Announced today: The architects, designers, and students who emerged victorious in the ILLUMANATE Living Building Challenge® Design Competition.
6 December | The Living Future Institute of Australia (LFIA) today announces the winners of the ILLUMANATE Living Building Challenge® Design Competition, in partnership with Development Victoria.
Through three categories, professional, student (university), and people’s choice, the competition challenged the build environment sector to design the most regenerative, and restorative, heritage-listed building in Australia, which must live up to precise environmental, self-sustaining standards, including generating its own energy and capturing and treating its own water.
The competition revolved around a heritage-listed 1970s building in Melbourne’s Sunshine North, part of Development Victoria’s sustainable mixed-use plan.
The winners are:
- Professional Category: Includesign & Mine in the Sky (Team members include Dr. Angelica Rojas, Marco Cubillos, Dr. Dominique Hes, Elena Pereyra, Aimee Mehan and Alexander Arboleda)
- This project created a narrative that moves between the two creeks on site, drawing from the traditional practices of the Kurung-jang-balluk people who would have rested here, feasted here, hunted here, and told their stories here. The design highlights the potential for residents and visitors to rediscover the relationship of caring for place and each other.
- Student Category: Breathe on the Land by Chon Kei Lam, from the University of Melbourne
- This project aimed to reintroduce the word “nature” to the site, through using the surrounding remnant grassland as an opportunity to reimagine the future life of living on grassland.
- Lam states that “In the contemporary world, there exists a clear boundary between human and nature. “Nature” is often referred to as plants or animals from which we exclude ourselves.”
- People’s Choice: Resonance by Arkee Studio Pty Ltd (Team members include Rean Zhuo, Dino Delotavo, Zilin Zhou, Yu Tian, Hao Chen
- This project combined heritage preservation and sustainability to create a thriving community hub called The Sunshine Hub (SHiVE).
- This innovative project embodies the vision of evolving into a cherished community hub that resonates with significance for individuals today and for generations to come.
LFIA has reported a 94% increase in the number of entries since the first competition ran in 2016. The initial competition inspired Burwood Brickworks Shopping Centre to pursue the Living Building Challenge® (LBC) and as a result, successfully obtained Petal Certification, becoming the first and only shopping centre in the world to do so.
This year’s judging panel was impressed by the 33 complete submissions, showcasing a remarkable depth of understanding of the LBC.The LBC Certification is a high-performance program that sets the benchmark for buildings that go beyond sustainability with regenerative design. It’s one of the most advanced measures of sustainability worldwide.
In this year’s competition, LFIA redirected its attention towards existing buildings. With estimates suggesting that up to 80% of buildings that will exist in 2050 already exist today, achieving Net Zero by then necessitates deep retrofits.
The designs underwent a meticulous two-stage judging process, with a focus on three core criteria that served as the guiding principles for the evaluation of each submission.
Stage one evaluated the entries against the LBC imperatives – those that could theoretically achieve at least Petal Certification were shortlisted. Stage two focused on functionality and realisation potential. The designs needed to demonstrate practicality and functionality in a repurposed, heritage-listed building concept. Additionally, they aimed to assess whether these designs could realistically achieve the Living Building challenge, paving the way for a sustainable and vibrant future.
Many entries shared a common emphasis on circular economy, nature-based, and nature-positive concepts. This widespread focus indicates a growing awareness in the design community for the need of practical and regenerative solutions in the face of contemporary social, cultural and environmental challenges.
Why is this important?
In a time where the built environment generates 40% of annual global CO2 emissions regenerative design presents a pathway to change, where buildings go beyond being merely green and become restorative, giving back to the people who inhabit them, the land they stand on, and the resources they utilise. This is crucial in order to continue working towards creating an environmentally thriving planet. Investing in the future is pivotal, towards a place where modern architecture forges a unity between design and nature.
LFIA CEO Laura Hamilton-O’Hara commented:, “We are delighted by the number and quality of entries we received this year. It certainly made the judging a challenge. Thank you to all the teams for the amount of time and care put into your entry. To see the building come to life in many unique, regenerative and imaginative ways was inspiring. Thank you to Development Victoria for partnering with us to run this world first ideas competition and congratulations to all the winners.”
Penny Forrest, Group Head Housing, Development Victoria says: “We are so proud to have partnered with LFIA in the ILLUMANATE Living Building Challenge Design Competition which recognises innovation in sustainable design, and aligns strongly with our commitment to creating a sustainable future for all Victorians.”
Judges:
Bohemia Hookham, Lendlease
Claire Martin, OCULUS
Kai Chen, Lovell Chen
Kelvin Walsh, Brimbank City Council
Penny Forrest, Development Victoria
Roger Nelson, Roger Nelson
Stefan Preuss, Office of the Victorian Government Architect (OVGA)
Tim Miller, Development Victoria
Yuyuen Leow, Hayball
Runners-up:
Professional category:
Ordinary Extra Ordinary, by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (Andrew ODonnell)
It Takes a Village, by ARUP (Team members include Richard Stokes, Amil Alhasan, Nick Birmingham, Elly Russell, Joan Ko.)
Student Category:
LUMA Cooking Hub, by Chukang Liang, University of Melbourne
Alina Walizade, University of Melbourne
As part of a global movement spearheaded by International Living Future Institute (ILFI), LFIA is actively revolutionising the built environment with regenerative design principles. Pioneering projects such as the Living Building Challenge, Biophilic Design Initiative, and Just and Declare aim to replenish resources, foster a deep connection with nature, and regenerate life itself.
