Of all the tricks in a designer’s toolkit, paint is perhaps the most transformative. This is on display each year through the Dulux Colour Awards – a celebration of antipodean architecture and interior design where the power of paint has been harnessed to spectacular effect. From a high-tech robotic laboratory on Bunurong country in Australia to the magnificent Eden View residence in Auckland, New Zealand, the winning and highly commended entries of the 2022 awards continue to raise the bar set by former champions. Here, design and architecture writer Carli Philips shares her insights on this year’s recipients of top honours in each award category, shining a light on Dulux’s legacy of inspiring creativity and commending colour excellence.
2022 Dulux Colour Awards
Grand Prix (Australia) – Winner
Commercial Interior: Public and Hospitality – Winner
Project: Monash Robotics Lab
Architecture/Design Practice: Studio Bright
Studio Bright turned the sterility and severity typically associated with science settings on its head with the Monash Robotics Lab, a space in hues of fern, olive and pistachio. Characterised by clean lines juxtaposed with soft natural details, the judges applauded the space for its balance between utility and comfort. On the ground floor and accessible via a pedestrian lane, the green palette and natural light links the exterior with the interior environment.
Grand Prix (New Zealand) – Winner
Residential Interior – Commendation
Project: Eden View
Architecture/Design Practice: Pac Studio
For the renovation of this existing home in the Auckland suburb of Mount Eden, Pac Studio explored the potential for colour to delineate rooms and subsequently, the power of spaces to affect mood and emotion. The designers steered away from typically safe bathroom tones, instead colouring the wet area with bright yellow joinery and flecked terrazzo to signal the start of a fresh and sunny day. Conversely, warmer tones in the kitchen were used to create a calming place to close the day.
Commercial Interior: Workplace & Retail – Winner
Project: Lux FX Lighting Showroom
Architecture/Design Practice: IF Architecture
Core colours meet primary forms in this lighting showroom by IF Architecture. Large 3D domes, spheres and arches are colour-blocked on the ground floor, positioned so that light can be woven into the architectural shapes, demonstrating the effect of temperature and creating an immersive experience for customers. Inspired by the seminal work of Le Corbusier’s Polychromie Architecturale, colour is carefully grouped, the primaries layered with nuanced burgundy, pink and pastel yellows.
Commercial Interior: Workplace & Retail – Commendation
Project: Money Bar
Architecture/Design Practice: Chris Connell Design
For Money Bar, Chris Connell Design avoided the nondescript and bland workplace interiors typically associated with financial institutions. Instead, the designer used light smoky tones with a minimal palette of stainless steel, terrazzo and glass. Dulux Colour Awards judge Adrianna Hanna commended the interiors for their resulting message of “sophistication, stability and transparency” that evokes a feeling that’s “safe yet open, innovative yet trustworthy – a remarkable effect created so simply through the considered use of colour.”
Commercial Interior: Public & Hospitality – Commendation
Project: Di Stasio, Carlton
Architecture/Design Practice: Hassell
Part of the larger King and Godfree precinct in Melbourne’s Carlton, Di Stasio’s new outpost heightens the emotional experience with unconventional, exaggerated proportions coalescing in three distinct spatial identities across the restaurant. The futuristic and somewhat confronting design features bold green and vivid purple clashing with lava black concrete, sandstone and steel. Contributing to the colour palette in a big, bold blue artwork by Reko Rennie.
Commercial Interior: Public & Hospitality – Commendation
Project: Reading Space: The Common Room by Caliper Journal
Architecture/Design Practice: Nicola Cortese, Stephanie Pahnis and Lauren Crocket
Colour and texture were crucial to Reading Space: The Common Room, an immersive installation part of the Who’s Afraid of Public Space exhibition at Melbourne’s ACCA. Softening the colours that would usually be expected of an institution, Dulux Burnished Bark, Moo Half and Lime Fizz were used to convey a “warm, comfortable atmosphere conducive to contemplation and discussion,” say the designers. The palette was crucial to achieving a spatial experience that would enhance a sense of calm and encourage users to slow down.
Residential Interior – Winner
Project: Erskineville House
Architecture/Design Practice: Lachlan Seegers Architect
Centred around a spotted gum tree, a soft palette of pale yellow, warm grey tones and green have fulfilled the architect’s intention: “to bind the home’s atmosphere with the ever-changing presence of nature.” Dulux Colour Awards judge David Welsh applauded the execution: “The result is a subdued, cocooning moodiness that gently changes and evolves with the movement of natural light. We commend the architect’s commitment to the vision in what appears to be a simple response but is, in fact, a highly considered and finely wrought design.”
Residential Interior – Commendation
Single Residential Exterior – Commendation
Project: Autumn House
Architecture/Design Practice: Studio Bright
For this original Victorian home with a 1980s extension, Studio Bright has struck a “fine balance between cohesion and distinction,” says Dulux Colour Awards judge David Welsh. Colour is expressed across various touchpoints such as furniture and joinery in addition to paint. “The disparate built elements have a cohesive yet subtly distinct palette for each period: neutrals in the period rooms, playful greens and natural materials in the first extension, and warm pinks with earthy hues that reflect the seasonally changing landscape in the contemporary addition.” The bathrooms, swathed in mint green and sea blue respectively channel still, composed sanctuaries.
Single Residential Exterior – Winner
Project: House K
Architecture/Design Practice: Kart Projects
Kart Projects visually separated the exterior forms of their House K project by using bold colour as the primary device. Juxtaposing dark cladding with a red door, the new addition contrasts with the existing which was refreshed with a more subtle palette in a respectful nod to its heritage. “Rejecting the oft-used strategy of blending old and new in residential additions, this design not only opts for an obvious delineation but a bold, forthright one,” says Dulux Colour Awards judge Cushla McFadden.
Of all the tricks in a designer’s toolkit, paint is perhaps the most transformative. This is on display each year through the Dulux Colour Awards.
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