About pond[er]

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Our winning proposal for the NGV’s 2021 Architecture Commission in the Grollo Equiset Garden at NGV International, has been designed in collaboration with artist, James Carey. Replete with a pink pond evocative of Australia’s inland salt lakes, the installation, entitled pond[er], offers a space for visitors to cool off during the summer months and reflect on their relationship with the environment and our shared future living successfully together in the driest continent on earth.

Referencing Sir Roy Grounds’s inclusion of three open-air courtyards in the original design of NGV International, this architecture and landscape installation comprises two key design elements: a body of indigenous plants and a body of water. The body of water is coloured pink, making direct reference to the many inland salt lakes in Victoria and highlighting the scarcity, importance and political implications of water as a fundamental yet increasingly scarce natural resource. The inclusion of Victorian wildflowers that bloom at different times throughout the installation seeks to highlight the beauty, precariousness and temporality of natural ecology, as well as inviting reflection on our future custodianship and care of the environment.

Envisioned as a space that becomes part the NGV garden rather than a separate architectural object, pond[er] invites audiences to move through a series of interconnected walkways and accessible platforms. Visitors can immerse themselves within and explore the spaces of flora and water and can even step down and wade through the pink pond.

In response to the 2021 competition brief, the materials that have been selected for the project are locally sourced and manufactured, and, wherever possible, are intended to be distributed and used again by various Landcare, Indigenous, and community groups upon deinstallation.

Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV, said: ‘Year after year, the NGV’s annual architectural competition sees our garden transformed by an ephemeral work of architecture and design. The 2021 commission, pond[er], offers a moment for quiet contemplation and conversation as we consider the natural world and the essential nourishment and resources it provides. Through an elegant interplay of architectural and landscape elements, this work draws our attention to the challenges facing Australia’s many catchments and river systems, whilst also ensuring that the design itself has minimal environmental impact by considering the future lifecycle of the materials used.’

Taylor-Knights_pond[er]_Main-Entrance_LR.jpg — ”Year after year, the NGV’s annual architectural competition sees our garden transformed by an ephemeral work of architecture and design. The 2021 commission, pond[er], offers a moment for quiet contemplation and conversation as we consider the natural world and the essential nourishment and resources it provides. Through an elegant interplay of architectural and landscape elements, this work draws our attention to the challenges facing Australia’s many catchments and river systems, whilst also ensuring that the design itself has minimal environmental impact by considering the future lifecycle of the materials used.”

— *Tony Ellwood AM, Director, NGV*

“Pond[er] is the sixth in the series of summer pavilions at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), developed to “exhibit leading architectural ideas” within the Grollo Equiset Garden. This iteration is evocative of Australia’s pink inland salt lakes and pays tribute to the proportions of Roy Grounds’ once open-air courtyards within the gallery, but we agreed that its real power is the attraction it holds for younger generations.

Visiting at any time on a warm day all but guarantees co-visitation with a small horde of squealing kids, delighted to be gifted unfettered access to a generous body of water in the heart of the city. What a surprise also that the water is pink! It’s an architectural sleight of hand that to the child’s eye can only be interpreted as pure magic.

Through the use of simply detailed and reusable materials combined with subtle planting, Pond[er] is a project that blurs the lines between realms. Is it architecture, sculpture or landscape? Is it urban, waterpark or waterfront? Is it a pool, a pond or a piece of furniture? We debated these questions long and hard, and in the end failed to reach consensus. We felt perhaps that this is the true strength of the project, that it eschews easy categorisation and can be many things at once.” 2022 VICTORIAN ARCHITECTURE AWARDS CITATION