Perth's Council House has won the National Enduring Architecture Award at the prestigious Australian Institute of Architects National Architecture Awards, which were announced in Brisbane last week.
Australia's highest architecture honours, the awards recognised a total of 42 projects across 14 categories ranging from residential and educational architecture to commercial and urban design.
The annual awards program, which has been held since 1981 and is one of the biggest of its kind in the world, is juried by a panel chaired by the institute's immediate past president, West Australian David Karotkin. The jury selected the winning projects after creating a shortlist from the 185 eligible projects following the various State awards held throughout the year. 
Council House, designed in the 1960s by Howlett and Bailey Architects, was presented with the inaugural National Enduring Architecture Award, which is reserved for buildings that are at least 25 years old and that remain important in a contemporary context.
A Cairns home by by Jesse Bennett dubbed Planchonella House took out the Robin Boyd Award for Residential Architecture - Houses (New). Nestled in the treetops of the surrounding rainforest, the jury said the project was an "architectbuilderinventor and an interior innovator at their combined best".
"The house often appears raw because of the directness of its materials but it is highly sophisticated and inventive in its detailing," they said. "The combination is surprising and confident and it is this that sets this house apart."
The Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award for residential architecture in the renovations and additions category went to Victoria's Andrew   Maynard Architects for its Tower House project.
ARM Architecture's Shrine of Remembrance - Galleries of Remembrance, the culmination of a masterplan for the Melbourne monument that was established 15 years ago, won the 2015 Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture. The jury praised the firm for the "masterstroke" of cutting courtyards into the historic grassed mound, overcoming the challenges of "turning a landmark monument into a major museum and gallery building while keeping intact the original urban design concept". 
"This outstanding final stage reinstates the symmetry of the four quadrants of the Shrine's original 1927 layout," they said. 
"What is remarkable about these latest additions is that they enhance the appreciation of the existing monument while confidently creating a new and intriguing visitor experience."
The top prize for small-project architecture went to a "very small, neglected barn" in Hobart which has been re-envisioned as a home by Liz Walsh and Alex Nielsen. It also won the Nicholas Murcutt Award and an Award for Heritage. 
"The historic structure has been lovingly retained - even its original shingles have been scrupulously cleaned and now form a ceiling to the upper mezzanine bedroom," the jury said. 
"This is an excellent example of how the limits and challenges of heritage and conservation can encourage inventive solutions. Regulatory, technical and structural requirements have not been seen as impediments but rather as creative possibilities."
Perth's Fiona Stanley Hospital (main hospital building) won a commendation in the public architecture category for the  Hospital Design Collaboration, which comprises HASSELL, Hames Sharley and Silver Thomas Hanley.
For the full list of winners and commendations visit architecture.com.au.
Commercial Architecture  
Harry Seidler Award -  50 Martin Place, Sydney by JPW (NSW) 
Educational Architecture  
Daryl Jackson Award -  Melbourne School of Design, The University of Melbourne by John Wardle Architects & NADAAA in collaboration (Vic) 
Heritage  
Lachlan Macquarie Award -  Irving Street Brewery by Tzannes Associates (NSW) 
Interior Architecture  
Emil Sodersten Award -  Bankstown Library and Knowledge Centre by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (NSW)
International Architecture  
Jørn Utzon Award -  Pico Branch Library by Koning Eizenberg Architecture (US) 
Public Architecture  
Sir Zelman Cowen Award -  Shrine of Remembrance - Galleries of Remembrance by ARM Architecture (Vic) 
Residential Architecture - Houses (Alterations and Additions)  
Eleanor Cullis-Hill Award  - Tower House by Andrew   Maynard Architects (Vic) 
Residential Architecture - Houses (New)  
Robin Boyd Award -  Planchonella House by Jesse Bennett Architect Builder (Qld) 
Residential Architecture - Multiple Housing  
Frederick Romberg Award -  Upper House by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects (Vic) 
Small Project Architecture  
Nicholas Murcutt Award -  #thebarnTAS by workbylizandalex (Tas) 
Sustainable Architecture  
David Oppenheim Award -  The University of Queensland Global Change Institute by HASSELL (Qld) 
Urban Design  
Walter Burley Griffin Award -  NewActon Precinct by Fender Katsalidis Architects (ACT) 
COLORBOND® Award for Steel Architecture  
Award -  Adelaide Oval Redevelopment by Cox Architecture, Walter Brooke and Hames Sharley (SA)