Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale

The winners of an ideas competition for a new Australian Pavilion in the Giardini of the Venice Biennale have been announced last week. The professional winner is Davide Marchetti, Rome, the pre-professional winner SPF 15+, Melbourne.

The Heide Museum of Modern Art and Cafe di Stasio (both Melbourne) have reactivated a long-running campaign to showcase Australian architecture and encourage the replacement of the aging Australian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale with Venice Biennale New Australian Pavilion: Di Stasio Ideas Competition.

In an open competition, conceived to add momentum to growing support for the replacement of the current building, architects were invited to submit a conceptual proposal of their vision for a new Australian Pavilion. The unrestrictive nature of the project has encouraged some radical architectural solutions and aims to excite the imagination of both the public and the authorities.

The competition’s official judges were: photographer John Gollings, architect and writer Norman Day, architect Bridget Smyth and artist Callum Morton. It is not known if any of these ideas will be realized.