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The President’s Prize this year acknowledges
two individuals in influential positions who
have made a long term and substantial
contribution to value-led design in the
City of Sydney. They have been involved
individually and together in implementing the
City’s commitment to design excellence in
both the private and public realms through
strong leadership, advocacy and clear and
determined vision.
Graham Jahn AM has been the City’s Director
City Planning, Development & Transport since
2009. A former NSW and National President
of the Institute, Graham has a CV most
people would need two or three lifetimes to
accumulate. He was educated at UTS, where
he was awarded a university medal, and has
won several awards including the prestigious
national Robin Boyd Award, was the founding
editor of Monument magazine and is the
author of Guide to Sydney Architecture
and, with Scott Frances, of Contemporary
Australian Architecture.
As well as these achievements he was an
Adjunct Professor at UTS, a Sydney City
Councillor and Planning Committee Chair
from 1995 to 1999 and a member of the NSW
Premier’s Urban Design Advisory Committee
from 2000 to 2004.
In his leadership position with the City,
Graham has been a prime mover in lifting
the design quality of major developments,
while encouraging their enhancement of the
streetscape and the city’s public domain.
NSW PRESIDENT’S PRIZE
Graham Jahn and Bridget Smyth
City of Sydney
After completing her architecture degree at
the University of Melbourne, Bridget Smyth
completed a Master in Design Studies (Urban
Design) degree at Harvard University in
1992 and returned to Australia to take on
the role of Director, Urban Design for the
Olympic Coordination Authority. There she
commissioned and directed the design of
Olympic venues and the public domain of
Olympic Park.
Bridget has been Design Director for the
City of Sydney since 2001, providing strong
leadership in the transformation of Sydney and
the shaping of the city’s sustainable future. In
particular she has been one of the key drivers
behind the promotion of public art as a major
enhancement of the urban environment.
Having people of the calibre of Graham and
Bridget in such significant leadership positions
has enabled Sydney to achieve a leadership
position in the design quality and variety of its
buildings, its public parks and spaces, and its
street furniture and public art.
Good city making takes time, persistence,
clear goals and boundless energy. We are
grateful to Graham and Bridget for their
commitment to design excellence and the
public interest.
ABOUT THIS AWARD
The NSW President’s Prize (established 1984) is awarded at
the discretion of the NSW Chapter President and is given
to an individual who has made a substantial contribution to
the profession of architecture.
EMERGING ARCHITECT PRIZE
SPONSORED BY AWS
panovscott
ABOUT THIS AWARD
The Emerging Architect Prize (established 2011) recognises
an emerging architect or architectural collaboration’s
contribution to architectural practice, education, design
excellence and community involvement that advances the
profession’s standing in the public arena.
Anita Panov & Andrew Scott are the
recipients of the 2016 Emerging Architect
Prize. Collaborators in life, the work of
‘Panovscott’ reveals a passionate and poetic
commitment to architectural life: in practice,
theory and education. Following a decade
of apprenticeship with respected practices,
panovscott was formed in 2012. The practice
has built an exquisite & rigorous library of work
in which the spaces, setting and finished detail
are of equal value. They take the position that
each project is a body of research, tested
with students in a studio environment, shared
with the profession and then used to inform
future projects. Through their conscious
and thoughtful approach to the crafting of
buildings, panovscott demonstrate design
excellence, generosity of spirit and leadership
by example. They are builders, teachers,
curators, scientists, agitators and writers. This
critical thought leadership has the potential
to inspire the next generation of architects.
Panovscott are the first collaboration to
receive the NSW Emerging Architect Prize.
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