65 Dover Street shortlisted in the 2026 Victorian Architecture Awards

Cremorne is a suburb mid-transition – a light-industrial past giving way to its emerging life as an innovation precinct – and that tension shaped our design for 65 Dover Street. Carved along its 65-metre street frontage, the brown brick podium reads as three scallops, breaking a single large floorplate back down to the fine-grain rhythm of the streets around it. The same curves carry up through the glass tower above, drawing daylight to the back of the floorplate and turning what would otherwise be a tight footpath edge into a civic forecourt. The design move allows room for landscaping, bikes, pedestrians and outdoor seating for two hospitality tenancies.

Inside, the planning is built around a worker’s day rather than a single arrival point. Each route in – on foot, by bike, by car – has its own choreographed sequence, with end-of-trip facilities including a sauna, a fully recycled-water carwash and a podcast studio. The rooftop is treated as a series of outdoor rooms: a half basketball court, yoga and Pilates space, varied seating with power and data, and a demountable pavilion that turns the court into a weather-protected events space.

The Commercial Architecture category includes nine shortlisted projects this year, with adaptive reuse featuring strongly across the broader 2026 program. State winners will be announced at the Victorian Architecture Awards on 19 June, with national entries to follow in November.

Thanks to the jury, the project team and to our client Fortis and collaborators.