Home Truth by Breathe, the winning design of the NGV Architecture Commission for 2024, is now open for viewing at NGV International in Melbourne.

Taking the form of a labyrinthine house-within-a-house, Home Truth by Breathe invites audiences to envision an alternative way of building homes in Australia by highlighting how small-scale architecture can create homes that are more sustainable, higher-quality and community-orientated.

Home Truth is a powerful commentary on Australia’s ranking as the country with the largest average house size (236m²) on earth, ahead of the United States, the UK, France and Canada, as reported in 2020 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The external house frame represents the oversized silhouette of the average Australian home, while nestled within is a quiet, reflective timber volume that represents the footprint of a smaller-scale home, emphasising the ethical and ecological impact of large homes commonly built around Australia.

Home Truth by Breathe

By contrasting the scale of these two structures, Home Truth highlights how small footprint housing could help curtail suburban sprawl, lessen the environmental impact of housing construction, and create a better quality of life for communities. The installation provokes the audience into considering new and sustainable ways of building homes.

Passing through the yawning garage door of the larger house, visitors are taken through a voluminous maze of rooms and corridors, eventually emerging into a smaller space constructed entirely of timber studs packed tightly together to create a meditative wooden retreat that gives them a glimpse into an alternative housing future.

The entire installation is constructed of just two primary materials to reflect current housing construction methodologies: While the frame of the larger house and the maze-like walls within are made from framing pine, silver-flecked Saveboard, made from 100 percent post-consumer waste, forms the skin of the labyrinth, symbolising the too-thin layer of foil insulation of many new houses built in Australia today.

Home Truth by Breathe

While future-focused, the small-scale home in this project references Melbourne’s housing solutions of the 20th century, highlighting that the proposal is not part of some unattainable imagined future, but rather a return to a more thoughtful and appropriate scale of living that responds to the needs of others and the planet.

“Through its clever play on scale and materials, this thought-provoking work of architecture sparks a fascinating conversation about housing and sustainability in this country,” NGV director Tony Ellwood says.

Ewan McEoin, senior curator, Contemporary Art, Design and Architecture, NGV added, “Home Truth speculates that overconsumption of space and materials translates into ecological and social consequences – for both us and the planet. But importantly, it offers a provocative vision of a new way of thinking about building – seeing the value of living in spaces that are of smaller scale – a vision that prioritises people and planet.”

Home Truth was selected from a strong shortlist consisting of Breathe with Tom Supple; Office of Culture, Technology and Architecture (OCTA); and Snooks + Harper, N'arwee't Carolyn Briggs, and Philip Samartzis.

The NGV Architecture Commission 2024: Home Truth will be on display until April 2025 at NGV International, St Kilda Road. Entry is free.

Photos: Derek Swalwell

Branko Miletic

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