The Architecture MasterPrize 2025 winners demonstrate how thoughtful design continues to redefine living, working and community spaces across continents.

Now in its milestone 10th year, the Architecture MasterPrize stands as an international beacon for design excellence, celebrating projects that advance creativity, sustainability and cultural engagement across architecture and related disciplines. 

Drawing submissions from over 70 countries, this year’s winners cohort reveals a global field of architects whose work blends precision and imagination. From homes that deepen our connection with place to civic buildings that renew community life, the 2025 honourees offer a compelling snapshot of architecture’s potential to shape how we live and interact with the world around us.

Thomas Street House by Embrace Architects in Melbourne stands as a bold domestic vision that blurs the boundary between interior and exterior. Designed by Nicholas Sun and his team, this three-storey, five-bedroom home embraces sculptural curves and generous glazing to invite nature deep into everyday life. Passive solar orientation, cross-ventilation and considered materiality anchor this multigenerational residence in sustainability. The project’s fluid response to site and climate exemplifies how contemporary homes can honour both environment and inhabitant. 

In Sydney’s affluent Point Piper, Wentworth Residence from Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors demonstrates architectural rigour in a tight, elevated urban context. Lead designer Rob Mills exploits every square metre of the compact site, threading views of harbour waters into a vertical itinerary of living spaces. A garage, sauna, gym and elevated bedrooms speak to a narrative of spatial generosity despite geographical constraint. Through careful orientation and layering, this urban residence shows how fine-tuned design can orchestrate light, breeze and outlook in a demanding setting. 

Architecture that connects people to place

Also by Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors, Howqua River Lodge couples architecture with its circumventing landscape. Anchored in the alpine terrain, this self-sufficient retreat blends off-grid performance with richly tactile interiors. Warm, spotted gum timber, stone and bagged render emulate the surrounding natural palette while prioritising resilience and wellbeing. The lodge’s material honesty and environmental integration reveal how architecture can act as both shelter and sculptural expression in remote settings. 

Nothing captures community spirit quite like Boot Factory Community and Innovation Hub in Sydney. Delivered by Archer Office under Tomek Archer’s direction, this adaptive reuse project revives a 1892 boot factory into a vibrant civic anchor. Rather than erase history, the design amplifies it, introducing flexible workspaces and gathering places suffused with natural light and ventilation. The project carries the legacy of industrial heritage into the present while making room for future creativity, showing how thoughtful preservation can fuel cultural and civic life. 

A moment for architectural excellence

The inclusion of several Australian studios among the Architecture MasterPrize 2025 winners confirms that local design voices are resonating on the global stage. Embrace Architects’ Thomas Street House, Rob Mills Architecture & Interiors’ Wentworth Residence and Howqua River Lodge, plus Archer Office’s Boot Factory Community and Innovation Hub, each earned international recognition for their thoughtful responses to context, climate and materiality. 

This acknowledgment amplifies the reach of Australian architectural practice well beyond national borders, showcasing how homes and community places conceived here can engage a worldwide design conversation. The significance of Boot Factory’s work continues closer to home too. It was recently honoured in the Public Space category at the IDEA 2025 awards, marking another distinguished accolade for Archer Office and reinforcing how the project bridges local impact and international acclaim. 

See all the IDEA Awards winners in ADR.