The National Gallery of Victoria and the Victorian government have launched the design competition to select an Australian architect to design the new gallery, NGV Contemporary.
It was revealed in November 2020 that the competition would be open only to Australian architects.
Located at 77 Southbank Boulevard, within the Melbourne Arts Precinct, the gallery will span 30,000 square metres, making it the largest public gallery of contemporary art and design in Australia. The proponents note that making the competition open exclusively to Australian architectural teams is an “unprecedented” move for a competition of this scale and civic profile.
Ewan McEoin, NGV senior curator of contemporary design and architecture, said the gallery, the government and other project stakeholders have drawn on the strong commitment they have together to celebrate and foster opportunities for Australian design, carefully designing the competition over the past two years, mindful of the impact such a project would have on the Australian architecture and design industry and also more recently on the state’s post-COVID economic recovery.
The Melbourne Arts Precinct redevelopment also includes a public garden designed by Hassell and So-il.
“Many international practices have made their names in competitions run in their own countries,” he told ArchitectureAU. “There are many leading international practices who have benefitted from significant competitions that set out to provide opportunities for their own design community”.
“What we’re advocating is that a project of this scale and importance creates global opportunities for Australian practices, because it’s a very important project not only in terms of level of the investment by Government but also just in terms of scale and profile. It will provide a unique opportunity for the team that wins this competition, to have realised a global-scale cultural project and to be in a position to then move forward at a global level.”
The Australian competition is a departure from recent competitions run in other states for large cultural projects, such as the Powerhouse Parramatta competition in Sydney, Adelaide Contemporary competition, or the Queensland Performing Arts Centre extension.
“With these other competitions in other states, there’s a formula that has become expected, and it hasn’t been interrogated enough about why would we run a competition in this way. We have thought deeply about the positive impact it can have on local industry, and what could be long term condition for Australian practices that it creates,” McEoin said.
“The legacy of a major design project and construction project like this has huge potential to create what we call an ‘ecosystem of opportunity’ in Australia. It’s not only the architecture, it’s all of the other associated products and services.”
The siting of the NGV Contemporary.
Eligibility for the competition is separated into three components: a design lead (with at least 10 years of practice in Australia and project architect experience in the public sector); an anchor (which must have led the design on a project with a construction budget of at least $100 million and have at least 30 full-time staff); and a Victorian participaction requirement (with at least one of the team members to have been a registered Victorian business for no less than 12 months).
“A single architecture practice may fulfil all requirements, alternatively two or more practices may separately fulfil the requirements,” the competition criteria states.
McEoin added, “The criteria for the competition provides a lot of scope. We fully expect that these will be teams that come together. That’s really exciting for us. What’s implicit is that it is also specifically designed to create opportunities for a wide range of practices.”
“For the NGV, after many years of advocating for Australian design it’s a bit of a watershed moment. Selecting a design team for NGV Contemporary through a rigorous and transparent competition process, run in strong collaboration with the Victorian Government and competition advisor CityLab is, I would like to think, the very best way we could procure architecture in Australia today.”
Corbett Lyon, NGV Trustee and chair of the NGV Contemporary design competition jury, said the project offered an unparalleled platform to show off Australia’s design and architecture industries.
“Australian architecture and design is of international repute and the work of its practitioners is celebrated world-wide,” he said. “This competition will showcase the vibrancy and dynamism that fuels Australian design and architecture, as well as the ethos of collaboration that is ingrained into our practices and studios.
“Architecturally, NGV Contemporary will have an indelible impact on the shape of our city, and through this major competition will also have an equally important and long-lasting impact on our local design and architecture industry.”
Delivered by Development Victoria and competition advisors City Lab, the competition will incorporate a two-part expression of interest process and a two-part design competition, with a target of four teams to progress to the final stage. An honorarium will be provided to all competitors selected to progress to the design competition stages. The winning team is expected to be announced in summer 2021/22.
Along with the chair Corbett Lyon, the jury will include Victorian government architect Jill Garner and NGV director Tony Ellwood.
Jill Garner said, “NGV Contemporary presents an unprecedented and prestigious acknowledgment of Australian architectural excellence. It will undoubtedly be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a lasting cultural legacy for the state of Victoria.”
In a statement, the competition organizers said the design for the new gallery must consider the function and flexibility required in order to display a diverse range of contemporary art and design while considering the gallery’s connection to the wider community, including the Melbourne Arts Precinct, the Southbank neighbourhood and the wider city. The gallery will connect to St Kilda Road via 18,000 square metres of new elevated public gardens.
“NGV Contemporary will be a thriving hub for local, national and international design and architecture, presented alongside significant examples of contemporary art, fashion and performance,” said Tony Ellwood. “It is therefore only fitting that NGV Contemporary will be designed and built by an Australian design and architecture team. This design competition presents an unprecedented opportunity to create a building of architectural significance that will become part of the fabric of our state and cultural identity.”
Registrations for the competiton are now open via the NGV website and will close on 4 March.
