The end of 2021 and the year that was

As 2021 comes to a close, Corbett Lyon addressed the studio last week on behalf of the Directors and reflected on the year that was. Summary of his words below.

This year has been one of the most challenging years we’ve had, not only as a practice, but individually, as Victoria navigated through another turbulent year in and out of lockdown. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken us through many challenges, with our team of 100+ going from working in a busy city office to working remotely from their homes in a matter of days. Despite this, our team remained resilient, agile, and committed to what we do. We’ve not only weathered the storm, we’ve emerged in remarkable shape with a raft of achievements we can be proud of.

Thanks to our continued collaboration with clients, the community and our wider consultant team, many of our projects reached major milestones and were delivered on time and on budget. The Annie Hughston Centre opened its doors to the students of Fintona Girls’ School, the Northern Hospital Redevelopment reached completion and welcomed patients, the name for the Bendigo GovHub project, ‘Galkangu’ was announced, and the Lyons-led CEW Bean Building Redevelopment at the Australian War Memorial Museum was approved by the National Capital Authority, amongst others.

Lyons was the recipient of eleven awards, both nationally and internationally, notably Springvale Community Hub winning ‘The William Wardell Award for Public Architecture’ at the AIA Victorian Chapter Awards, and Prahran Square winning two Best in Class Awards for ‘Precinct Design’ and ‘Urban Design + Public Spaces’ at the Good Design Awards. We continued to design and pick up major work across Victoria and Australia, proving our ability to service clients all over the country.

Springvale Community Hub

Prahran Square

More important than awards or accolades, it is the ambition and creativity of our team that makes our studio one-of-a-kind. This year we had the good fortune of extending our Executive team, with the appointment of several new Principals and Associates, and of course our wonderful new Director, Hari Pliambas. We were also delighted to see several Lyons graduates achieve the monumental milestone of receiving their ARBV registrations, and one of our graduates, Ashlee Murphy, won the 2021 AIA Victorian Graduate Prize.

We rolled out our new Parental Leave Policy, a policy we are extremely proud of, and a true testament to the culture at Lyons we aim to build and develop. We celebrated NAIDOC Week, stepped in September for charity, held virtual Design Talks, spoke at a number of networking events, and continued to foster our unique Lyons culture.

As a practice, we learnt many things over the year, and plan to take stock of these learnings in 2022, as we move forward to shape the practice in new and innovative ways.

We look forward to continuing to enhance our engagement with our clients, collaborators and users, and working on projects we can collectively supply our talents to. On behalf of the Lyons team, we wish you all a safe and restful break, and look forward to working with you in 2022.

The Lyons studio will be closed from 24th December – 17th January (inclusive).

Annie Hughston Centre, Fintona Girls' School

CEW Bean Building Redevelopment at the Australian War Memorial Museum

Building
the city

Collaborating with
designers and artists

Connecting
researchers

Connecting
with landscape

Designing
sustainable futures

Enriching cultural
experience

Healthier
communities

Making public spaces
for everyone

Sharing our
histories

Student
Experience

Transforming
the Campus

Student
Experience

Connecting
with landscape

Making public spaces
for everyone

Transforming
the Campus

Enriching cultural
experience

Collaborating with
designers and artists

Sharing our
histories

Building
the city

Connecting
researchers

Designing
sustainable futures

Healthier
communities

Connecting
with landscape

Connecting
researchers

Transforming
the Campus

Collaborating with
designers and artists

Sharing our
histories

Enriching cultural
experience

Student
Experience

Designing
sustainable futures

Healthier
communities

Building
the city

Making public spaces
for everyone

Connecting
with landscape

Making public spaces
for everyone

Enriching cultural
experience

Connecting
researchers

Building
the city

Sharing our
histories

Healthier
communities

Student
Experience

Transforming
the Campus

Collaborating with
designers and artists

Designing
sustainable futures

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