Nightingale Preston wins Best Overend Award for Residential Architecture - Multiple Housing

Nightingale Preston has been recognised with the prestigious Best Overend Award for Residential Architecture – Multiple Housing at the 2025 Victorian Architecture Awards, highlighting its excellence in sustainable, community-focused medium-density housing.

Designed by Breathe, Nightingale Preston comprises 52 fossil fuel–free homes designed with sustainability and community at its core. The project features shared rooftop gardens, a bath house, guest house, and a communal dining room. The ground floor incorporates two vibrant commercial spaces - a children’s art club and a café overlooking a landscaped parklet - enhancing the connection between residents and the wider community.

Located close to public transport options, Nightingale Preston encourages reduced car dependency and fosters meaningful neighbourhood connections. This project has been recognised as setting a new benchmark for medium-density housing in Victoria.

The project was celebrated by the jury with the following citation:

"Nightingale Preston sets an elevated benchmark for apartment living, prioritising the fundamentals while establishing a lively neighbourhood - both within and to its surrounds. Positioned on a challenging corner site bounded by an elevated train line and tram depot, its robust precast façade addresses this context. The building quickly softens on approach, revealing considered details in the balconies, drainage, metalwork and brickwork. The north-facing ground floor café opens onto a pocket park, providing the ingredients for success. Street frontages are enlivened by ‘Teilhaus’ micro terraces, designed for means-tested first home buyers. These inventive, affordable homes take advantage of a taller ground level and offer layered facades that successfully balance privacy and passive surveillance. The lobby is breezy and welcoming and each floor has light, fresh air and orientating views. True to the Nightingale model, sustainability is embedded in every design choice, from major services to joinery details. Finishes are deliberately pared back but are warmed up by timber, brick, colour, and hand-painted signage. Residents’ personal expression is evident throughout, with niches in the corridor plan leaving space for an expanded sense of ownership. Shared spaces - workshops, laundry areas, and gardens - are not just amenities but integral parts of daily life. Even a trip to the bin room feels thoughtfully integrated into the overall experience."

Congratulations to Breathe, as well as the teams at MAB Residential, Balmain & Co and TCL for their outstanding collaboration in delivering this visionary project.

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