Australian architecture has achieved remarkable international recognition, with two homes from Melbourne and Sydney securing top honours at the prestigious 2025 Dezeen Awards ceremony held in London.
Melbourne's Hedge and Arbour House Claims Urban Architecture Prize
Studio Bright's Hedge and Arbour House in Melbourne was crowned House (Urban) of the Year at the 25th November awards ceremony. This prestigious win adds to an already impressive collection of accolades for the property, which recently secured the Robin Boyd award for residential architecture at Australia's 2025 National Architecture Awards and the Harold Desbrowe Annear award at the Victorian Architecture awards in June.
The four-bedroom family home features an innovative design wrapped in galvanised steel mesh that serves as a structure for climbing plants. Dezeen's judging panel praised the project's "clever and intriguing" approach, noting how the architects "have made the best of the site and capably used visually interesting mesh to balance the need for privacy, light and air."
Melissa Bright, director of Studio Bright, expressed her delight at the international recognition. "To be recognised against some of our heroes in the architectural industry across the world is amazing," she said. Despite construction completing in 2024, the project began its journey back in 2016, facing numerous hurdles along the way.
Sydney's Dracula-Inspired Bathroom Wins Interior Design Honour
Across the country in Sydney's affluent Point Piper, Jillian Dinkel transformed Kilmory House with a bathroom that earned the Bathroom Interior of the Year award. The dark, moody and luxurious space drew inspiration from an unexpected source – Bram Stoker's classic novel Dracula.
"My clients were really open to being quite adventurous in creating spaces that felt very dramatic," explained Dinkel, who previously worked as a fashion editor at Condé Nast in New York before establishing her Sydney studio in 2016. "Dracula was the starting point for what ended up being our colour scheme for the entire home."
The property represents a significant transformation of the former stables of a historic estate originally built for surgeon Sir Alexander MacCormick around 1913. Dinkel discovered photographs of MacCormick's original home featuring dark timber panelling, which further informed her design direction for the three-bedroom second home.
Craftsmanship and Connection to Landscape
Both winning projects demonstrate exceptional attention to detail and material selection. Dinkel's bathroom showcases sophisticated craftsmanship with its mix of stainless steel, marble and Venetian plaster, creating a space where multiple tactile materials intersect beautifully.
Meanwhile, Studio Bright's Hedge and Arbour House employs modest, durable materials including raw cement sheet, allowing the creation of "durable rooms for life" that connect intimately with their surroundings. "It's a reasonably modest house on an incredible site," Bright noted, "and one of the key things from the beginning was to capture that incredible landscape, both the hedge but also the outlook over native parkland."
The house offers a dynamic living experience that changes with the seasons. "You see the house transform over the seasons without necessarily doing anything yourself," Bright observed, highlighting how the design shifts perception within its dense suburban context.
These awards cement Australia's growing reputation for world-class architectural and interior design, with both projects demonstrating how thoughtful, innovative approaches can create exceptional living spaces that resonate both locally and internationally.
