Over the past few months I/we have been involved in a team pitching for the Creative Direction of Australian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010.

The multi-disciplinary team formed by Cameron Bruhn (design writer) included Jan van Schaik (architect and lecturer), Jen Wood (graduate architect), Tanya Court (landscape architect and lecturer), Cassandra Chilton (landscape architect), Callum Morton (artist), Emma Williamson (architect) and Bryon Cunningham (exhibition designer). The large team included a diverse range of perspectives, professional experience and geographical locations which made the process challenging but at the same time incredibly enjoyable and rewarding.

From the first round of submission, we were pleasantly surprised to be shortlisted down the final 5 and invited to submit a subsequent proposal. This second stage required a considerable level of attention be given to all aspects of the proposed exhibition and treatment of the pavilion. This also required a full estimate of how we would achieve our ambitious plan given the limited budget. How to best represent Australian Architecture on the world stage was critical to the success of the proposal.

Our proposed exhibition was centred around the idea of demonstrating the profession’s trans-disciplinary design capital through speculations on the future of architecture.
 An important aspect of the proposal was the visual identity of the exhibition and how this would resonate through the Venice giardini and beyond.

On Monday the 28th of September, it was announced that John Gollings and Ivan Rijavec were the successful creative team. Congratulations to them and their extended team of collaborators. Having been involved in the process and understanding the factors involved, I’m really looking forward to seeing the outcome.

The experience gained from being part of the submission was invaluable. While we weren’t ultimately successful, it was a fantastic learning experience and a pleasure to work with such a range of people on a project that holds such national significance. Details of all the final 5 shortlisted teams proposals will be published in Architecture Australia’s forthcoming edition.
3D visuals developed by Elzed.