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 the competition is Taylor Knights with James Carey with their pink pool, ‘Pond[er]’. The design references Roy Grounds’ open-air courtyards in the original design of NGV International and comprises two key design elements: a body of Indigenous plants and a body of water. The pink body of water makes a direct reference to the many inland salt lakes in Victoria and highlights the scarcity, importance and political implications of water as a natural resource.