Envirotecture was a finalist again this year with its Victorian renovation Greenhouse Grove. We applaud the winners!
The Living Future Institute of Australia, custodian of the Living Building Challenge framework, has announced the winners of its third annual Biophilic Design Awards. The awards are now Australasian in scope, with New Zealand projects being eligible to enter for the first time this year. It was a strong showing, with two New Zealand projects winning in their categories.
Envirotecture’s team were delighted that one of its projects, a renovation dubbed Greenhouse Grove, was a finalist this year in the Interiors and Renovations category. (We jointly won the Building Scale Projects award in 2024 with Huff’n’Puff Haus—and at the awards ceremony, learned that project inspired the artwork presented to the 2025 award winners.)
Envirotecture director Talina Edwards and teammate Mia Radic attended the awards ceremony in Melbourne last week. The awards jury highlighted "the standout greenhouse addition" and went on to say:
The judges were impressed by Greenhouse Grove’s thoughtful approach to working with an existing home, showing how strategic, light-touch interventions can meaningfully uplift indoor conditions and strengthen the connection to place. Rather than overwhelming the original structure, the design respects its character while introducing beautiful new elements that feel both intentional and inviting.
We particularly appreciated the way the project balances cool and warm natural materials, creating an atmosphere that shifts seamlessly between indoors and outdoors. The addition of the greenhouse is a standout feature, offering new ways to connect with daily and seasonal rhythms. Throughout, the merging of old and new creates moments that invite pause, reflection, and a deeper enjoyment of the everyday.
Greenhouse Grove feels like a heartfelt exploration of what “better rather than bigger” can mean for home and legacy—a quiet, generous contribution to the practice of bringing biophilia into domestic life.
The judges congratulate the team for their sensitive, uplifting work and encourage the continuation of this thoughtful approach to reimagining existing places.
The winners were:
- Interior & Renovations Category: Tall Tree House by Carolin Friese —Queenstown, New Zealand
- Building Scale Category: First Steps Count Child and Community Centre by Austin McFarland Architects & Caroline Pidcock LFRAIA —Taree, NSW
- Urban Scale Category: Pa Reo Campus by Tennent Brown Architects Ltd —Ōtaki, New Zealand
“All of the finalist’s projects were exemplary in their beautiful biophilic qualities,” said Talina. “ I had the pleasure of spending time with Hugh Tennant and Eughan Brown from Tennent Brown Architects recently at the 2025 Australian Architecture Conference, where we were all presenting. I was excited to learn this practice has done a number of large-scale projects for Maori clients targeting Living Building Challenge certification. They are my new favourite architects and are lovely humans. I was so happy they won!”
Biophilic design is one the four pillars that underpin Envirotecture’s ethos—read more about that here.
