The winners of two major Powerhouse design initiatives — the Holdmark Innovation Award and the Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator — were announced on Friday, 19 September, at the launch of Sydney Design Week 2025.
The $10,000 Holdmark Innovation Award was awarded to architecture firm Hassell for First Building. Industrial designer Olson Hamilton-Smith was named the recipient of the Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator program for his project FOLDEE.
Presented by Powerhouse and supported by Sydney Design Week Principal Partner Holdmark Property Group, the annual Holdmark Innovation Award recognises excellence and innovation in the built environment. This year’s selection committee included Youssofzay Hart Co-Director Belqis Youssofzay, Powerhouse Senior Exhibition Curator Keinton Butler, Holdmark Property Group Chief Operating Officer Kevin Nassif, Government Architect NSW Director of Design Excellence Olivia Hyde and Western Sydney University’s Lang Walker Endowed Chair in Urban Transformation Professor Greg Morrison.
Hassell’s First Building is a collaborative space for government, industry and research to incubate innovative manufacturing projects. It is the first completed building in Bradfield City Centre, Australia’s first new city in a century. Designed and built using circular economy principles, the project prioritises sustainability. Conceived as a ‘kit of parts’, the building minimises waste and allows for flexible adaptation, repurposing, relocation or disassembly — setting a new benchmark for sustainable urban development.
First Building – housing Stage 1 of the Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility (AMRF) offers shared facilities with cutting-edge technology, training and networks to drive innovation in Bradfield. Its construction had a significant social and economic impact including over $12 million spent with local Western Sydney businesses and more than $3.5 million with First Nations businesses.
Kevin Nassif, Chief Operating Officer, Holdmark Property Group said ‘First Building demonstrates how community design and industry can move together: a Country-centred approach, powered by advanced manufacturing and designed for disassembly. It demonstrates a circular, low-carbon path that creates skilled jobs and new enterprise in Western Sydney. As Principal Partner of Sydney Design Week, Holdmark is proud that this year’s recipient recognises real-world innovations that build stronger, more connected communities.’
Hassell Managing Director Liz Westgarth said, ‘As architects, designing the first building in a new city is both a profound responsibility and a rare opportunity to leave a lasting legacy. We are proud to have created a building that directly responds to the challenges of our climate and our urban environment. The First Building provides more than a place for people to work and innovate — it sets a benchmark. It demonstrates that new cities can be imagined and built differently: with sustainability, adaptability and community at their core. Most importantly, it sets out a vision for the kind of future we want to create.’
Supported by a generous bequest from Carl and Judy Nielsen, the Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator is an annual Powerhouse program recognising outstanding sustainable industrial design. It offers an emerging Australian designer a tailor-made, 9-month residency to develop a product, guided by Industrial Designer and Founder of IDX SYD?Ed Ko. The selection panel comprised of Ko, Powerhouse Curator?Angelique Hutchison and Nielsen Design Associates Director?Adam Laws.
Hamilton-Smith’s project, FOLDEE, is Australia’s first locally designed and manufactured folding cargo bike. Easier to transport and store than traditional bicycles, FOLDEE promotes cycling as a low-emissions transport option. Designed and built in Melbourne by an interdisciplinary team, the bike features a double-hinge folding mechanism and uses 100% recyclable steel for compact, sustainable design and storage.
Nielsen Design Associates Director Adam Laws?said, ‘Olson’s project is in a relatively small but growing area of a highly competitive market. Its time is now with low impact environmental solutions being encouraged and sought after. The Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator adds to Olsen’s momentum by assisting with the commercial optimisation of the FOLDEE lightweight folding cargo bicycle.’
Industrial Designer and Founder of IDX SYD Ed Ko?said, ‘What excites me about FOLDEE is how it illuminates another boundary of modern Australian industrial design practice, where the designer is as much maker, fabricator, and engineer. Olson and FOLDEE continues an industry-induced response to industrial design that stretches back to Breuer’s Bauhaus experiments with bicycle frame technology. Through FOLDEE, we see once again how the humble bicycle becomes a lens for exploring integration of advanced manufacturing technologies and evolving sustainable practice, reminding us that good industrial design is best when it cares deeply about the technical as well as the social.’
Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator recipient Olson Hamilton-Smith said, ‘Through the Carl Nielsen Design?Accelerator I’m looking to explore how advanced manufacturing technologies and construction processes?can be used to further resolve the FOLDEE’s aesthetic, improve the engineered performance and streamline local production to bring a higher quality item to market.’
Powerhouse Chief Executive Lisa Havilah said, ‘Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Holdmark Innovation Award and Carl Nielsen Design Accelerator. Powerhouse is proud to have selected two innovative designs championing sustainable practices, with forward-thinking approaches to how we live and work.’
Sydney Design Week 2025 presents a program of talks, tours and industry workshops across Sydney.
This year’s festival, titled ‘Community Design’, brings together the world’s leading architects, designers and photographers to explore how design can foster connection, resilience and cultural identity in a changing world. Headline speakers include Li Hu and Huang Wenjing of Beijing-based OPEN Architecture, acclaimed Dutch architectural photographer Iwan Baan, Thai landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom, Professor Elizabeth Mossop of Living Lab Northern Rivers, Phillip Birtles from Sydney Water, John Choi from Choi Studio, industrial designer David Caon of Caon Design Office and typographer Vincent Chan.
The festival is presented with the support of Principal Partner?Holdmark Property Group, Foundational University Partners?University of Technology Sydney?and?Western Sydney University, Festival Partner?City of Parramatta?and Accommodation Partner?Ace Hotel Sydney.
To view the Sydney Design Week program visit: http://bit.ly/3IqVWYQ
PROGRAM INFORMATION
Language Typographies | Vincent Chan
Australian type designer Vincent Chan joins local collaborators to discuss a recent multilingual project featuring text in Simplified Chinese, Arabic, Dharug and Vietnamese.
Monday, 22 September 2025
6.30-7.30pm, Parramatta Town Hall
$10, Registration
Sensing Technologies | Bradfield
Industrial designer David Caon, Hassell and Industrial Design Xchange (IDX SYD) host an industry afternoon at the Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility (AMRF) in Bradfield, Australia’s newest city.
Monday, 22 September 2025
1-7.30pm, Advanced Manufacturing Readiness Facility
Adul$30, Registration
Shared Spaces | Iwan Baan
Leading Dutch architectural photographer Iwan Baan presents his expansive practice exploring public buildings and the communities that interact with them.
Tuesday, 23 September 2025
6.30-7.30pm, UTS Great Hall
$10, Registration
Porous Cities | Kotchakorn Voraakhom
Arts centres, canal gardens and water-collecting parks feature in this conversation on architecture and landscape design for delta and flood-prone cities.
Wednesday, 24 September 2025
6.30-7.30pm, Parramatta Town Hall
$10, Registration
ABOUT POWERHOUSE
Powerhouse sits at the intersection of arts, design, science and technology and plays a critical role in engaging communities with contemporary ideas and issues. We are undertaking a landmark $1.3 billion infrastructure renewal program, spearheaded by the creation of the new museum, Powerhouse Parramatta; expanded research and public facilities at Powerhouse Castle Hill; the renewal of the iconic Powerhouse Ultimo; and the ongoing operation of Sydney Observatory. The museum is custodian to over half a million objects of national and international significance and is considered one of the finest and most diverse collections in Australia. We are also undertaking an expansive digitisation project that will provide new levels of access to the Powerhouse Collection.
ABOUT HOLDMARK
Holdmark is a privately-owned property development and investment group that has transformed many of Sydney’s urban landscapes to quality living, working and retail environments. For more than 30 years, it has designed, developed, built and managed highly regarded mixed-use precincts creating true urban communities.
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