Malop Arcade wins AIA National Award for Small Project Architecture

The Geelong Laneways: Dennys Place & Malop Arcade project secured the 2025 National Award for Small Project Architecture from the Australian Institute of Architects. Partnering with NMBW Architecture Studio, this regeneration is central to Central Geelong's revitalization. The approach involved partially demolishing a building to create essential mid-block crossings, transforming a neglected area into activated public space.

The regenerative design at the heart of the project honours the site's heritage through the adaptive reuse of historic bluestone facades and timber structures, forming a distinctive, sheltered 'arcade-like' laneway for gathering. The team implemented a resourceful material strategy, repurposing salvaged brick, timber, and stone into planters and seating. Innovative water management, using a recycled brick channel and bioretention planters, mitigates flood risk while passively irrigating greenery.

Congratulations to Revitalising Central Geelong Partnership (Dept. of Environment, Land, Water & Planning, City of Greater Geelong) and our collaborators NMBW Architecture Studio, AKT, FMG and WSP.

This project exemplifies how strategic, small-scale intervention, rooted in thoughtful reuse, achieves significant community benefit. As the jury noted:

"Rooted in deep consultation – including First Nations engagement, archaeological investigation and heritage collaboration – the design honours the layered histories of the site while proposing an emergent civic identity...It demonstrates how reverent dismantling and creative reuse can yield meaningful, inclusive and ecologically attuned public space."