The National Gallery of Victoria has announced the teams shortlisted for the inaugural $30,000 Victorian Design Challenge.
The challenge, which this year is a joint initiative between the NGV and VicHealth, invited Victoria’s design professionals to form multi-disciplinary teams to respond to a recent VicHealth study into the effects of loneliness and anxiety in young people.
“The Victorian Design Challenge presents a valuable opportunity for designers to respond to vital concerns surrounding young people’s mental health and wellbeing,” said Tony Ellwood, director of the NGV. “It also demonstrates the integral role design plays in addressing critically important social and environmental issues that affect our community.”
The shortlist includes architect and urbanist Simon McPherson for “Failure Place”; architectural graduate Matthew Dwyer for “Local Time”; landscape architecture student Matt Calder for “Occupied!”; and The Future Ensemble and Local Peoples for “Future Peoples”.
The shortlisted teams will now proceed to the second stage of the competition – a live pitch to the competition jury during a public presentation at the NGV on 2 June 2018.
The jury comprises Simone LeAmon (chair and curator of contemporary design and architecture, NGV), James Tutton (founder, Smiling Mind), Liam Fennessy (associate dean of the industrial design program, RMIT University), Irene Verins (manager of mental wellbeing, VicHealth), and Hanann Al Daqqa (youth worker).
A $30,000 prize will be awarded to the winning team to fund the development and prototyping of their design idea.
