Sydney’s ‘little school project’ named World Building of the Year

A Sydney public school has been crowned the World Building of the Year, beating competition from towering skyscrapers, museums and major transport hubs to claim the title.

Darlington public school in Chippendale won the major building design prize at the 2024 World Architectural festival in Singapore, triumphing over more than 200 shortlisted entrants.

It was a second big coup for the Australian architectural firm FJC Studioafter its design for Liverpool council’s new library, Yellamundie, in south-west Sydney, was named one of the world’s four most beautiful new libraries.

The Darlington school, which fully reopened in July 2023 after the upgrades, celebrates strong connections to Indigenous culture, weaving designs into the building’s identity and facades.

Aboriginal artworks are displayed around the school and in the cladding and students can learn about Indigenous food and culture while tending a community garden that grows native plants.

Featuring saw-tooth roofs angled towards the sun, the building embraces sustainability.

FJC Studio won the top prize in 2013 – making it the first practice to win the award twice.

The win was humbling given the project’s modest scale, said a company associate, Alessandro Rossi. “To have won against all the other big projects … is a testament to the client and the community engagement that helped drive the design process,” Rossi said.

“The real winners are the children who will spend time in the building – a place of enrichment for many years to come.”

The design fended off entrants including Singapore’s Changi airport terminal two redesign, Mexico’s double helix-shaped housing tower and the National Star Observatory of Cyprus.

The festival’s program director, Paul Finch, said the school’s design explored and extended beyond the brief to include the views and experiences of the local community.

“This generated a reading of the history of place, culture and time,” he said. “The result of the project is poetic, a building in which topography and landscape, inside and outside, form and materials, flow seamlessly in an unexpectedly delightful way.

“It is also an inspirational proposition about the acknowledgement and reconciliation of historic difference – a pointer to brighter, better futures for all.”

Australian architectural designs won 12 awards at this year’s festival, with Parramatta Aquatic Centre named best sports building and the Nightingale Village apartments in Brunswick winning best housing building.