'Temple of Boom' ode to Parthenon at NGV

Melburnians wanting to see the ruins of the Parthenon need only head to the National Gallery of Victoria this summer.

A playful re-imagining of the famous Greek ruins at the Acropolis, named Temple of Boom, has been installed in the NGV garden and opens to the public on Tuesday.

The structure is a third the size of the original 2,500 year old temple and it's covered in artwork from three urban artists, David Lee Pereira, Drez, and Manda Lane.

Architect Adam Newman, who designed the temple with his partner Kelvin Tsang at their two-man firm NWMN, said the Parthenon is the most potent symbol of architecture in the world.

"Every civilisational thread we have, in the West in particular, can be linked back to this building, this period of time," he told AAP.

The pair usually work on housing renovations, but were named as winners of the NGV's annual architecture commission over a field of 100 entrants, many from much larger firms.

Entries in the competition are anonymous, and the winner usually goes on to win state and national architecture awards, according to the NGV's Ewan McEoin.

"What you are seeing is architects freed of the normal constraints of the commercial architecture, the brief is very open, it's more an artistic brief," he told AAP.

Fans of last year's popular installation, a large and luminous pink lake, will be pleased to hear Temple of Boom has been built on top of the previous structure, just as the Acropolis itself was.

The idea for the temple was born in response to Melbourne's lockdowns when the city's music scene was shut down, with the commission designed to host performances all summer.

But it has a political side too - an obvious reference point is the Elgin marbles, but Temple of Boom could be seen as a commentary on colonisation more broadly, according to Newman.

"You could view it through the lens of a long term looting enterprise across the planet, be it the Brits, the French, the Spanish, the Portuguese," he said.

The street art adorning the temple adds another layer of meaning, with the floor covered in large anthropomorphic flowers painted by David Lee Pereira.

"It's reflecting gender and sexuality with human genitals and flower hybrids," Pereira told AAP.

The commission had its challenges, according to Newman, because the garden is built above the gallery's loading dock.

"There are some real structural challenges, there are varying loads that apply to the slab, so it took some real engineering prowess," he said.

Each pillar of the new ruin weighs about 350kg and is constructed from a steel upright surrounded by glass reinforced concrete, while the spans between the columns are made from lightweight hollow box beams.

Although it was designed as a temporary structure, Newman is already thinking about where the temple might go next.

"We are quietly confident that in the second largest Greek city on the planet there will be someone who wants a re-imagining of the Parthenon," he said.

Temple of Boom is in the National Gallery of Victoria garden from Tuesday.