2015 is off to a good start for UNSW Built Environment students and alumni, with a number of our past and present students being awarded industry awards for their outstanding work and contribution to the built environment professions. 

In January this year, Landscape Architecture graduand Hassan Naddi received the 2015 Landscape Architecture Australia Student Prize.
 
Offered by Landscape Architecture Australia and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, every student graduating from an AILA-accredited Australian landscape architecture program in 2014 was considered for the prize.
 
Naddi says that being the successful recipient provided outward recognition for his skills learnt throughout his degree. 
 
“Receiving the award not only offered positive exposure of my work throughout the industry, but helped me identify my own definition of my personal best.”
 
He says he was constantly inspired to stretch his mind beyond its dimensions with each new idea and skill he came across.
 
“My plans for the future after UNSW are for my professional career to be a continuation of my academic life in the sense of continued development and learning. 
 
“I hope that well into the future I continue a pattern of achievement directly through contributing positively to the profession of Landscape Architecture.”
 
Hassan will graduate with Honours in June this year.
 
Interior Architecture has also received a huge amount of positive recognition this year, with three graduands announced as the top three NSW finalists in the GOTYA Design Institute of Australia (DIA) Awards. 
 
Natarsha Tezcan, Olivia Green and Beatrice Tung are the 2015 finalists who will celebrate in style at the Grand Ballroom of the Sofitel on Collins in Melbourne where the final winner will be announced on May 25.
 
GOTYA is a portfolio-based awards program for final year design students and recent design graduates in Australia and New Zealand. Entries are judged by esteemed DIA members and design practitioners.
 
Natarsha Tezcan has also been awarded the Artichoke Magazine Prize for her graduation work 'Storyspace'.
 
The ARTICHOKE magazine prize for design communication is awarded to a final year student for excellence in the visual and written presentation of an interior design proposition.
 
It has also been a successful time for UNSW Built Environment alumni. Architecture alumnus, Terry Spinolo and the Inarc Design Hong Kong team received two prestigious design awards in the World’s Best International Property Awards. 
 
They were awarded Best Leisure Interior for The Library Restaurant and Best Retail Interior Award for The Levade in Beijing. 
 
Feedback from the judges for both these projects was commendable with recognition for the firm’s quality design process and for ‘meticulous execution’ in aspects of its design and ambience.
 
Held in Dubai, the awards had entries from across 100 countries and are open to residential and commercial property professionals from around the globe. They celebrate the highest levels of achievement by companies operating in all sectors of the property and real estate industry.
 
UNSW Built Environment would like to congratulate these award recipients on their outstanding work in the industry and we look forward to seeing what the rest of 2015 brings.