International award success for Suters Architects

Suters Architects has been recognised for its expertise in the design of aquatic, recreation and sport facilities with three recent award wins, a short listing and a new major sports project appointment.

The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design has awarded Suters' Punt Road Oval project in Victoria with an International Architecture Award. Architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture projects from over 28 nations were considered for their design excellence by a distinguished jury of European architects and educators.

The Punt Road Oval facility, designed for Richmond Football Club, is an elite, multi-purpose sporting facility that combines high performance training, treatment and recovery, education, workplace and retail components. Significantly, the design also successfully creates a legibility of architecture that speaks to the Australian Rules Football fan, one driven on identity, 'tiger' pride and loyalty.

The Noble Park Aquatic Centre redevelopment, completed earlier this year, received two major awards at the recent Splash! Environmental Awards held on the Gold Coast. The project was awarded Commercial Outdoor Pool winner (sponsored by Pentair Water) and Project of the Year (sponsored by Sunbather).

The World Architecture Festival Awards has also shortlisted Noble Park Aquatic Centre in their sports category. Winners will be announced in Singapore in October.

Suters' National Leisure Sector Leader Stephen Cheney said the recent awards results reinforce Suters standing as an industry leader in elite sport and leisure facility design.

Cheney explains "at Suters we have always prided ourselves on our breadth of experience in the sports and leisure sector with over 45 recreational facilities, including numerous sporting group and leisure facilities delivered across the country. At a time when sport is at the forefront of many people's minds, it is wonderful to be recognised for our excellence in this area."

The recent award wins coincide with Suters appointment to the WA Institute of Sport High Performance Service Centre (WAIS) project in conjunction with Western Australian practice Sandover Pinder.

The facility is the sports science, research and recovery centre for the WA Institute of Sport and will include training and testing facilities for Olympic and Commonwealth sports including swimming, athletics, netball, basketball and hockey. It will also incorporate rehab and recovery facilities, strength and conditioning gym and indoor sports hall. This new facility will be located at Challenge Stadium in Perth's elite sports precinct.

A Western Australian Government Building Management and Works spokesperson said that it was the superior experience of the Sandover Pinder + Suters team that resulted in the appointment of this highly sought after tender.

"The personnel from Sandover Pinder + Suters are very experienced in relevant elite sporting facilities with a sound understanding of the intricacies of sports design and community, which is why we have selected them for the WAIS project."

Sandover Pinder + Suters are also currently collaborating on the WA State Netball Centre in Perth.

With offices in Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns, Suters Architects is Australia's fifth largest architecture, interior and masterplanning practice and was recognised in the top 100 World Architecture Firms of 2012.

For more information go to www.sutersarchitects.com.au

Image: Suters' Punt Road Oval project for the Richmond Football Club.