Seventeen futuristic visions of Australian cities in 2050 have been chosen for the ‘Now + When’ exhibition at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale.

The competition brief challenged entrants to create a vision of Australian cities in 2050 and beyond, to create the second part of the ‘Now + When: Australian Urbanism’ exhibition that will be on display at the Australian pavilion.

The three urban regions featured in the ‘NOW’ section will be Sydney, Melbourne and Surfers Paradise. Stereoscopic images will show three-dimensional views of the cities from 20,000 feet, while specific urban and architectural landmarks will be shown in ‘helicoptering’ video imagery.

The ‘WHEN’ section will envisage Australian urban environments as they might be in 2100. Australian architects will be asked to submit 3D entries for inclusion by entering an ‘Ideas for Australian Cities 2100’ national competition.

See the finalists proposals after the jump ….

Creative Directors for the Australian Pavilion, photographer John Gollings and Melbourne-based architect Ivan Rijavec, selected the 17 proposals from a shortlist of 24 – after initially receiving 129 competition submissions.

Ivan Rijavec & John Gollings Photograph by David Pidgeon.

Gollings said the selection process had been a “difficult decision,” with “wonderful, speculative designs and fantastical visions of the future coming from every point of view imaginable”.

The proposals will be presented using 3D stereoscopic technology, described by Rijavec as a “cyberspace of urban dreaming”. The sequence of images will include “fantasies, poetic encapsulations, allegories and strong theoretical propositions that are woven into a cinematic performance guaranteed to leave the mind reeling,” he said, adding: “This will be an exhibition few visitors will forget.”

Finalists

• Sydney 2050: Fraying Ground. RAG URBANISM: Richard Goodwin (Richard Goodwin Art/Architecture), Andrew Benjamin, Gerard Reinmuth (TERROIR)

• Symbiotic City. Steve Whitford + James Brearley: Steve Whitford (University of Melbourne, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning) + James Brearley (BAU Brearley Architects and Urbanists, Adjunct Professor RMIT)

• The Fear Free City. Justyna Karakiewicz, Tom Kvan and Steve Hatzellis

• A City of Hope. EDMOND & CORRIGAN: Design – Peter Corrigan (everything), Realisation – Michael Spooner (and support)

• Mould City. Colony Collective: Madeleine Beech, Jono Brener, Nicola Dovey, Peter Raisbeck and Simon Wollan

• Sedimentary City. Brit Andersen and Mara Francis

• Aquatown. NH Architecture with Andrew Mackenzie

• Multiplicity. John Wardle Architects & Stefano Boscutti

• Ocean City. Arup Biomimetics: Alanna Howe, Alexander Hespe

• -41+41. Peck Dunin Simpson Architects: Fiona Dunin, Alex Peck, Andrew Simpson in association with Martina Johnson, Third Skin, Eckersley Garden Architecture, Angus McIntyre, Tim Kreger

• Survival vs Resilience. BKK Architects, Village Well, Strategic Property Analysis, Mathematical Modelling

• Terra Form Australis. HASSELL, Holopoint & The Environment Institute: Tim Horton, Tony Grist, Prof Mike Young, Ben Kilsby, Sharon Mackay, Susie Nicolai, Mike Mouritz

• Island Proposition 2100 (IP2100). Scott Lloyd, Aaron Roberts (room11) and Katrina Stoll, + Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)

• Implementing the Rhetoric. Harrison and White with Nano Langenheim: Marcus White, Stuart Harrison and Nano Langenheim

• How Does It Make You Feel (HDIMYF). Ben Statkus (Statkus Architecture), Daniel Agdag, Melanie Etchell, William Golding, Anna Nguyen, Joel Ng

• Loop-Pool/Saturation City. McGauran Giannini Soon (MGS), Bild + Dyskors, Material Thinking: MGS – Eli Giannini, Jocelyn Chiew, Catherine Ranger, Bild – Ben Milbourne, Dyskors – Edmund Carter, Material Thinking – Paul Carter

• A tale of two cities. Billard Leece Partnership Pty Ltd

The 12th Venice Architecture Biennale will run from 29 August until 28 November 2010. Vernissage will run from 26-28 August 2010.

Twenty-nine submissions were received for the role of Creative Director, with five proposals shortlisted in a rigorous selection process.

The full 2010 Creative Directors Team comprises John Gollings from Gollings Photography, Ivan Rijavec from Rijavec Architects, graphic designer David Pidgeon, Professor Jeffrey Shaw, architect and sound designer Nick Murray and 3D experts Sam Slicer and Daniel Flood.

The Venice Architecture Biennale has been running since 1980, and now takes place every two years. At the 2008 Biennale, 52,000 people visited the Australian pavilion. Australia’s attendance is currently funded by the Australian Institute of Architects, which pledged funding for the 2006, 2008 and 2010 events.

History of the Architecture Biennale

2008   Eleventh International Architecture Exhibition, directed by Aaron Betsky. Over 129,000 visitors attended this edition, titled Out There: Architecture Beyond Building. The online competition, Everyville, was aimed at university students from around the world: 245 groups for a total of 782 students from 48 countries took part in the competition.

2006   Tenth International Architeture Exhibition, directed by Richard Burdett. The exhibition was titled Cities, architecture and society and ran September 10 to November 19 (the collateral section City-Port was held in Palermo until January 14, 2007). The exhibition attracted over 130,000 visitors.

2004   Ninth International Architecture Exhibition, directed by Kurt W. Forster and titled METAMORPH (September 12 – November 7). The exhibition attracted over 115,000 visitors.

2002   Eighth International Architecture Exhibition, Castello Gardens and Arsenale (director: Deyan Sudjic). The exhibition was titled Next and took place from September 8 to November 3, attracting over 100,000 visitors.

2000   Seventh International Architecture Exhibition, Castello Gardens and Arsenale (director: Massimiliano Fuksas). The exhibition took place from June 18 to October 29 under the title Less Aesthetics, More Ethics.

1996   Sixth International Architecture Exhibition. Castello Gardens (director: Hans Hollein). The main exhibition was titled Sensing the Future – The Architect as Seismograph and covered some thirty contemporary masters of architecture.

1992   Architecture: Modernity and the sacred space. Old Granaries on the Giudecca (curator: Paolo Portoghesi).

1991   Fifth International Architecture Exhibition. Castello Gardens. National pavilions: Forty Architects for the 90s; exhibition of project designs for A Gateway to Venice; exhibition of project designs for the Italian Pavilion; new Bookshop Pavilion designed by James Stirling. Corderie dell’Arsenale: The Venice Prize, an encounter of 43 schools of architecture; exhibition of projects for the new Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido (director: Francesco Dal Co).

1988   Italian Pavilion. 12 project designs for the Venice Biennale. National competition, Doge’s Palace (director: Francesco Dal Co).

1986   Fourth International Architecture Exhibition: Hendrik Petrus Berlage – Drawings. Villa Farsetti, Santa Maria di Sala (director: Aldo Rossi).

1985   Third International Architecture Exhibition: Venice Project, international competition, Castello Gardens (director: Aldo Rossi).

1982   Second International Architecture Exhibition: Architecture in Islamic Countries. Italian Pavilion at the Castello Gardens (director: Paolo Portoghesi).

1980   First International Architecture Exhibition: The presence of the Past. Including the Strada Novissima exhibition at the Corderie dell’Arsenale, and exhibitions on Antonio Basile, the architect; The Banal Object. An Exhibition of Critics. An Exhibition of Young Architects. Homage to Gardella, Ridolfi and Johnson (director of the Architecture Section: Paolo Portoghesi).

1979   Theatre of the World. The Dogana at the end of the Zattere, created by Aldo Rossi for the Architecture and Theatre Sections of the Biennale in occasion of the exhibition Venice and the Stage (winter 1979-80).

1978   Utopia and the Crisis of Anti-Nature. Architectural Intentions in Italy. Magazzini del Sale, Zattere (director: Vittorio Gregotti).

1976   Werkbund 1907. The Origins of Design; Rationalism and Architecture in Italy during the fascist period; Europe-America, old city centre, suburbia; Ettore Sottsass, an Italian designer. Ca’ Pesaro, San Lorenzo, Magazzini del Sale, Cini Foundation (director. Vittorio Gregotti).

1975   On the subject of the Stucky Mill. Magazzini del Sale at the Zattere (curated by the Visual Arts and Architecture Section of the Biennale, directed by Vittorio Gregotti)