Friday night marked Cumulus Studio’s maiden win at the Victorian Architecture Awards.

In a major achievement for our young Melbourne practice, Protagonist, our golden cloaked cafe on the forecourt of Arts Centre Melbourne, took home the Award for Small Project Architecture.

Born through a 2018 Arts Centre Melbourne architecture competition, this project has been an exciting, creative journey for our studio over the past two years. Perhaps the ideal project brief, Protagonist provided a rare opportunity to experiment with new materials and ideas for activating public space within one of Australia’s most prominent arts precincts.

This year’s jury consisting of Suzannah Waldron, Thom Mckenzie and Anna Dutton provided the following statement in awarding Protagonist the Victorian chapter prize:

“A small project with big ideas, this long awaited forecourt cafe and ticketbooth is elegant, simple in form and compelling in its modesty, choosing camouflage over competition. Delivering invention, function, delight and craftsmanship, the jury hopes the elegance and timelessness of Protagonist may see it retained well beyond its temporary mandate.”

Edition Office and Yhonnie Scarce were awarded the highest honour in the Small Projects category, the Kevin Borland Award for Small Project Architecture, for their immersive NGV Architecture Commission, In Absence. Workshop Architecture also received a Commendation for their Mt Macedon Primary School STEAM facility.

We are absolutely thrilled to have received this prestigious award and would like to extend a huge thank you to our hardworking project team – Primebuild (Builders), Argall (Structural Engineer), Erbas (Services Engineer), Ethos Urban (Planners), Trethowan (Heritage Advisors), and The Assembly (Graphics).