A windowless brick research building at the University of Queensland is among the winners of the 2026 National Architecture Awards, announced by the Australian Institute of Architects in Brisbane on Thursday 29 October.
The Institute presented 44 awards and commendations from 62 shortlisted projects at a ceremony at the Queensland Museum, ArchitectureAU reported. The shortlist included overseas work by Australian architects.
The Brick Box at UQ
The building is the Plant Futures Facility, designed by M3Architecture. It won a National Award for Educational Architecture, one of three given in that category this year.
Inside are about 40 growing rooms, cabinets and glasshouses that can recreate any climate, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. The building has no windows because light and temperature must be controlled. Its brick patterning is drawn from a cross-section of the Great Artesian Basin.
Professor Sagadevan Mundree of UQ summed up the result for the Herald. “It feels like a very luxurious hotel for plants,” he said.
The architects also had the people working inside in mind. Architect Michael Christensen told the Herald: “It’s a big brick box, right? So we were thinking about how can we make working in there a more pleasant experience.”
Jury member Alice Hampson described the facade. “Conceptually, it’s like a walled garden [with] a pixelated brick facade, it reminds me of sedimentary rock samples,” she told the Herald.
The Most-Awarded Project
The most awarded project was Yitpi Yartapuultiku (The Soul of Port Adelaide), by Ashley Halliday Architects with the Yitpi Yartapuultiku Aboriginal Working Group and Wax Design, according to ArchitectureAU and the Guardian.
It won the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for public architecture, the David Oppenheim Award for sustainable architecture and the Colorbond Award for Steel Architecture.
Woods Bagot’s The Forest in Hobart won National Awards for both Educational and Sustainable Architecture. The Ablutions at Wybalenna, by Taylor and Hinds Architects with the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania, won a National Award in the Small Project category. Together with The Homestead Renewal at Wybalenna, it also received a Special Jury Prize.
The jury was chaired by Adam Haddow, the Institute’s immediate past president. He sat with Alice Hampson, Jeremy McLeod, Isaac McCormack and Dr Helen Norrie.
“The value of good architecture is projecting a sense of joy and delight. This year’s winning buildings are optimistic, with bright outlooks onto the future,” Mr Haddow said, according to ArchitectureAU.
A Tiny Home Takes the Interior Prize
The Emil Sodersten Award for interior architecture went to Studio 8, by Partners Hill. The Guardian reported that the project is a former laundry of under 40 square metres in Roy Grounds’ 1941 Quamby apartments in Toorak. It was renovated at the end of 2024 by Timothy Hill of Partners Hill.
Mr Hill told the Guardian that small spaces call for their own approach. “Making little houses is a very particular sensibility. It’s not just squashed big. Every 25mm counts.”
The Rest of the 2026 Honour Roll
ArchitectureAU published the full list of named awards. The Harry Seidler Award for commercial architecture went to 205 North Quay, by Hassell, REX, and Richards and Spence. The Robin Boyd Award for new houses went to Eric Street, by Officer Woods Architects. The Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award for alterations went to Woodside Cottage, by ME.
In multiple housing, the Frederick Romberg Award went to Lacebark, by Smart Design Studio. The Lachlan Macquarie Award for heritage went to Adelaide Town Hall, by Swanbury Penglase.
The Walter Burley Griffin Award for urban design went to the Sydney Harbour Bridge Northern Access Cycleway. That project is by Collins and Turner with Aspect Studios, Eckersley O’Callaghan and Design 5 Architects.
The Jørn Utzon Award for international architecture went to Santa Monica Vermont Apartments, by Koning Eizenberg Architecture. Australian design abroad has drawn attention before, including the First Nations team that opened Australia’s pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
The Nicholas Murcutt Award for small project architecture went to St Thomas More Columbarium, by Simon Pendal Architect. The Daryl Jackson Award for educational architecture went to Green Square Public School and Community Spaces, by BVN. The Award for Enduring Architecture went to Clubbe Hall, by AJC Architects.
Other National Awards went to projects including Central Station, by Woods Bagot with John McAslan and Partners, and New Footscray Hospital, by Cox Architecture and Billard Leece Partnership. The New Sydney Fish Market, by 3XN with BVN and Aspect Studios, is also on the list.
Sources: ArchitectureAU, “Winners revealed: 2026 National Architecture Awards”, 29 October 2026 (https://architectureau.com/articles/winners-revealed-2026-national-architecture-awards/); The Sydney Morning Herald, “‘A game-changer’: How a brick box without windows won an architecture award”, 29 October 2026 (https://www.smh.com.au/national/queensland/a-game-changer-how-a-brick-box-without-windows-won-an-architecture-award-20261029-p618yp.html); The Guardian, “Tiny basement turned ‘exuberant’ apartment wins interior prize at Australia’s National Architecture awards”, 29 October 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/oct/29/tiny-basement-exuberant-apartment-wins-interior-prize-national-architecture-awards-australia); The Guardian, “Australia’s 2026 National Architecture award winners, in pictures”, 30 October 2026 (https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/oct/30/australia-national-architecture-award-winners-2026-images-gallery-in-pictures)
Photo: ColonelLight, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sydney’s new fish market on Blackwattle Bay, one of the 2026 National Award winners, photographed in September 2026.