The final selection of proposals in the Australia’s cities 2050+ competition has been announced, with 17 teams set to participate in the Australian pavilion’s 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.

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.

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.