Ninth NGV Architecture Commission Names Winner
By Annette Meier
Rendering of the NGV Architecture Commission 2024: BREATHE, Home Truth, wooden pine framing, silver-flecked Saveboard, and timber studs. Courtesy Breathe, Melbourne.
The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Architecture Commission 2024 has been awarded to Melbourne-based architecture studio Breathe for its design Home Truth, a maze-like installation of a house-within-a-house. The design explores alternative home-building in Australia—which boasts the largest average house size on Earth—reflecting how small-scale architecture can promote more sustainable, high-quality, and community-oriented living environments.
Home Truth comprises two structures, each made of a material that is prevalent in Australia’s current housing construction practice. The outer house, resembling scaffolding, is made from wooden pine framing lined with silver-flecked Saveboard, a low-carbon circular material, representing the typical, massive, poorly built Australian home. The smaller inner house is constructed entirely of timber studs, serving as a meditative retreat from the external edifice. Through its design and material, Home Truth ponders the ethical and ecological impact of enormous homes, highlighting how “small footprint housing” can pare down suburban sprawl, reduce the environmental impact of large houses, and improve quality of life for communities.
Though future-focused, the installation is inspired by Melbourne’s housing solutions from the 20th century, which included terrace houses and architect-design houses under 100 square meters. By referencing historical endeavors for smaller-scale housing, Breathe presents their alternative home design as a return to more environmentally conscious constructions.
Commenting on the work, Ewan McEoin, a senior curator at NGV, said: “Home Truth speculates that overconsumption of space and materials translates into ecological and social consequences—for both us and the planet. But importantly, it offers a provocative vision of a new way of thinking about building—seeing the value of living in spaces that are of smaller scale—a vision that prioritizes people and planet.”
The winning project was selected from a shortlist comprising various Melbourne-based candidates: Office of Culture, Technology and Architecture (OCTA), a nontraditional architectural practice; SNOOKS+HARPER, an architecture, art, and design studio; N’arwee’t Carolyn Briggs, an Aboriginal Australian rights activist; and Philip Samartzis, a sound artist, scholar, and curator.
Established in 2016, the NGV Architecture Commission is an annual initiative by the namesake gallery, inviting Australian architects and designers to create temporary, site-specific work. The winning design of its ninth edition, Home Truth, will be on display at the NGV’s Grollo Equiset Garden from November 13, 2024, to April 2025.
Annette Meier is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.
