Hecker Guthrie and the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne picked up the big prizes at the Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) in Sydney last night. The Seymour Centre was packed with the best names in the industry, sharing in each other’s success at the event, hosted by Inside magazine.
In picking up the Gold Medal, Paul Hecker and Hamish Guthrie of Hecker Guthrie (who also picked up the residential decoration category) gave heartfelt speeches about their passion for the job, the fun they have at work, their respect for each other and how people shouldn’t think of “decoration” as a dirty word.
Facet Studio picked up both the emerging designer and international project categories and clearly weren’t expecting either, struggling to find the words as they took to the stage, overwhelmed and flattered at the recognition from their peers.
The judges had a difficult job, with a highly commended award also given in several categories, sometimes even two!
Now in its tenth year, the Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) are an independent design awards program organised by Inside magazine. This year, the program attracted over 400 entries from across Australia.
The 2012 awards were judged by Leanne Amodeo, former editor of Inside magazine; Melanie Dodd, Associate Professor and Director of the Architecture program at RMIT; Alexander Lotersztain, founder of Brisbane-based Derlot; Judith O’Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in Interior Architecture at the University of NSW; Natasha Palich, Principal Architect at Sense Architecture; and Scott Walker, International Head of Interior Design for HASSELL.
The full winners list:
RESIDENTIAL DECORATION
WINNER Hecker Guthrie – Park Street Residence
MULTI RESIDENTIAL
WINNER BVN Architecture – Monash University Student Housing HIGHLY COMMENDED Six Degrees – Heller Street Park and Residences
RETAIL
WINNER March Studio – Baker D Chirico HIGHLY COMMENDED Luchetti Krelle – Adriano Zumbo
EVENT
WINNER Liminal Spaces – The Barbarians HIGHLY COMMENDED HASSELL – Chasing Kitsune
INTERNATIONAL PROJECT
WINNER Facet Studio – M House HIGHLY COMMENDED Hecker Guthrie – Graze & Kha; and Landini Associates – Loblaws Maple Leaf Gardens
HOSPITALITY
WINNERS Arkhefield – Stokehouse Restaurant, Brisbane; and Breathe Architecture – The National Hotel HIGHLY COMMENDED Hecker Guthrie – The Old Library; and SJB Interiors Harbour Rocks Hotel
PUBLIC SPACE
WINNER Billard Leece Partnership and Bates Smart – The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne HIGHLY COMMENDED Searle x Waldron Architecture – Annexe: Art Gallery of Ballarat; and BVN Architecture Narbethong Community Hall
IDEA GOLD MEDAL
Paul Hecker and Hamish Guthrie, Hecker Guthrie
OBJECT – FURNITURE & LIGHTING
WINNER Evie Group – Spun Lamps HIGHLY COMMENDED Ross Didier – VDM Chair
SINGLE RESIDENTIAL
WINNER Smart Design Studio – Tusculum Street Residence HIGHLY COMMENDED Kerry Phelan Design Office with Chamberlain Javens Architects – Middle Park House; and Tribe Studio House Shmukler and McBride Charles Ryan Cloud House
WORKPLACE UNDER 1000SQM
WINNER MAKE Creative – Goodman Unit B4 HIGHLY COMMENDED Oxigen with Woods Bagot – Oxigen
WORKPLACE OVER 1000SQM
WINNER Smart Design Studio – Saatchi & Saatchi HIGHLY COMMENDED BVN Architecture – AECOM Sydney; and DesignInc – Australian Red Cross Blood Service Melbourne Processing Centre
SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
DesignInc – Australian Red Cross Blood Service Melbourne Processing Centre
EMERGING DESIGNER
Facet Studio
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
Helen Kontouris
DESIGNER OF THE YEAR
Breathe Architecture
OVERALL WINNER
Billard Leece Partnership and Bates Smart – The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne
Photos: Shannon McGrath and John Gollings
