The National Gallery of Australia in Kamberri/Canberra has announced that five design consortia have been shortlisted in its National Sculpture Garden Design Competition, with each team now progressing to the competition’s final stage.
The five shortlisted teams are:
CO-AP (NSW): comprising First Nations consultant Bradley Mapiva Brown (Bagariin Ngunnawal Cultural Consulting), landscape architect Johnny Ellice-Flint (Studio JEF), artist Leila Jeffries, horticulturalist Robert Champion (Tarn), architect William Fung (CO-AP), architect Phillip Arnold (Plus Minus Design), PMI Engineers, and Heymann Consulting.
Bush Projects (Victoria): A collective including landscape architect Matthew Hamilton (Bush Projects), architects Louise Wright and Mauro Baracco (Baracco Wright Architects), Christine Phillips and First Nations representatives Jock Gilbert and Sophie Pearce (Yulendj Weelam Lab), artists Mel George and Daphne Banyawarra (Bula’bula Arts), ecologist Dr David Freudenberger, and Plan Cost Australia.
Hassell (Victoria): A collaboration between architect Alix Smith (Hassell), landscape architect Sharon Wright (Hassell), artist and descendant of the Yawuru people from the Rubibi/Broome area in Western Australia’s Kimberley Region Robert Andrew, artist Tess Maunder, architect Ben Duckworth (Hassell), landscape architect John Hazelwood, horticultural ecologist Professor James Hitchmough, and quantity surveyor Runil Gannoo (Slattery).
McGregor Coxall (NSW): comprising landscape architects Adrian McGregor and Fraser Halliday (McGregor Coxall), Australian Waanyi multi-media artist Judy Watson, Indigenous engagement specialists Lea Gage and Dr Annie Burgess (Murawin), botanist/horticulturalist Neil Marriot, architect John Choi (Chrofi), and heritage consultants Rachel Jackson, Anna Leeson and Edward Robbins (GML Heritage)
SBLA Studio (Victoria): The SBLA Studio-led design team brings together Aboriginal design consultant Troy Casey (Blaklash), landscape architect Owen Café (Blaklash), poet and artist Jazz Money, creative director Simone Bliss (SBLA Studio), landscape architects Georgia Aldous and Matt Wakelin (SBLA Studio), horticulturalist Jac Semmler (Super Bloom), architects Aaron Roberts, Kim Bridgeland and Oskar Kazmanli-Liffen (Edition Office), experience designers Rae Perks and Dan Koerner (Sandpit), regenerative architect Jane Caught (Heliotope), architectural assistant Samuel Torre, and quantity surveyor Vincent Lau (Prowse).
The two-stage competition launched in April 2024, the outcome of which will see a design consortium appointed for the $60 million revamp of the the gallery’s three-hectare sculpture garden.
The competition welcomed submissions from multidisciplinary design teams from Australia and overseas. The first stage of the competition invited participants to submit concept designs that incorporate public spaces for experiencing arts and culture. It also called for proposals that capture the original design intent and heritage values of the garden, designed by Harry Howard and Associates in 1981. The vision at that time was to create a garden that harmonised with the gallery building, designed by Col Madigan and his team. This vision is one that the gallery would like to see continued in the next iteration of the garden.
Entries were assessed by a jury comprising architect and chair of the Heritage Council of Victoria Philip Goad; National Gallery director Dr Nick Mitzevich; Barkandji artist and curator Nici Cumpston, and renowned Chilean landscape architect Teresa Moller.
National Gallery director Nick Mitzevich said revitalising the National Sculpture Garden is a project of ambition that will attract international visitors. “We look forward to seeing the shortlisted concept designs develop further over the coming months,” Mitzevich said.
The five shortlisted teams will now progress to the second and final stage of the competition. The result of the competition is expected to be revealed in October 2024.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
