We are ecstatic to share that Como Terraces has received the Residential Multi prize at the Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA).
On Friday evening, 28 November, the design industry gathered at Sydney’s Seymour Centre to celebrate the winners and highly commended projects of IDEA. Among those recognised was Como Terraces in the Residential Multi category, a complex series of eight buildings in South Yarra that respond to the landscape, meandering with and nestling into the steep 26-metre topography.
This specific category acknowledges the spatial planning, programming and the relationship between functional design and visual expression. Attention is paid to the project’s modular construction and economy of form, and how the design optimises space and amenity. An understanding of the target market and how the development responds to its needs is also essential. Considerations include the design brief, concept, spatial resolution, materiality, decoration, lighting, sustainability, innovation and originality.
Of our winning project, the IDEA jury member Conrad Lowry shared:
“A sublime, understated residence of simplicity in form and rigorous detail, beautifully realised in textural, tactile materiality. The interiors both retreat from the street and engage with the outlook. The spaces offer both sanctuary and communal life through volumes that subtly adjust in scale to function. While the palette is monochromatic, the structure and materiality manipulate the fall of ambient light throughout the spaces to provide depth and warmth of tone.”
Read as a series of buildings rather than one large apartment block, Como Terraces is developed by Cbus Property and Sterling Global and appears as a collection of monolithic forms forged from the earth.
The overall design outcome of Como Terraces is a collection of three-storey built forms that traverse the topography with slight shifts and rotations to maximise expansive views, space, and natural light to all apartments. The natural material palette—featuring rammed earth, travertine stone, timber floors, and sandblasted concrete—creates an atmosphere of calm, rationality, and warmth. This is evident in the communal areas, where the pared-back design allows the materials to speak for themselves. Inside the residences, this curated palette provides a strong foundation for residents to personalise their spaces, with the textural variations of the earthy materials offering a raw environment where light and shadow play in ways reminiscent of a cave.
This recognition marks the fourth consecutive year Carr has been awarded by the IDEA program — following Aesop Australian Headquarters in the Workplace Over 1000 sqm category, and 835 High Street and Heyington in the Residential Multi category in 2023 and 2022 respectively.
The annual Interior Design Excellence Award (IDEA) program is run by Australian Design Review and celebrates the best of Australian interior and product design.
Discover how Director David Brooks balanced form and feeling in the design of Como Terraces.
