The shortlist
Best NSW renovations 2026: the year's award-winning homes
Nine renovations and additions were recognised at this year's NSW Architecture Awards. The full shortlist, what each one does that is worth stealing, and the one Jacob would most like to live in.
Picked by Jacob · 16 October 2026 · 7 min read
The best home renovation in New South Wales this year is Darlinghurst House by Anthony Gill Architects. It won the Hugh and Eva Buhrich Award for alterations and additions at the Australian Institute of Architects' 2026 NSW Architecture Awards, announced in July, where 55 projects across every category were recognised. Here is every renovation on the list, and why each one made mine.
The winner
Darlinghurst House, Anthony Gill Architects. A terrace knitted to a warehouse around a garden in the middle, on a tight inner-city site, described in the awards coverage as a "layered city within the city". The move I love: putting the garden at the centre so every room looks into green. Jacob on Darlinghurst House.
The awards
| Project | Architect | Why it is on my list |
|---|---|---|
| House Gretchen | Lintel Studio for Architecture | A run-down single-storey terrace rebuilt around a central "box", with rich colour, pattern and beautifully made joinery |
| Lilyfield House | Tribe Studio Architects | Strict council controls turned into a strong triangular form, warm pine and ply inside, opening to the park next door |
| Surrey 112 | Smart Design Studio | A dilapidated Darlinghurst terrace reshaped around four "silos" in a quatrefoil arrangement, with a double-height space below; it also won the interior architecture award |
| The Corner Shop House | Downie North | A shop-and-home on a tight corner, layering brick, concrete, terracotta breeze block and metal, with a new third floor behind a two-storey heritage facade |
The commendations
| Project | Architect |
|---|---|
| Rainbow House | Virginia Kerridge Architect |
| Rows End | Retallack Thompson |
| Tree House | ASA (Alexander Symes Architect) |
| Zulaikha Laurence "Tree Change House" | Studio ZAWA |
New houses: the Wilkinson Award
Renovations were only one residential category. The Wilkinson Award for new houses went to Cowrie Hole by Curious Practice, with awards for EA House by Bokey Grant, OK House by Stephen Collier Architect and Queenscliff House by Chenchow Little, and commendations for Coogee House III (Tribe Studio Architects with Genevieve Hromas), Gingkin (Incidental Architecture) and Holocene House (Cplusc Architects and Builders). EA House also took the Blacket Prize, the award for regional work. If you are weighing a knockdown against a renovation, these show what a new house on a similar site can do.
Apartments and townhouses: the Aaron Bolot Award
For multiple housing, the Aaron Bolot Award went to Lacebark by Smart Design Studio, with awards for Habilis (Collins and Turner), Surry Hills Village (SJB) and the Waterloo Metro Quarter social housing (Bates Smart), and commendations for Boronia (Turner), Cowper Street Housing (JPW) and Goonellabah Houses (Pearson Architecture). Smart Design Studio was recognised twice among homes this year, for Lacebark and for Surrey 112.
Small projects worth a look
The Robert Woodward Award for small projects went to Magenta Outhouse by Atelier Marks Gaal, with awards for Broken Workshop (Atelier Luke), Permanent Camping Orange (Casey Brown Architecture), Perry Park Pavilion (Scale Architecture) and The Southern Lookout (AJC Architects). Small projects are where many homeowners can afford an architect: a studio, a garden room or a bathroom can carry the same care as a whole house.
Interiors and sustainability
Surrey 112 also won the John Verge Award for interior architecture, and The Corner Shop House was commended for its interior. In sustainable architecture, Gingkin won an award and Tree House was commended, so two of the year's homes were recognised for how lightly they sit on their sites as well as how they look.
The bigger picture
The NSW Architecture Medallion, the top prize, went to Central Station by Woods Bagot in collaboration with John McAslan and Partners, and the chair of juries, Bill Tsakalos, pointed to the growing number of strong regional projects. ArchitectureAu published the full list on 3 July 2026: 55 projects across every category, from schools and hospitals to houses.
What the best of them share
Most of this year's winners start with an old, narrow or difficult house, three of them inner-city terraces, and win by working with the constraint rather than fighting it. If you are planning a high-end renovation, that is the lesson: the best budget in the world does less than one clear idea about light and space. Four renovations that make a small footprint feel big.
Why terraces keep winning
Three of the renovations recognised this year are inner-city terraces, and that is no accident. A terrace is narrow, long and dark in the middle, with heritage controls on the street front, so every terrace renovation starts with the same problem: how to get light and space into the middle of the house without changing the front. The best answers this year, a garden at the centre of Darlinghurst House, a central "box" in House Gretchen and four "silos" in Surrey 112, each solve that problem in a different way. If you own a terrace, these three are the projects to study.
How the awards work
The NSW Architecture Awards are run each year by the NSW chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects. Architects enter their completed projects, juries visit the shortlisted buildings, and the winners are announced at a ceremony in the middle of the year. The Hugh and Eva Buhrich Award is the top prize for alterations and additions to houses; the Wilkinson Award is the top prize for new houses. Award winners in each state go on to the National Architecture Awards later in the year.
Regional homes on the list
Several of this year's homes are outside Sydney: EA House by Bokey Grant took the Blacket Prize for regional work, Goonellabah Houses by Pearson Architecture were commended in multiple housing, and Zulaikha Laurence's "Tree Change House" by Studio ZAWA, commended in alterations and additions, takes its name from a move out of the city. The chair of juries pointed to the growing number of strong regional projects across all categories this year.
What it costs to work with an architect
Architects charge in different ways: a percentage of the building cost, a fixed fee for each stage, or an hourly rate for small jobs. Many will do a first consultation or a feasibility study for a modest fee, which is a good way to test an idea before committing. Ask what each stage includes, from design and approvals to documentation and contract administration, and whether you can engage them for only some stages.
Approvals for a renovation like these
Most of this year's renovations needed planning approval because they changed the size or shape of the house, sat in heritage areas or added a storey. In NSW, a renovation can be approved through a development application to the council, or in some cases through a complying development certificate, which is faster but only available for projects that meet set standards. Simple internal work often needs no approval at all. Your architect or a planner can tell you which path applies before you start design.
Where to see the houses
The winning homes are private, so they are not open to visit, but each architect's website shows photographs of the finished work, and many of this year's houses are published in design magazines and online. Open House events and architecture tours run by the Australian Institute of Architects sometimes include award-winning homes, with the owners' permission, so watch for them if you want to see one in person.
Next year's awards
The 2027 NSW Architecture Awards will follow the same pattern: entries early in the year, jury visits, and winners announced around the middle of the year. We will add the next round of renovations when the list is published.
Bringing award ideas to your own renovation
You do not need an award budget to borrow an award idea. The ideas that recur in this year's winners are cheap to plan and expensive to add later:
- Light from the middle. A courtyard, a lightwell or a skylight in the centre of a narrow house, as in Darlinghurst House, does more than another window at the front.
- One strong form. Lilyfield House turned strict planning controls into its main idea. Start with the rules your site must follow and design to them.
- Rooms that open out. Several winners open living areas to a garden or a park next door. Look at what is beside your site, not only on it.
- Honest materials. Brick, timber, ply, terracotta and concrete appear again and again: durable materials that age well and need little upkeep.
- Built-in joinery. House Gretchen's joinery shows how storage, seating and shelves built into the walls make a small house work.
If you are planning a renovation of this kind, an architect's first job is to find the one idea that suits your house and budget; look for architects whose built work you like, and ask about their fee structure and the approvals your project will need.
Photographs on this page are street views from Wikimedia Commons, not the award-winning houses. Each architect's own website has photographs of the finished work. The picks and opinions are Jacob's.