NGV ARCHITECTURE COMMISSION 2021_
Project Information
TEAM Common & Enlocus
- CLIENT National Gallery of Victoria
- BUDGET –
- STATUS Complete
- TYPE Design Competition
- LOCATION Melbourne, Victoria
Credits Design Team
COMMON
- Ben Milbourne, John Doyle & Laura Mártires
- ENLOCUS
- Michael Ford, Will Muhleisen, Sylvia Zhang & Zoe Wang
Shortlisted for the NGV’s 2021 Architecture Commission.
At the Table proposes the installation of a landscape table in the Grollo Equiset Garden at the NGV. This proposal draws on the collective imagination of the table as a common space, not simply within the domestic sphere, but broadly through societal, political and economic domains. The proposal is not intended as symbol or metaphor, but rather one that presents the functional and affectual qualities of furniture.
The table top encircles a productive garden, which is intended to be touched and tasted. The garden brings to the table stories which revolve around cultivating, harvesting, preparing food, cultures and history. Planting species have been selected for their appearance, fragrance and taste. The planting species have been arranged to allow the garden to be picked at, around the lower edges of the table. We have curated the plants provoke stories and cultural experiences.
The arrangement draws attention to the life cycle of each species; from germination, proliferation, fruiting or shedding seed before they decline, before the cycle begins again. The seasonality of the species will be a representation of time, influenced and effected by landscape systems. The garden bed modules are design for future reuse by schools and community groups. Distributing the garden bed modules will ensure the pavilion continues to expand knowledge and engagement with the productive landscapes of our city.
The table is the original common space. Most cultures include some form of communal space, to meet, to eat and to share. This takes many forms, but the sociality is consistent, a space within the city that serves as a point of confluence in increasingly divergent lives. The enfranchisement of our communities and the ability to participate in social discourse and decision making is marked by a seat at the table. The table is the repository of memory – a childhood spent hiding behind the tablecloth – a summer afternoon meal with friends. In a time of social dislocation and isolation this proposal is an architecture that celebrates this collective unconscious, the common, the public, together…apart.
Visualisations by Common.