Venice pavilion shortlist yawner

The Australia Council yesterday announced its shortlist for the Venice pavilion competition. As expected, they are playing it safe, with just a couple of smallish practices. Given the level of discontent surrounding the competition, it’s surprising and provocative of them to play it this safe. It’s the competition you have when you’re not having a competition. All blokes who graduated before 1986, so a total lack of Gen X, Y or Z, or XX chromosomes. Of the 67 expressions of interest, the jury of five chose:

• Bud Brannigan Architects
• Denton Corker Marshall
• John Wardle Architects
• Johnson Pilton Walker
• Peter Stutchbury Architecture
• Sean Godsell Architects

I’m sure any of them would do a fine job, but so would many lesser knowns, if given the chance. Rose Hiscock of the Australia Council describes the conservative assessment of the first round entries:

We received 67 Expressions of Interest (EOI) as part of the first stage of the selection process – an open call to all Australian architects for credentials. From this, a panel selected six practices on their demonstrated capability, suitability, experience and skills to undertake this project,”

The big firms with capability coming out their ears, and the architects with decades of experience naturally float to the top. Brian Zulaikha, the sole architect on a jury of arts administrators, discussed the weeding down process:

“There was an incredibly diverse range of interest, from sole practitioners to large Australian architectural organisations, and the selection of a shortlist was difficult. We believe we have chosen a truly talented group of firms which represents a breadth of architectural excellence.”

Perhaps more revealing is a response to a question from the first round.

Q: We have not undertaken a project off-shore. Would this eliminate us from consideration at this stage?

A: Respondents are requested to demonstrate their experience in areas such as projects in an off-shore location as one of the criteria that will help demonstrate suitability and capability for this project. It is envisaged that the EOI stage will be a very competitive selection process, so whilst this is not the only criteria in assessment of suitability and capability ( see Part A Section 1.4) it will be included in the panel’s decision making process.

When I put that through Google Translate it says, “You can try, but you’d be lucky.”

Posted by Peter on 24.11.11 in buildings