Finalists for the Dulux Colour Awards have been announced following a record breaking 305 entries. A panel of design experts have selected 124 finalists in commercial and residential spaces. Now in its 32nd year, the program continues to recognise and celebrate the exceptional use of colour by Australian and New Zealand design professionals.

This year’s finalists were chosen across nine categories, including Commercial Interior – Workplace and Retail, Commercial Interior – Public Space and Hospitality, Single Residential Interior and Single Residential Exterior. Dulux Colour Planning and Communications Manager  Andrea Lucena-Orr said this year’s architects and designers pushed the boundaries with colour application.

“Darker tones of black and charcoal continue to dominate in commercial and exterior spaces, but this year they’ve been punctuated with fun, vibrant accents of red, yellow and lime green in the form of paneling, and door and window trims,” she said. “There’s an unmistakable sense of 80s nostalgia creeping in.” Queensland finalists include The University of Queensland’s Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology (EAIT) Faculty, the Gold Coast Suns Elite Training and Administration Facility, and the Ambrose Treacy College Senior School Precinct.

“We were also very impressed with this year’s student entries, which delivered bold and original colour concepts and applications,” Lucena-Orr said. The finalists will now be judged by a panel of leading figures in the design industry. The judging panel will select winners across the nine categories, with the best of the category winners awarded the Grand Prix prize. Winners of the 32nd Dulux Colour Awards will be announced at a gala event at the National Gallery of Victoria on 10 May 2018.

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