NGV Contemporary
Contemporary Thinking
Victorian Government / National Gallery of Victoria
Melbourne, Victoria
Civic / Competition Bid
The Open Weave proposal for the NGV Contemporary Design Competition presented a vision for a 21st century museum that is active and collaborative, its public diverse and multi-valent, and that embodies the values of a new kind of institution defined by ideas of inclusion, fluidity, and transparency. This proposal translates into a building that may not only be known as an object that contains contemporary art but also as a relevant setting for contemporary art through its extension of layered experiences and relationships with the landscape, the city and its curation.
Our design is shaped by a response to the themes of place, relationship, repair, experience and openness. In step with contemporary art, notions of icon or landmark are reimagined through action and experience as well as visual identity. This thinking emerged from our imagining of architecture’s possible role in connection to Country, a natural ecosystem, and its urban environment. The design vision imagines transformative ground planes at lower and upper ground levels that connect nature and culture imbued with placeness.
The design turns a container inside out, extending the public realm into NGV Contemporary and bringing nature, art, design, performance, and hospitality to the edges of the built form. In this way unique curatorial and experiential opportunities are created, which overlap and connect civic and cultural life.
Open Weave is a collective that was assembled for the purpose of the NGV Contemporary Design Competition. The team was underpinned by Grimshaw as the anchor practice to support and facilitate Australian design leadership and was led by local architectural practice Baracco + Wright in the key role of design steward. The team was supported by the multidisciplinary practices of Winwood Mckenzie, McGregor Coxall Australia, Foolscap Studio, Relative Projects, 20-20 Studio, Flux Consultants, AECOM, Eckersley O’Callaghan, 2×4 Inc, and Paul Memmott.
With a shared value for research and experimentation, Open Weave formed as a dynamic team committed to working in unison with a common goal, ethos and governing set of ideals. Comprising industry innovators across a variety of disciplines and practice scales, Open Weave brought together a diverse offering of opinions, ages, experience and skills, striving to reflect our contemporary world where inclusion and multiplicity is critical to realising significant future-ready outcomes.
Open Weave was driven to explore and envision beyond the spatial components of a building, and cultivate a deeper connection with place, one which embodies how contemporary art can question, reframe, stimulate and provoke.
The NGV Contemporary Design Competition incorporated a two-part Expression of Interest and a two-part design competition.
Open Weave was one of four teams invited to participate in Stage Two, the final stage of the Design Competition.
The Fox: NGV Contemporary Design Competition Exhibition is on display at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square, Melbourne until 5 February 2023.