Noosa building designer wins with home from the heart

Noosa building designer Gerard Smith has won the Building Designers Association of Australia design excellence award with a home he created for a friend.

Gerard Smith's design the Air Residence won the national Design Excellence Award.

NOOSA building designer Gerard Smith has won the Building Designers Association of Australia design excellence award with a home he created for a friend.

Mr Smith, of Gerard Smith Design, was revealed as the winner earlier this month. It's the third time Mr Smith has won the national award.

"We were fortunate enough to once again win this award. It was totally unexpected," he said.

"Many people strive to win this award throughout their career so to win this award for the third time is overwhelming. I am extremely grateful."

The winning home, the Air Residence, was designed by Mr Smith for a friend and his young family.

The brief was to create a comfortable family home, which would take advantage of the suburban beachside block while maximising the spectacular ocean and Great Dividing Range views.

Noosa designer Gerard Smith winning home Air Residence

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"They wanted a tasteful contemporary home, something unique, and it's in a beautiful part of the world on the south coast of Wollongong," Mr Smith said.

"It's a home that has grabbed people's attention, thankfully in a positive way.

"I approached the process as I would with any client. We start off being designer and client and end up being really good friends which is a nice aspect to the job.

"I always ensure firstly that all of my client's requirements are satisfied and then incorporate these into a layout with aspects and other design subtleties that were not considered for a home design that hopefully far exceeds their expectations.

"And yes, we're still really good friends."

Mr Smith said the Air Residence incorporates environmental sustainability with natural light penetrating deep into the home, natural thermal mass heating, cross-flow ventilation and solar energy generation.

The Association judges look for designs that have a balance of creativity and clever product utilisation within proposed budgets when deciding on the winner.

Gerard Smith Design also collected awards in the best new home 251-350sqm and over $2000 per sqm categories.