June 2008

The studio has been responsible for the creative direction of the Venice Biennale New Australian Pavilion: Di Stasio Ideas Competition for their client Rinaldo di Stasio to celebrate his 20th anniversary of Café di Stasio in St Kilda. The ideas competition involved an open brief to design a new Australian Pavilion in the Giardini Della Biennale in Venice to replace the temporary structure design by Philip Cox in 1988.

The competition attracted over 450 registrations of interest from architects and students from 51 countries around the world, with 170 entries being finally submitted. A judging panel lead by architect and critic Norman Day and including photographer John Gollings, artist Callum Morton and City of Sydney architect Bridget Smyth devised a short list of 56 projects, 37 professional and 19 pre-professional. A subsequent list of 11 finalists has been selected, with the winners in each category being announced on Monday 28 July 2008. For a full list of finalists visit the di Stasio website.

To celebrate the competition, the studio has designed an exhibition featuring all of the short listed entries at Heide Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition will be on view until 3 August 2008. A 256 page publication is currently in production and will be available from Heide Museum of Modern Art or through Café di Stasio.

Click here to listen to Alan Saunders interview with competition judges Norman Day and Callum Morton on Radio National’s By Design program from Saturday 28 June 2008.