“The work of Mexican architect Luis Barragan is called to mind in this 1880’s terrace and its colour-blocked addition, which fit beautifully into the eclectic tapestry of Sydney’s Surry Hills. Encouraged by their clients to use colour as a design tool, the architects drew upon these local and global references to devise the palette and employ it judiciously to define function and character inside and out,” says judge Shaun Carter of ‘House in Surry Hills’.
“If there is a dominant theme this year, it is the use of colour in all-encompassing ways, from coating every surface of a room in a single shade to painting an entire building in tonal graduations of one colour. In doing so, architects and designers are transforming our built environment, enhancing the user experience and challenging what we will accept as the traditional norm, especially once we see the potential of colour used in such ways,” says Andrea. It was a technique employed by RAD in its ‘Sunkissed Higgins’ project.
