Architecture

London’s Serpentine Galleries has announced the recipient of the 22nd pavilion commission is Lebanese-born, Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmeh, whose structure will occupy the gardens of Serpentine South from June 2023.
Since 2000, from June to October each year, the pavilion commission has celebrated the best in architectural experimentation from practitioners around the globe in Kensington Gardens. It has become a highly anticipated showcase for emerging international talent and a highlight in London’s summer cultural calendar.
Titled À table, Ghotmeh’s pavilion will explore notions of memory, space and landscape through a structure that alludes to the the activities of interaction and unity through an organic design inspired by a dining table.
“À table is an invitation to dwell together, in the same space and around the same table,” said Ghotmeh. “It is an encouragement to enter into a dialogue, to convene and to think about how we could reinstate and re-establish our relationship to nature and the Earth.”
The pavilion will be built using sustainably sourced and low-carbon materials, incorporating timber ribs arranged like a skeleton to support a suspended pleated roof. “Echoing the structures of tree leaves, the Pavilion embraces the nature of the park in which it emerges,” Ghotmeh added.
The commission has been designed to be easily disassembled and reassembled, permitting it to be redeployed at other locations beyond its life on the Serpentine site.
Ghotmeh’s work is at the “crossroads of architecture, art and design”, a spokesperson for Serpentine said, and her projects include the Estonian National Museum; “Stone Garden”, a craft tower and gallery space in Beirut; “Réalimenter Masséna” wooden tower in Paris, to name a few.
Serpentine chief executive Bettina Korek and artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist said Ghotmeh’s pavilion draws on the natural elements of its surrounds, while furthering Serpentine’s mission to create connections between architecture and society by “promoting unity and togetherness” in its form and function.
The Serpentine pavilion commission was first pioneered by Dame Zaha Hadid in 2000. Previous commissions have included “Black Chapel” by Theaster Gates (2022), the 2020 pavilion by Counterspace, and 2019’s mysterious canopy by Junya Ishigami. More

Entries are now open for the 2023 Dulux Colour Awards. Architects, interior designers and design students from Australia and New Zealand are invited to submit recent projects that demonstrate a “pioneering, strategic and commendable” use of colour across six categories. Projects must have been completed between 1 September 2021 and 31 December 2022 and cannot […] More

The ACT government has announced the shortlisted design teams vying to design the redevelopment of the Canberra Theatre Centre. From 21 submissions, three teams of Australian and international architects have been named preferred tenderers: Architectus with Henning Larsen and Arup Designinc with Zaha Hadid Architects Hassell with Snøhetta “The redeveloped CTC will provide a world-class […] More

The Australian Institute of Architects has issued a statement calling for greater climate action following the “disappointing” outcome for decarbonization at the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt. Despite calls for greater action in response to growing climate concern, the COP27 decision has not implemented strategies for phasing out the use of fossil […] More

Kelvin Tsang and Adam Newman’s Temple of Boom has opened to the public in the garden of the National Gallery of Victoria.
The seventh architecture commission for the NGV, the installation reinterprets a 2,500-year-old temple that has come to represent an enduring symbol of democracy and western civilization as one of the most recognizable buildings in the world.
NWMN director Adam Newman said 1:3 scale recreation the original structure, Temple of Boom, is “not a replica” but a reinterpretation of the structure with some key differences.
“It is intended to be an abstraction, a reimagining that evokes the resonant form of the temple,” he said. “The key distinctions lie in the urban art aspect of the scheme and its translocation to the Melbourne skyline.” The installation also doubles as a canvas for street art and a live performance venue, reimagining the Classical Greek icon with bold murals, a contemporary Athena, and an injection of new life.
Built as a modular structure, the installation can be decommissioned and rebuilt with ease, and Newman hopes this will enable the structure to be redeployed to another location after its time at the NGV is complete.

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Henry Moore’s Draped Seated Woman sculpture has been reinstated at the centre of the commission, like the goddess Athena, to whom the Greek temple was dedicated. Image:

Sean Fennessy

The entablature and pediments are made from structural timber box beams, while the columns, each weighing 350 kilograms, are made from glass-reinforced concrete. The architects faced significant structural challenges building above the NGV’s loading dock, requiring they spread the load of the structure evenly across the surface of the Grollo Equiset Garden.
Temple of Boom has been built over the top of the previous commission, using the base of the pink pool from Pond[e]r as a plinth for the temple. Newman said the installation can be seen as commentary for how architecture is constantly evolving and forever building upon its predecessors.
“Conceptually, it’s about the notion of transformation over time of all built form, particularly through the forces of degeneration, regeneration and accretion,” said Newman. “But the utilization of existing form, and by extension, the minimization of demolition, is a key part of our approach to architectural practice.”

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2022 NGV Architecture Commission: Temple of Boom, designed by Adam Newman and Kelvin Tsang. Image:

Sean Fennessy

The roof of the Parthenon was destroyed in 1687. For Newman, it was important to represent the temple in its existing state, so to represent the complete history of the temple to date.
“The Parthenon is a highly symbolic and culturally, historically, and politically loaded structure, with many stories to tell. We have endeavoured to promote conversations through the commission, about what lessons it may hold for our future.”
The installation has been painted with overlapping large-scale artworks by three local artists, Drez, Manda Lane and David Lee Pereira. A second and third round of artists will also add their flourishes in early 2023.
“The original form of the Parthenon was a highly embellished and colourfully painted edifice, and the artists are working with that notion in mind,” said Newman.

The themes explored by the first three artists include the interactions of the natural and man-made worlds, while gender and sexual identity have been depicted in the potent, yonic symbols of fruit and floral motifs.
Henry Moore’s Draped Seated Woman sculpture has been reinstated at the centre of the commission, like the goddess Athena, to whom the Greek temple had been dedicated in the fifth century BC.
The installation will also host full program of public events, including music gigs, fashion shows, artistic performances, and more.
Temple of Boom is on display at the NGV International now until August 2023. More

The New South Wales government has launched the state’s newest cultural institution, the Museum of History NSW. The new entity combines NSW State Archives Collection, with the 12 historical properties and collections currently held by Sydney Living Museums. In September 2022, a bill was passed in the NSW parliament for the creation of the Museum […] More

The Australian Institute of Architects’ Victorian Chapter has called for a commitment to higher design standards for apartments ahead of the November state election. Victorian chapter president David Wagner said the Institute is seeking endorsement from both parties on key recommendations from a recent Legislative Assembly inquiry into apartment design standards. “The apartment design decisions […] More