A pink pond evocative of Australia’s inland salt lakes will be installed in the Grollo Equiset Garden at NGV International for the 2021 Architecture Commission.
Melbourne-based architecture practice Taylor Knights and artist James Carey were announced as the winners of the commission on Tuesday 11 May, for their installation Pond[er].
The design references Roy Grounds’s open-air courtyards in the original design of NGV International and comprises two key design elements: a body of Indigenous plants and a body of water.
The pink body of water makes a direct reference to the many inland salt lakes in Victoria and highlights “the scarcity, importance and political implications of water as a natural resource.”
Beds of Victorian wildflowers, designed in association with Ben Scott Garden Design, will bloom at different times throughout the installation, highlighting “the beauty, precariousness and temporality of our natural ecology.”
Pond[er] by Taylor Knights and James Carey.
Pond[er] has been conceived as a part of the NGV garden rather than a separate architectural object. Visitors will be invited to move through a series of interconnected walkways and accessible platforms.
Visitors will also be encouraged to wade through the pink water, cooling off in the summer months and reflecting on their relationship with the environment.
“Through an elegant interplay of architectural and landscape elements, this work draws our attention to the challenges facing Australia’s many catchments and river systems, whilst also ensuring that the design itself has minimal environmental impact by considering the future lifecycle of the materials used,” said Tony Ellwood, NGV director.
Pond[er] by Taylor Knights and James Carey.
The materials selected will be locally sourced and manufactured, and are intended to be distributed and used again by various Landcare, Indigenous and community groups upon deinstallation, including the Willam Warrain Aboriginal Association.
Pond[er] was selected from a shortlist of five contenders. The unsuccessful shortlisted entries were: Listening to the Earth by Aileen Sage Architects with Michaela Gleave (an installation that explores “interconnectedness between people at a time of restricted human interaction”); At the Table by Common and Enlocus (a sensorial, productive, and edible garden); by MDF (a playful oversized ring of swings); and Gas Stack by Simulaa with Finding Infinity (an installation that “evokes both a biotech lab and the vertical city”).
Source: Architecture - architectureau
