FALSE IDOLS named as the 2025 national winner
For one week over August, student members of the Australian Institute of Architects participated in the 2025 Super Studio national conceptual design competition and the winners are revealed. False Idols by Luke Pendergast, Zachary Tregenza, and Jacob Tripp (team name Effort) was revealed as the National Super Studio winner on Friday, 15 August after the state winners presented to the jury.
Super Studio is run by the Student Organised Network for Architecture (SONA) and is open to SONA members from all year levels across Australia. This year, Super Studio was shaped by the creative vision of Joel Alcorn and Chloe Middleton from Alcorn Middleton. They teamed up with SONA VP, Senlina Mayer, to craft this year’s incredible studio, aptly named “Where nothing moves, everything begins.”
Creative directors Joel Alcorn, Chloe Middleton, and Senlina Mayer said, “The Brief this year challenged participants to design for a future where seven (7) black monoliths have appeared—one on each continent. In their presence, new economies, rituals, political systems, and psychological behaviours begin to form.”
“These silent masses have irrevocably disrupted the idea of public space. Students must now consider: what new types of civic rituals, services, or responses could emerge?”
Super Studio and the SONA team are thrilled to have the ongoing and generous support of Alspec for the 2025 program.
Winners listed on the following pages. A Dropbox with all media assets can be found here.
Super Studio 2025 - National Presentations and Winners Announced
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY / NORTHERN TERRITORY
FEAR & INTUITION by BARTONTAYLOR
FEAR & INTUITION by Barton Taylor imagined a response to the brief as a network of underground labs known as “Hives” and design around systems of fear, curiosity and intuition.
The jury citation states, “Fear & Intuition presents a distinctive and immersive spatial experience, anchored by a clear and compelling narrative. The proposal responds directly to the brief’s invitation to begin with perception, foregrounding phenomenology and existential reflection through heightened sensory awareness and the extremities of deprivation. By tuning into the psychological and emotional resonance of the Monolith Condition, the work constructs a world of mysticism that is both atmospheric and grounded in daily ritual. It thoughtfully considers multiple facets of the brief, offering a layered and imaginative exploration of how the monolith reconfigures the ways we feel, move, and live.”
NEW SOUTH WALES
EUCALYPTUS PHENOMENON BY RADICAL FRUGAL
Eucalyptus Phenomenon by Kien Bui, Edwina Tu, and Yen Nhi Nguyen (team name: Radical Frugal) imagines a public space designed around collective sanctuary. A place to grieve, pray, and remember.
The jury citation states, “Eucalyptus Phenomenon offers visual imagery that gains depth and resonance when paired with the accompanying project description, inviting further extrapolation and interpretation. It effectively communicates a sequence of events, projecting the Monolith’s origin story with imagination and clarity. The narrative addresses the Monolith’s impact across multiple scales of the city, revealing the complexity of its spatial influence and networked interactions. While the graphics and presentation could have been more cohesive, the work’s conceptual ambition and layered storytelling remain strong. It stands as a thoughtful and engaging exploration of how speculative design can articulate systemic urban transformations.”
QUEENSLAND
ANCHORED IN TIME BY KINETIC
“Anchored in Time” by KINETIC (Michelle Weir, Lujaine Hussain, and Reis Azlan) challenges societies to confront their histories, revealing how each culture’s relationship with the past defines its future.
The jury citation states, “’Anchored in Time’ is a visually evocative work that captures the essence and experiential qualities of the Stillfall and Monolith with striking clarity. It tells a compelling story grounded in a real issue, using the speculative brief as a powerful vessel for meaningful solutions. The Kiribati response stands out for its innovation and sensitivity, engaging a well-understood context with fresh insight. Through atmospheric imagery, the project creates spaces of reflection, solitude, and community, drawing the viewer into its world. A thoughtful, poetic, and purposeful work that balances narrative depth with visual strength to address urgent environmental and cultural realities.”
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Urbs Aeterna – The Eternal City by Arabesque
Urbs Aeterna – The Eternal City by Chuyao (Talia) Liu uses the speculative mythology of seven monoliths to explore the inevitability of societal collapse, framing Rome’s fall as a metaphor for humanity’s cyclical return from constructed order to primordial chaos.
The jury citation states, “Urbs Aeterna – The Eternal City presents a wonderfully creative and original idea, offering a highly imaginative interpretation of what the Monoliths could represent and their role in society. Through concise text and compelling imagery, it communicates an evocative story that spans both time and place. While its conceptual strength is clear, the work unfortunately deviates from The Challenge. Had the same rigour and alignment shown on the first page, (particularly in relation to the Anchor and Stillfall) been carried through, it may have been a winning contender. Nonetheless, it stands out for its inventiveness, narrative clarity, and distinctive speculative vision.”
TASMANIA + NATIONAL WINNER
FALSE IDOLS BY EFFORT
False Idols by Luke Pendergast, Zachary Tregenza, and Jacob Tripp envisions architecture as both a product and shaper of collective belief. The jury citation states, “The 2025 Super Studio Tasmanian winner delivers an elaborate, eloquent, and meticulously executed response to the highly abstract brief, demonstrating a sophisticated recognition of human behavioural patterns as related to ‘A Pattern Language’. With wit and insight, the project humorously contrasts two evolving societal patterns in Sydney and Hobart, invoking a satire on local contexts. The jury commends the work’s clarity of narrative, and its capacity to engage with the somewhat opposed intrinsic habits and aspirations of both communities, positioning it as a synthesis of theory, humour, tragedy and architectural imagination.”
National winner
‘False Idols’ delivers a dystopically original take on The Monolith Condition, draws us into its world with immediate clarity and conviction. Its concept is imaginative yet grounded, exploring every aspect of the Monolith’s spatial and systemic influence across both Sydney and Hobart. This proposal positions architecture not merely as a product of culture, but as an active participant in shaping it. Responding to The Monolith Condition, the project imagines a cyclical relationship: collective thought shapes ritual, ritual
shapes architecture, and architecture in turn reinforces or transforms collective thought. Through this recursive framework, the team constructs a speculative world where two cities evolve divergent cultural and spatial behaviours in response to the Monolith’s presence (responding to both elements of The Anchor and The Stillfall holistically). The dual-city framing feels disturbingly plausible, at times verging on a dystopian reality. While the second page narrative lacked some atmospheric depth, the work remains compelling in its scope and execution. Thoughtfully considered across scales, it challenges us to see the Monolith not just as an object, but as a catalyst for transformation, narrative, and critical reflection within diverse urban contexts.
VICTORIA
BENEATH THE WEIGHT OF PROGRESS BY SAPIENS
BENEATH THE WEIGHT OF PROGRESS by Adelina Galliamova, Pryde Sciascia, and Sarah Chen reimagines Manila Bay as a vertical city grown through improvised, parasitic architecture, transforming from a symbol of untapped power into a dense, chaotic, and communal structure.
The jury citation states, “Beneath the Weight of Progress tackles an incredibly challenging topic and proposes a unique adaptation of the vertical city in the context of Manila. Conveyed through compelling and beautiful graphics, an alternative reality on the urban and city scale is constructed. The presentation flowed smoothly and it is clear the team worked cohesively together in choreographing the response. Re-imagining this futuristic vertical condition, is clearly informed by architectural lineages such as the density of Kowloon Walled City, the modular logic of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, and the speculative urbanism of Archigram. Rather than replicating these references, the proposal builds upon a conceptual framework to deliver a fresh, contextually grounded vision. The strategically placed imagery across the panels builds a coherent wholistic idea, revealing deeper intricacies the more it is examined.”
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
The New Swan River Colony by Bec Mangano
The New Swan River Colony by Bec Mangano uses the Monolith’s arrival in Perth as an allegory for colonisation, reimagining heritage Federation homes as reoccupied communal dwellings that subvert their original role as symbols of settler permanence, transforming architecture of control into spaces of collective, improvised living.
The jury citations states, “The New Swan River Colony offers a provocative reimagining of architecture, land, and power. It stages the arrival of a vast “Mega Monolith” as a reversal of colonial occupation, transforming Federation houses (symbols of settler permanence) into unstable, reprogrammable anchors for vertical communities to occupy spaces they were once previously ‘locked out’ of. Blending speculative fiction with incisive cultural critique, the project questions whose histories are preserved and whose are erased. A very unique response to the brief, addressing imminent societal and urban issues.”