NGV Contemporary Design Competition

See our design for NGV Contemporary.

A building shrouded in a reflective cloak for Melbourne’s Arts Precinct.

The Melbourne Cultural Collective (our team for the competition) was inspired by the call for a design that’s never been seen before. Taking this literally, we began to explore things unseen, unrevealed, mysterious, still awaiting denouement.

The result was something that remains surprising even when it’s no longer new.

Although appearing as a cloak of reflective fabric, our design is made up of two-dimensional tiles arranged to form a pixelated three-dimensional image. The Age commented that our design “suggests an Anish Kapoor sculpture crossed with a wrapping in the style of Christo and Jeanne Claude.”

Thank you to our talented team: Woods Bagot, TCL, Paul Thompson, Richard Weller, Sibling Architecture (Amelia Borg), Studiobird (Matthew Bird), Cassandra Fahey, Architects EAT, Simona Castricum, Studio Adrien Gardère and Accolade (Andrew Walsh), the Four Horsemen (James Boyce, founder of Grumpy Sailor; Peter Tullin, co-founder of Remix Summits; Tamasein Holyman, founder of Secret Squirrel Productions, Immersive and Underground Cinema; and Michael Rodrigues, former MD of Time Out in Australia), Era-co, Ulanda Blair, Callum Morton, Gideon Obarzanek, Hannah Fox, and Conrad Hamann.

It was fascinating to see the creativity of Australian designers in the outcomes. Congratulations to all entrants on their work, and to Angelo Candalepas and Associates for their winning design!

See the outcomes of the competition for yourself – all entries are part of a new exhibition at the Ian Potter Centre until 5 Feb.