Canberra's popular New Acton precinct took home a major design award on Monday night, after being praised by judges as an area of "surprise and delight".
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The precinct was a joint winner of the Australia Award for Urban Design's Delivered Outcome - Large Scale category, along with the Prince Alfred Park and Pool in Sydney.
Judges said they were impressed with new area in Canberra, describing it as "a precinct of surprise and delight that is a rich place of outstanding quality and design."
The award was presented to the Molongo Group, who designed the New Acton precinct.
Planning Institute of Australia president Dyan Currie said New Acton was typical of Canberra's fresh direction in urban planning.
"The twin ambitions of Canberra's New Acton precinct - to 'not be ordinary' and to create a new collection of mixed-use buildings within existing cultural and environmental context - were achieved with a surprising design and place-making solution that represents an exemplar for twenty-first century Canberra," Ms Currie said.
The Australia Award for Urban Design was first presented in 1996 and is hosted by the Planning Institute of Australia.
Western Australia and New South Wales dominated the rest of the awards, with the latter taking home two prizes. The Northern Territory won a commendation for its Darwin City Centre Master Plan.
