Plans to reconstruct Philip Cox’s 1988 Giardini della Biennale pavilion on the Coldstream property of Italian restaurateur Rinaldo (Ronnie) Di Stasio are moving ahead.

Originally constructed as a temporary building to house an exhibition of Arthur Boyd's paintings, Cox’s pavilion remained standing in Venice for 26 years but was recently dismantled to make way for a new, permanent pavilion, due to open at the 2015 Biennale.

The new pavilion, designed by Melbourne architects Denton Corker Marshall, resulted from a conceptual design competition run by arts patron Di Stasio in 2008.

Di Stasio has since proposed to rebuild Cox’s original pavilion in Australia, an idea that has now been approved by The Australia Council for the Arts, the Venice Biennale and Philip Cox.   

The dismantled pavilion is currently being stored at Venice's Lido from where it will be shipped and, pending planning approval from Yarra Ranges Council, reconstructed on Di Stasio’s winery at Coldstream, north-east of Melbourne.

According to Di Stasio, there is talk the building could be used as a space for The University of Melbourne’s architecture students.

Artist's impression of Philip Cox's 1988 Venice Biennale Australia Pavilion reconstructed at Ronnie Di Stasio's Coldstream property.

Denton Corker Marshall's design for the new Australian Pavilion, due to open at the 2015 Venice Biennale

Courtesy SMH