MESSAGE FROM JURY CHAIR

PETER MOULD LFRAIA

NSW CHAIR OF JURIES 2021

The NSW Architecture Awards allows us to celebrate the talent and invention that architects bring to their work. Each year the Institute is presented with a wide array of responsible and responsive projects and each year juries confront the difficult task of reviewing and debating which projects to award. It was good that this year they could once again visit sites to see the real projects after the lock down and virtual review of last year. In 2021 our 25 jury members under the keen guidance of their chairs have reviewed 299 entries across twelve categories. 121 sites were shortlisted and visited, and some projects that were shortlisted in several categories were visited more than once. As always, the projects this year varied greatly in complexity, scope, and the ideas that framed them. Each jury had to wrestle with the always-difficult choices of awarding the best among many outstanding and often diverse projects.

The chairs came together to collectively debate and award the Blacket, COLOURBOND Steel Award, and NSW Architecture Medallion. In assessing the Blacket they were joined by a representative of the Country Division, and for the COLOURBOND Steel Award by representatives of BlueScope Steel. The decision making for these three awards was undertaken with the guidance of Chair of Juries, who does not vote.

I would like to thank all the jurors for the time and intellectual rigor that they put into this year’s awards. These awards allow us to share the profession’s achievements with each other but also to show the value of design excellence to the broader community.

I would also like to congratulate this year’s award winners for their excellent work and for the demonstration of the important contribution architects make to society through their projects. Finally, I thank the Institute staff for their hard work and forbearance in negotiating so many difficult and at times conflicting issues including schedules complicated by distance, floods and back burning, all within very limited time frames.