The 2025 Houses Awards shortlist is filled with captivating home design inspiration and a new category to recognise the growing importance of small project architecture.
More than 150 of Australia’s most inspired new homes have been unveiled in the 2025 Houses Awards shortlist, teeming with intelligent, innovative and sustainable contemporary residential architecture from the country’s foremost designers.
The designers are true innovators, pushing the boundaries of home functionality and showcasing skilful architectural responses to the increasingly complex environmental, economic and contextual challenges we face in an uncertain world.
The homes feature pioneering new ideas in residential architecture, expanding the possibilities of what the 21st Century Australian home can be. Houses magazine editor and Houses Awards jury chair Alexa Kempton explained that many homes in this year’s shortlist ascribed to the radical idea of doing less.
“Many of this year’s shortlisted homes show us that we should be designing smarter, rather than bigger. Increasingly, we see architects telling clients, ‘You don’t need more space – you need better design.’ The jury observed modestly scaled new houses as well as clever interventions to existing homes, and applauded this continued emphasis on responsible residential design.”
She adds: “Post-war apartments, beach shacks, project homes – these familiar housing types are often ripe for formulaic updates. But in this year’s shortlisted homes, the jury observed something bolder: inventive, out-of-the-box transformations that celebrate Australia’s existing housing stock. These projects prove you don’t need to demolish to make something remarkable from the homes already found in our suburbs.
“This year’s shortlist also saw housing designed not just for growing families, but for the full spectrum of Australian life. The jury saw many homes that respond to the demographic diversity in contemporary Australia, encompassing downsizers, sole occupants and those who want to age in place.”
Recognising the changing ways that Australians are living and, consequently, the diversity of residential briefs that architects and designers are responding to, this year, the Houses Awards has introduced an all-new Small Project category, recognising the innovation and impact of small-scale residential builds such as granny flats, studios, workshops, pergolas and pool houses. Projects in this new category relate to a larger, primary dwelling but stand separate as an independent building project. While the shortlisted projects in this category demonstrate inventive solutions for contemporary residential design on a smaller scale, they greatly enrich how their occupants live and present an equal level of thought and innovation to their larger counterparts.
The shortlist for this year’s Awards was selected by a panel of jurors:
● John Ellway, John Ellway Architect
● Polly Harbison, principal, Polly Harbison Design
● Dimmity Walker, director, Spaceagency Architects
● John Wardle, founder, Wardle
● Alexa Kempton (jury chair) editor, Houses magazine, Architecture Media
● Louise Honman (heritage advisor), built heritage specialist
● Pippa Soccio (sustainability advisor), senior research scientist in building monitoring, CSIRO.
The eventual winners of the 2025 Houses Awards will be announced at a gala event at the State Library of NSW on Friday 1 August 2025, with projects awarded across nine categories. One home from these nine categories is awarded the top title of Australian House of the Year. A full report of the winners will also be published in the August issue of Houses.
