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The 2024 Australian Good Design Award Winners
This year’s Australian Good Design Awards celebrated designs across the country and the world that benefit communities and prioritise sustainability.
Good Design Australia is committed to promoting the importance of quality design in architecture, engineering, policy, fashion, the digital arena and communication. This year’s awards program, held at the ICC Sydney and hosted by Gold Logie winner Larry Emdur, received more than 940 entries. The 2024 awards recognised design that balances social, economic and environmental needs, with two new categories introduced – the Design Impact Award and Policy Design.
The most notable gong, the 2024 Australian Good Design Award of the Year, went to Intuitive’s Da Vinci 5 Surgical System. The innovative robot incorporates revolutionary Force Feedback technology that allows the system to measure, and surgeons to feel, subtle pressures on tissue during surgery. This means the surgeon has greater control as well as improved accuracy, visibility and precision.
Winners in the architectural category included 38 Albermarle Street in Melbourne’s Kensington by Assemble, which aims to create an affordable solution to home ownership. The Hurlstone Memorial Reserve Community Centre in Sydney by Sam Crawford Architects was also recognised for its community-centric design, while Grey House by Adam Kane Architects was awarded for its simple, durable and harmonious design approach. Another stand-out winner was Holocene House, by CPlusC, a carbon-positive home and the first in Australia to be certified by the international Active House Alliance.
Beyond robotic surgery and architecture, the awards acknowledged projects in an additional 30 categories across 12 design disciplines. The inaugural Design Impact Award went to the Bega Circular Valley, which proposes transforming the entire Bega Valley as it transitions to a circular economy in the aftermath of the Black Summer bushfires. The new Policy Design category was won by The Tomorrow Party, a collaborative method for policymaking and systems change developed by WonderLab at Monash University.
VolDrive took home the Australian Good Design Award for Sustainability for its use of kinetic energy from wind turbines to power sensors inside the blades, allowing for long-term, maintenance-free monitoring. Meanwhile, the Australian Good Design Team of the Year went to Cobalt Design, an industrial design and product development agency from Melbourne that helps companies take products from concept to market, with a focus on reducing waste.
The annual awards are a powerful tool for highlighting how design can impact society in a positive way. As Rachel Wye, managing director of Good Design Australia, says, “The quality of entries we receive from across Australia and internationally is just extraordinary. Among many others, that’s highlighted by the calibre of the 2024 Australian Good Design Award of the Year winners and Australian Good Design Award for Sustainability. Both are incredible products that shift the dial in their sectors, and that’s what good design is all about.” The full list of winners can be found here.
