AIA 2026 COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture

Gunnedah Hospital Redevelopment, ARCH

Designed through extensive engagement with patients, Indigenous elders and staff, Gunnedah Hospital Redevelopment redefines what a regional healthcare facility can be. Inspired by the local shed typology, the project combines efficient planning, landscaped courtyards and carefully selected materials to create a welcoming environment focused on care, connection and wellbeing. Colour, graphics and architecture work together to communicate stories of place and culture, resulting in a genuine community asset. (Photography: Brett Boardman)

Greybox, Welsh + Major

Occupying a former backyard site, Greybox demonstrates how ordinary materials can be deployed in sophisticated and sustainable ways. The courtyard-focused holiday home responds to challenges, including fire, flood, and neighbouring constraints, while creating a calm and generous living environment. Through a restrained palette, technical innovation and reduced embodied carbon, the project offers an inspiring model for suburban density and material efficiency. (Photography: Kat Lu)

Shand Road, Ys Housing

Shand Road presents a compelling model for contemporary suburban living, demonstrating how thoughtful design can deliver higher-density housing without compromising amenity or community. Using steel as the primary architectural material, the project transforms an economical construction approach into a refined and cohesive design outcome. Careful planning, inventive detailing and a people-focused streetscape combine to create generous, sustainable homes and a strong sense of neighbourhood. (Photography: Roy Gardiner)

Balam Balam Place, Kennedy Nolan

Created through the passion and collaboration of local creatives and professionals, Balam Balam Place provides the Brunswick community with a vibrant place to gather, create and connect. The expressive use of COLORBOND® steel cladding and roofing creates both architectural form and civic identity, with a custom colour palette and carefully resolved detailing delivering a playful and memorable community landmark. (Photography: Peter Bennetts)

Oakleigh State School, KO&Co Architecture

Created as a new gatehouse for the heritage-listed school, Oakleigh State School balances contemporary design with historical references. Clad predominantly in COLORBOND® steel in a metallic finish, the building’s bold form and materiality provide a strong visual identity while acknowledging the surrounding suburban context and the original Georgian Revival school buildings. The project delivers both a striking architectural presence and a clear wayfinding solution for the campus. (Photography: Kate Mathieson)

St Margaret's Canopy Cafe, Blight Rayner Architecture

Located at the junction of the primary and secondary schools, St Margaret’s Canopy Cafe is designed to encourage social interaction across all year levels. Conceived as a series of gabled and half-gabled roofs with skylights that flood the social spaces with daylight, the project responds in form, texture and colour to the neighbouring heritage building. The roofs create the effect of lightweight canopies beneath the natural canopy of a large fig tree, reinforcing the café’s role as a welcoming meeting place. (Photography: Christopher Frederick Jones)

Yitpi Yartapuultiku (The Soul of Port Adelaide), Ashley Halliday Architects together with the Yitpi Yartapuultiku Aboriginal Working Group and Wax Design

The project demonstrates an exemplary use of COLORBOND® steel, where materiality, structure and cultural narrative come together with clarity and restraint. Responding to its exposed coastal setting, the building uses steel to create sheltering forms, foster strong connections between indoor and outdoor spaces and support its ongoing role as a living cultural centre. Durable, refined and deeply connected to Country, the architecture balances civic presence with cultural humility. (Photography: Peter Bennetts)

Marri Pavilions, Rezen Studio

Located within a bushland setting, Marri Pavilions demonstrates an innovative and highly efficient use of steel construction. Lightweight steel framing, prefabricated components and carefully considered detailing minimise environmental impact while responding sensitively to the site's natural contours and mature trees. Clad in corrugated steel and complemented by corten steel elements, the project elevates a robust architectural language through craftsmanship and technical excellence. (Photographer: Jack Love)

Gibbon Crossing and Parkland Heart, Perth Zoo - iredale pedersen hook architects with HASSELL

Through custom-designed steel systems and highly resolved engineering, Gibbon Crossing and Parkland Heart creates an innovative habitat for Perth Zoo’s gibbons while enhancing visitor engagement and accessibility. The project combines technical performance, adaptability and thoughtful landscape design to support biodiversity, conservation and meaningful connections between people and wildlife. (Photography: Robert Frith)

The Ablutions at Wybalenna, Taylor and Hinds Architects with the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania

For The Ablutions at Wybalenna, steel becomes more than a building material – it is a medium for storytelling. The use of weathering steel creates a powerful connection to the site’s history while delivering a robust, durable and low-maintenance structure designed for the coastal environment. Through thoughtful detailing and expressive form, the project demonstrates how architecture can communicate cultural narratives with sensitivity and permanence. (Photographer: Adam Gibson)

Batten House, Ben Walker Architects

Located alongside Yarralumla Creek, Batten House demonstrates how steel can be used to balance openness, privacy and environmental performance within a suburban setting. A refined structural steel framework supports operable timber batten screens, allowing the home to adapt to changing needs while creating a dynamic relationship between domestic life and the public realm. Through a thoughtful combination of steel, recycled timber and masonry, the project delivers longevity, flexibility and enduring architectural quality. (Photographer: Ben Guthrie)

Congress Mparntwe Health Hub, Susan Dugdale & Associates

Congress Mparntwe Health Hub demonstrates how architecture can respond sensitively to place, climate and culture. Through folded facades, integrated water collection systems and expressive vertical louvres, the project uses COLORBOND® steel to reduce heat load, support sustainability and communicate cultural narratives. The result is a highly contextual and deeply connected community facility. (Photographer: Tom Roe)