A “kinetic portal,” big verandah, tent and “bronze veil” were just some of the design concepts that could have become the next installation of the National Gallery of Victoria’s 2023 Architecture Commission.
In a year when the gallery is exhibiting its landmark Triennial exhibition, the gallery opted to take a different route in procuring its annual architecture commissions. Instead of the usual open and anonymous competition, the gallery chose 10 emerging architecture practices, some of which had previously participated in the competitions, to submit designs that respond to themes of the 2023 Triennial: magic, matter and memory.
“We wanted practices that had the capacity to engage with something more critical or cultural,” explained Ewan McEoin, the NGV’s senior curator of contemporary art, design and architecture, “so people who have a research element to their practice or have illustrated the potential to do something that was beyond just a commercial project. And we were looking for a diverse group of people.
“And we were looking for a global perspective on something – that might be more of a local perspective on something that’s a global issue or something that’s more broadly resonant.”
“Simply Irresistible” by Studiobird/Simona.
Image:
Courtesy of Studiobird/Simona
A number of the submissions responded to the theme of memory: Taylor and Hinds, with Dr Lois Peeler’s scheme “What We Know, Is What We Remember,” proposes a circular field of murnongs that is “memory materialised” and enveloped by a bronze mesh; Supermanoeuvre’s “YIMBY (Yes! In My (Our) Backyard)” aims to build active and collective urban memories through a “shared” backyard; Studiobird/Simona’s “Simply Irresistible” is conceived as “a portal to another realm enmeshed in our memory of architecture.”
With Zena Cumpston’s scheme “Everpresent,” Youssofzay Hart reimagines the tents that once occupied the site of the NGV in the 1850s.
Similarly, Office Mi—Ji’s “Temporary Memory” also reimagines part of the NGV through its reinterpretation of the gallery’s first permanent exhibition space: the McArthur Gallery at the State Library of Victoria.
Spresser and Peter Besley’s “Remembrance of Things Past” responds to both memory and matter with its grid of charred staves that reference colonialism, climate crisis, consumerism and burning practices of First Nations peoples.
“Remembrance of Things Past” by Spresser and Peter Besley.
Image:
Courtesy of Spresser and Peter Besley
Office of Culture, Technology and Architecture’s scheme “Natural Settings” proposes to employ ancient techniques of heating and cooling to support an environment in a constant state of flux.
Another two schemes proposed to create sheltering structures: “Garden with Orange and Green Shade” by GFA2, Supercontext and Dean Cross is conceived as an overscaled domestic verandah affixed to the rear exit of the NGV’s Great Hall, while Five Mile Radius and Julia Watson’s “A Chance to Feel Alive” proposes a linear shelter structure that protects from the evolving climate and draws on Indigenous technologies from around the world.
The ultimate winner was a concept that responds to “matter” by Perth architect Nic Brunsdon in collaboration with Eness: “This is Air,” which captures the ubiquitous eponymous element.
“Air is a universal common link that is [among] the defining features of life,” Brunsdon said. “The air we breathe, this thing that connects us. It can give us life, but it can also harm us.”
Conceived at the tail-end of a pandemic respiratory virus, the concept is, in part, a distillation of the collective anxiety about invisible dangers in the air.
“In a very broad sense, it was trying to find something [that] spoke of the human condition and made the invisible visible,” Brunsdon said.
McEwan said the scheme “unanimously captured everybody’s attention in the jury process.”
“We’re talking about a global realisation that we are all breathing the same air,” he continued. “It was quite philosophical, but also, from my point of view, when we start talking about the air we breathe, we’re talking about our relationship with each other, with ecology, and other species. I think the jury found that quite interesting.
“There was also a lot of dialogue about what do we mean by, ‘Do we breathe the same air?’ Because […] the quality of air the people breathe around the world is significantly different, and mostly different around socio-economic factors.”
“This is Air” will be on display at the National Gallery of Victoria from 3 December 2023.
The competition for the 2024 Architecture Commission will return to an open and anonymous model. The competition will be judged by Cassandra Chilton (associate studio director of Aspect Studios), Ewan McEoin (senior curator of contemporary art, design and architecture at NGV), Georgia Birks (associate editor at Architecture Media, which publishes ArchitectureAU.com), Monique Woodward (director of Wowowa) and Tai Ropiha (director of Chrofi). Register for the competition here.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
