Design Innovation Award

Sponsored by: ADP Sponsor Pool

School: School of Architecture, Design and Planning

For an architecture, design or planning project that demonstrates the most forward-thinking design concept.

A Great New Hall for UQ

by  Sophia Zhuang

The UQ great hall proposal uses a structured, layered landscape concept to shape the graduation procession and daily student occupation. Vegetation creates calm, shaded moments, surrounding the circular hall, whose hidden elevation turns the approach into a journey of discovery toward the center and heart of the building.

A New Great Hall for UQ

by  Dominic Christensen

The project is a response to the sensitive urban fabric of the formal entrance to UQ, where form and experience is guided by respect towards the iconic horizon line, the 'hill town' tradition, and the value and purpose of the existing architectural surroundings. By rejecting the precedent notion of an ' object in a landscape', the project is instead a study of stereotomics to form an urban void.

Breezeway Housing

by  Cameron Changuion

Breezeway Housing fosters social cohesion through medium-density living at Kangaroo Point. Three buildings frame a central courtyard, linking gardens, parklands, and communal facilities. Adaptive reuse, co-working spaces, and learning programs create a flexible, inclusive environment where residents connect, engage, and grow together, redefining sustainable, people-centred housing in Brisbane.

Garden of Azaleas

by  Rhianna Zhong

Community housing proposal designed with care around a central azalea garden for senior women. This project aims to promote community engagement between residents, and provide a safe and comfortable living experience for all.

I Wanted To Have A Little Break...

by  Bonar Yeshurn Situmorang

“I Wanted To Have A Little Break...” is a narrative that the space tells. As people move through it, some pause beneath the tree, letting the gentle breeze and calm air settle around them. Others slip through quickly, shaving a few seconds off their journey as they rush home to unwind. The space absorbs all these small narratives, one that holds brief, passing moments, much like a graduation.

I Wanted To Have A Little Break...

by  Bonar Yeshurn Situmorang

“I Wanted To Have A Little Break...” is a narrative that the space tells. As people move through it, some pause beneath the tree, letting the gentle breeze and calm air settle around them. Others slip through quickly, shaving a few seconds off their journey as they rush home to unwind. The space absorbs all these small narratives, one that holds brief, passing moments, much like a graduation.

Laidley Equestrian Centre

by  Hal Chandler

This scheme approaches the site as a scare resource and proposes no changes to its western half to preserve a community asset and strengthen Laidley’s last ecological hub. The proposal is a multistorey equestrian centre on the cleared eastern half that uses layers to maximize its program and reduce its footprint, thus allowing for the regrowth and regeneration of the native landscape.

MINIMAL INTERVENTION

by  Isabella Casarolli Valery

A unique approach to the ARCH3200 Graduation Hall design brief. Instead of proposing a new building, Isabella designed an adaptive reuse of the existing UQ Art Museum (formerly Mayne Hall). In the spirit of “Minimal Intervention”, the Forgan Smith forecourt site was preserved, the neighbouring Mod West building is to be disassembled, with the sum of its parts to be used to construct the new hall.

Money Map: Filling the Gap in Young Australian's Financial Literacy

by  Charli Cameron

Money Map is an interactive tool designed to boost financial confidence in young Australians aged 15-25. It makes learning about money engaging and accessible by providing personalised lessons, quizzes, and tools to help users master core budgeting, saving, and debt-management skills, laying the foundation for lifelong financial wellbeing.

Secret Vines

by  Radhika Bhavin Panchal

This project weaves urban farming into a residential setting, transforming underused spaces to support productivity, community engagement, and cultural connection. Inspired by West End’s winemaking heritage, garden structures, compost systems, and horticultural elements create a sustainable, social, and adaptable living environment.

The Helidon's Golden Hall

by  Don Lorane Jayasekera

My Great Hall design for UQ is anchored in the capstone theme of materiality. The use of sandstone, originally sourced from the Helidon region of Queensland, serves as both a symbolic and architectural reflection of the identities of the university and the city of Brisbane. Therefore, The Helidon’s Golden Hall offers future UQ students a space to celebrate and reflect their place in UQ's history.

Through Time and Thresholds

by  Selina Li

The proposed new UQ Graduation Hall is a journey of thresholds that mark students’ transformation to graduands to graduates. By establishing a symbolic axial link to Forgan Smith, the design creates layered transitions with a new public procession route, and sequences of compression and release that heighten anticipation, memory, and solemnity that leave a life-long impression on graduates.