A collaboration between Snooks + Harper, Indigenous elder N’arwee’t Professor Carolyn Briggs AM and sound artist Philip Samartzis, Earthly Tectonics was one of three shortlisted projects for the 2025 NGV Architecture Commission.

The project purposes waste soil and rubble from the neighbouring NGVC construction site to create a field of rammed earth structures cast into 3d printed formwork. An accompanying soundscape comprising atmospheric, geophysical, and anthropocentric sounds, is an invitation for audiences to consider and explore different forces underpinning Earthly Tectonics through active listening and haptic interaction.  

 The combination of new technologies (additive manufacturing) and ancient practices (building with earth) creates an architectural response that is constructed with the materials of Country and draws its tectonic identity from the characteristics of the earth from which it is made. 

Through expressive materiality and evocative soundscapes Earthly Tectonics aims to immerse the visitor in our interconnected relationship with earthly matter, extraction and construction.