Australia’s best apartment designs for 2026 – in pictures

The 2026 Houses awards shortlist celebrates the country’s most ‘intelligent, dynamic and visually compelling homes’. For the apartment category, jury chair Alexa Kempton says judges looked for ‘density done well’.

‘Building is high-cost and comes with environmental consequences, and the jury observed architects rising to the challenge,’ she says, adding that designing something that will ‘last well into the future and adapt to the changing needs of the occupants is essential’

• Inside the homes of six prominent Australian architects – in pictures