Augmented Australia 1914-2014 by Perth team felix._Giles_Anderson+Goad has been chosen as Australia’s contribution to the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale.
From the ingenious to the downright curious, visitors will be treated to a vault full of unique ‘architectural also-rans’, and experience what could have been in Australia; an alternative architectural reality.
Keeping in line with Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas’s focus on historical importance and national identity, the team will bring 21 unrealised Australian projects to life through three-dimensional augmented models, images, voiceovers and animations; ten historical designs, ten unbuilt public buildings by contemporary architects and the new Australian Pavilion by Denton Corker Marshall which will be undergoing construction in Venice during the international architecture celebration.
“For every finished building there are countless designs that for whatever reason don’t eventuate and these masterpieces often remain hidden to the outside world,” says Director of felix., Rene Van Meeuwen.
“These lost projects provide a wealth of insight into architecture for an Australian setting from the past 100 years and are often more exciting than the end result.”
The exhibition will be constructed around the theme of augmented reality, and is activated with an app for smart devices. Pointing their smart phones at the trigger images housed in marker poles will allow visitors to open up a catalogue of virtual material, visualise, walk through and admire the scale and greatness of each project.
This virtual content, accessible in an online catalogue, will also come with 3D printing files that can be printed or ordered as 3D replicas by the public.
“This cabinet of architectural curiosities provides an opportunity to construct a bridge between architecture and the public by demonstrating the process, the hours and alternatives behind significant public works and a chance to give this archived material new life,” says Van Meeuwen.
Architectural historian Philip Goad will assist the team in selecting the noteworthy unrealised historical projects.
Meanwhile, ten contemporary works featuring unbuilt public projects designed in the last twenty years for an Australian site will also be selected through an open call to architects.
Felix._Giles_Anderson+Goad will be choosing the ten projects that display a high level of architectural design, are speculative or aspirational, and which best relate to Koolhaas' observation of national identity being seemingly sacrificed to modernity,
These works will then be modelled and animated, ‘built’ as augmented reality 1:1 buildings and smaller three-dimensional models for people to engage with, walk into and among in during the Venice Biennale. These buildings will also be in a catalogue, able to be seen as augmented models anywhere in the world.
Submissions for unbuilt public projects can be made at www.architecture.com.au/venicebiennale. Entries close Wednesday 14 August, 12 midnight WST.
For more information about the 2014 Venice Biennale, please visit www.labiennale.org/en/architecture.
