(NGV Architectural Commission)

“There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys. How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, ‘What the hell is water?’“

- David Foster Wallace, This is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, About Living a Compassionate Life.

This commission seeks to make air present. This matter that we spend our lives swimming in and through. Air and breathing are our common act. Both equalising and non-discriminatory, it is the defining feature of life on Earth. 

We propose a pavilion that breathes, its total volume matching the consumption of one human across one year. It is alive, dynamic and multi-faceted. It will remind us of how we are all interdependent and connected. It will represent a hopeful future.