This is a two-stage design competition open to multidisciplinary design teams that include a registered architect. Teams can include Australian and international members and may bring together various design and broader creative disciplines to propose a project that explores new terrain for an architecture commission. The ambition of the Commission is to offer an opportunity for architecture and design to be enacted and experienced in their broadest sense. To this end, the Commission encourages proposals that are thought-provoking, issues-led, relevant and resonant and that can facilitate or instigate conversations, dialogue, immersion or reflection. Design proposals are invited to explore various trajectories including (but not limited to) a space to celebrate culture, an experimental work of speculative architecture, an exploration of possible futures, an investigation into ecology, a landscape intervention, a sensorial environment, a place designed for playful interaction, or an immersive space for rest.

The winner of this competition is Retallack Thompson and Other Architects. Their proposal, entitled ‘Garden Wall’, is an elegantly designed structure comprising over 260 white walls clad in transparent woven mesh. Offering visitors the opportunity to rediscover NGV’s Grollo Equiset Garden, each of the fenced ‘rooms’ framed particular features found in the garden, including Henry Moore’s bronze sculpture, Draped seated woman (1958). In 2018, Retallack Thompson and Other Architects were awarded a commendation in the Victorian Architecture Awards Small Projects category for the project.