The NSW Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects has announced the Brian Patrick Keirnan Prize, which will be awarded for the first time in 2020. 

Keirnan was a Sydney-based designer who passed away in 2018. Through a career spanning more than 40 years, his body of work encompassed both the private and public domains. Brian’s work was characterised by a profound and intuitive understanding of how spaces define interiors and exteriors and how that influenced the ways people experience those places. 

The prize is open to all students currently enrolled in an accredited school of architecture in NSW (exceptions apply for students of Western Sydney University who are also eligible to enter) and must be an unbuilt project sited in NSW.

The $10,000 prize is for overseas travel and research and/or overseas study to enrich professional development through an exploration of the theme ‘Reimagining, Reinventing and Reinterpreting Public Space’. 

“Brian was a passionate supporter of student and emerging designers and architects, encouraging those he encountered to never lose the fascination of discovery through learning and to challenge convention and the ordinary. These he saw as the central tenets of good design,’ says one of the prize donors. 

Entry submissions must be based on a well-known public domain space – either exterior or interior – and submissions should outline how the project engages with the theme of ‘Reimagining, Reinventing and Reinterpreting Public Space’, as well as responding to the specific challenges of the chosen site.

Kathlyn Loseby, NSW Chapter president of the Australian Institute of Architects says: “This prize encourages students to look at a space and free themselves from the constraints of what has come before, what is in front of them, and to reinvent the amenity and purpose in a bold, new way.” 

Entries open 27 November 2019 and close 12:01am 2 February 2020. The winner will be announced at the NSW Student Architecture Awards Night on Friday 21 February 2020.

For more information, click here.

Image: AIA