Glenn Murcutt, Australia's most internationally recognised architect, famous for the expression ''touching the ground lightly'', won't be able to get near the competition to design a new Australian pavilion in Venice for the Biennale.
Australia's only Pritzker Prize winner (architecture's Nobel), Murcutt would not be eligible to enter the ''open'' competition under the plans devised by the Australia Council.
The council, which manages the temporary pavilion, says only Australian architects with experience designing a public art space and experience delivering projects internationally will be eligible to enter - technically ruling out Murcutt.
The 2002 Pritzker Prize winner is part of a groundswell that includes the heavyweight art collectors Janet Holmes a Court and Ronnie Di Stasio who are calling for a rethink of the competition process for the $6 million building.
They believe an open competition should include emerging architects and designers. Last month, a petition organised by Openhaus architects was given to the Australia Council with more than 750 signatories.
"The Sydney Opera House came out of an open competition and my view is, frankly, it's the only way to go," Murcutt says. "If [the competition] goes the way it's going, we'll get something safe rather than good. It's a very significant project, but very small and simply can't go wrong by throwing it open."
Inexperienced designers could be teamed with experienced architects, while the unique Venetian conditions suggest consultants will be essential no matter who wins, the champions of the open competition argue.
Among those urging the competition be open to all is the Melbourne restaurateur and passionate architecture patron Di Stasio. In 2008, he sponsored an unofficial ideas competition to the tune of $250,000.
"That might not seem a lot, but this is a 50-seater restaurant," he says. "This is not BHP."
A celebration of emerging architecture, the Di Stasio Ideas Competition attracted 450 entries from around the world. It was the subject of an exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art and a book.
Polarising opinion is Simon Mordant, the businessman and philanthropist promising $1 million to the new building and co-ordinating the competition for the Australia Council.
"We're not looking to build something architecturally outstanding but something that works for the artists," Mordant told The Art Newspaper .
While the Australia Council acknowledges how lucky Australia is to have the site, the importance of the building form seems to be downplayed. Critics see this as doubly perplexing, given the building will be the first national pavilion constructed this century in the Giardini, and every alternate year the pavilion hosts architecture.
"It almost needs mediation," Holmes a Court, the Australian commissioner of the Venice Architecture Biennale, says. "Entrenched positions seem to be taken on something that is very, very important. Let's … think about what this building is for, what it represents, what's the best way of going about it.''
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