12/08/2026
Jury Citation
Chapter Architecture Award, Eleanor by Topology Studio
Topology Studio use the need for improved accessibility as a catalyst to reimagine a couple’s 1890s Victorian townhouse. Aging in place is explored both from functional and architectural perspectives, maintaining, in the architects’ words, ‘dignity and autonomy, for both the owners and their home.
Through careful interventions, existing spatial organisations are dramatically reconfigured to improve liveability, longevity, thermal and structural performance while preserving character and heritage legibility.
Externally, heritage character is left untouched, retaining prominence in the heritage streetscape. Internally, the typical terrace layout is mirrored, period details are retained and contemporary forms are added in configurations that feel calm, considered and instinctual despite being a reversal of heritage norms.
The arrangement brings internal circulation alongside the street facing façade, creating new connections with the street while private spaces shift inward and their unexpected material palettes are ambiently lit with borrowed light filtered through street trees and stained glass.
Eleanor’s success is as much tied to its connections with client, place, narrative and memory as it is to architectural outcome
Project Lead Olivia
📷 Tom Ross
Styling Lynda Gardener
🪴 Tupelo Studio
🔨 RESICON
