The new Galkangu building in central Bendigo creates economic and career opportunities for our community, whilst providing key facilities to live and thrive. Government agency teams and departments that were formerly located in separate locations have been centralised, enabling collaboration in ways that were not previously possible.

This landmark building represents and respects the values of Bendigo’s traditional owners, the Dja Dja Wurrung people, and creates a space for reflection and reconciliation. The foyer and customer service centre enable us to provide a wider range of more accessible services, engaging us with our local community in an enriching way.

"Designed by Kosloff Architecture in close consultation with the school community and project stakeholders, it provides an impressive range of engaging and adaptable learning and administration spaces, while consistently looking past the edges of its condensed campus."

jury citation: “The jury commends the Bangs and Mount Street Parks submission as an innovative precedent for small-scale social spaces, offering vibrant, colourful, and texture-rich environments inspired by the local neighbourhood and its history. Framed by four key concepts celebrating the environment, history, and community, the parks showcase a creative and playful use of form and function, providing a cohesive and memorable experience. Collaborative partnerships with experts and artists further enriched the project, setting a bold new standard for smaller-scale urban renewal projects.”

jury citation: “The strength and significance of this high-quality, collaboratively designed project is the successful reconnection of the University of Melbourne’s Parkville Campus to the urban fabric of the city. The removal of an existing building enabled the creation of a transition plaza to meld the campus in with its urban surroundings. While the new central amphitheatre is the focus of the daily student experience, it creatively blends into the surrounding city and campus by creating new laneways and plaza spaces.”

Regional town category

First place

Manu Place by Monash Urban Lab with NMBW Architecture Studio, BoardGrove Architects, BLOXAS and GLAS Landscape Architects.

jury citation: This is an outstanding proposition which critically addressed the Principles and Guidelines with a strong and appropriately scaled low-rise spatial program sensitively and intelligently embedded within the site context and neighbourhood

jury citation: "The Jewell Station project has seen the transformation of a congested and unsafe laneway environment into a valuable piece of public realm integrated with the broader precinct. The Jury commends the strong collaboration of transport planning, and landscape architecture. GLAS Landscape Architects provides a carefully articulated shared zone that greatly improves pedestrian and cycle flows as well as creating attractive spaces to dwell.”

jury citation: “University of Melbourne Student Precinct is a transformative, scalable urban project that realises a strong co-designed vision. A vision that recognises the social ecologies in play over time and the critical need for healthy habitats everywhere and anywhere.”

jury citation: “It offers the community an exceptional level of accessibility, inclusivity and exchange for learning, activities and ideas.”

jury citation: “The Forest Biomes project cleverly integrates lush, green, natural spaces into this learning village. The Forest Biomes project provides an exemplary precedent for the discipline of landscape architecture specific to the Melbourne context, proving that meaningful ‘green’ indoor environments can be created for the benefit of the building users.”

jury citation: “the Mount street pocket parks’ design team and client are to be commended for their vision to create a new network of public open spaces that is socially engaging and environmentally progressive. transforming underutilised spaces in an established neighbourhood is a triumphant display of prioritising healthy communities and responding to the needs of an ever-growing population in the inner suburbs.”

jury citation: “the re-surfacing of valley creek exemplifies how urban drains can be converted into engaging and attractive waterways. underpinned by clear environmental drivers and robust engineering this deceptively simple outcome is polished and finely executed. it delivers wide-ranging ecological benefits and creates an appealing open space for students and residents.”

jury citation: “tiny wetland is a micro-scaled exploratory project that ingeniously extends the creative practice of its associated landscape architects’ office into the public realm. the conversations sparked by this intervention contribute to increased awareness of ecological diversity. this tiny landscape, demonstrates how micro interventions can cumulatively add to the broader discourse on sustainability.”

jury citation “a clever response to the pressure urban renewal places on the available open space.” “it is a great example of a small project that will have a huge impact for existing and future residents. a project that can easily be applied to other similar situations”