The 2025 Habitus House of the Year program reached its highest peak yet, with 26 shortlisted homes representing Australia, Aotearoa / New Zealand, India, Indonesia and Japan. A 13-person jury convened at Winnings Richmond for a full day of judging, before the design community gathered last night at Winnings Redfern for an evening that balanced celebration with recognition.
Winnings x Habitus House of the Year 2025
Clifton House – Anthony Gill Architects
Clifton House brings a quiet, assured refinement to a densely built part of North Bondi. Working with a 415-square-metre site overlooked on all sides, Anthony Gill Architects shaped a home defined by privacy, restraint and garden immersion. Pocket plantings by Dangar Barin Smith frame every window, creating a series of green rooms that soften the pared-back material palette and give the family a sense of calm enclosure within the suburb’s lively streetscape.
Amongst the Eucalypts – Jason Gibney Design Workshop (JGDW)
Located near Seal Rocks, Amongst the Eucalypts is a bushfire-resilient home set lightly within its coastal–forest landscape. JGDW balanced robustness with sensitivity through careful siting, elevated forms and durable materials. The result is a house that feels suspended within the canopy, offering shifting views, deep connection to nature and a sense of refuge that responds directly to the realities of living in bushfire-prone environments.
Winnings Award for Emerging Talent
Architect George
House in Erskineville is a three-and-a-half-metre-wide Victorian terrace that reimagines family living through minimal intervention and maximum adaptability. Only six square metres were added; instead, internal walls were removed and a translucent polycarbonate volume introduced at the rear. Spanning twelve metres with the support of existing brickwork, the insertion bathes the kitchen and living areas in diffused light, creating a surprisingly generous, flexible space within a compact inner-city footprint. The young practice was also nominated in 2024 with Apartment in Double Bay II.
Soft Serve – MuseLAB
MuseLAB’s Soft Serve transforms a high-rise apartment in Thane, India into a calm, pastel-toned retreat. Drawing on the Japanese concept of Seijaku, the interiors use a disciplined palette of ecru, sage, taupe and blush layered with stone, concrete and timber veneer. The muted colour language creates a sense of quiet luxury, pairing serenity with playful material expression.
Huzefa Rangwala and Jasem Pirani, the designers behind MuseLAB, will also join the INDE.Awards jury in 2026 — bringing their distinctive sensibility and cross-cultural design perspective to the program.
Habitus extends sincere thanks to our readers, shortlisters, jurors and event guests – and to our partners Winnings, Rogerseller and Billi. Until next year!
