First published 30 Oct 2026, 12:30am
Two of South Australia’s most innovative projects have been recognised at the National Architecture Awards – Australia’s highest honours for architecture – with one becoming the most decorated in the country.
Yitpi Yartapuultiku (The Soul of Port Adelaide) – the indigenous cultural centre on the banks of the Port River – picked up three awards at the gala event last night, enviably flying the flag for South Australian architectural innovation.
The project, which was a collaboration between Ashley Halliday Architects, the Yitpi Yartapuultiku Aboriginal Working Group and Wax Design, took home the coveted COLORBOND Award for Steel Architecture, the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture and the David Oppenheim Award for Sustainable Architecture.
Yitpi Yartapuultiku. Picture: Peter Bennetts
Yitpi Yartapuultiku. Picture: City of Port Adelaide Enfield/Ashley Halliday Architects/Wax Design/Yitpi Yartapuultiku Custodian Group.
Yitpi Yartapuultiku: City of Port Adelaide Enfield with Ashley Halliday Architects, Wax Design and the Yitpi Yartapuultiku Custodian Group.
In the judges’ praise for the project, it was described as standing as a “masterclass in conciliation and First Nations co-design, demonstrating how thoughtful architecture can transcend a standard brief to genuinely design for Country”.
“Spanning just under five hectares of previously degraded coastal land, the site was transformed through an integrated process in which the design team partnered with Traditional Owners and Elders,” the judges said.
“The result is an enduring cultural landscape.
“This project took degraded, damaged, forgotten Country and, with Traditional Owners, built a regenerative landscape and ecology.
Yitpi Yartapuultiku. Picture: Peter Bennetts
Yitpi Yartapuultiku. Picture: Peter Bennetts
“It created a new water’s edge, a ceremonial dance circle and a fully regenerated topography within which a building sits effortlessly, rather than imposing upon it.”
Its location in physical place and design integration of its materials was also commended.
“By uniting material innovation with environmental resilience and profound cultural grounding, the project demonstrates how Country can be honoured and restored, and how meaningful places for future generations can be delivered through deep co-design with Traditional Owners,” the judges said.
Adelaide Town Hall’s renovations, by Swanbury Penglase, also received high praise, picking up the Lachlan Macquarie Award for Heritage.
The heritage conservation project was recognised as perfectly encapsulating the architectural edict of “do as much as necessary but as little as possible”.
“Heritage buildings are the storytellers of who we are and what we once were, and Adelaide Town Hall has been at the centre of Adelaide’s civic life for more than 160 years,” the judges said.
Adelaide Town Hall’s heritage renovation. Pictures: Brad Griffin
Adelaide Town Hall’s heritage renovation. Pictures: Brad Griffin
Adelaide Town Hall. Pictures: Brad Griffin
“Many heritage awards are characterised by a love of the new rather than an acknowledgment of, and respect for, the original; this 2026 award recognises the strenuous demands of conservation, research and technical resolution.
“The work undertaken exhibits Swanbury Penglase’s enormous affection for the building, its fabric, meaning and history, and an intense desire to understand it before intervening. “Meticulous research, specialist building conservation skills and detailed technical knowledge informed the repair and reworking of a building carrying more than a century of disparate repairs and alterations.”
But it is the following statement that sums up why it was most deserving.
“This is conservation at its most exacting and most excellent: research informing judgement, technical skill enabling restraint, and every gesture and intervention meticulously considered,” the judges said.
“The result is a project eminently deserving of the Lachlan Macquarie Award for 2026.”
Australian Institute of Architects 2026 National Architecture Awards jury chair, Adam Haddow. Pic: Supplied
Australian Institute of Architects 2026 National Architecture Awards jury chair, Adam Haddow, said the winners’ projects displayed a sense of optimism during a cost-of-living crisis.
“There was an energy of hope in the projects we saw this year, a sense of communities coming together to challenge assumptions,” he said.
“Architects responded to briefs and looked for more, amplifying the possible, to deliver delight and joy – beyond what they were asked to do.
“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.”
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