Some of Western Australia’s most exciting young architects are undertaking the challenge of designing a pop-up bookshop for use at the 2014 National Architecture Conference in Perth.

Student architects and those who graduated within the last 15 years have been invited to submit design proposals for the Architext pop-up bookshop, using BlueScope COLORBOND® steel as the major construction material.

To be chosen by a jury of the Australian Institute of Architects, the winning architect or team of architects will build the bookshop at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, where it will serve as a major new attraction for conference delegates.

Creative director of the 2014 National Architecture Conference, Sam Crawford, says the Architext bookshop competition provides a rare opportunity for architects to think about a piece of architecture that can be built quickly.

“So much of what we work on as architects has a gestation period of several – sometimes many – years, so to realise a piece of architecture at speed is a luxury we don’t normally have,” Mr Crawford said.

“It is also unusual to have the opportunity to be hands-on in the construction of that architecture, which is something the competition winners will have the chance to do.”

Competition entrants have been asked to take the Western Australian landscape as inspiration, and use COLORBOND® steel’s recently launched range of new colours: Basalt®, Wallaby®, Gully™, Cove™, Mangrove® and Terrain®.

The bookshop, which will cover an area of 24 square metres in the conference foyer, must include functional shelving, display and point-of-sale units plus enough space for customers to sit and read the books.

Sam Crawford says the competition jury is looking for architecture which creates a compelling destination for conference goers.

“We want the bookshop to attract delegates by using a simple material in the form of COLORBOND®, rethinking the way it is used, and by doing so create a space that people want to spend time in,” Mr Crawford said.

“On one level the competition and the bookshop is a bit of fun – but on another level it is a serious effort to highlight a widely used building material in a new way.”

The deadline for entries to the Architext Pop-up Bookshop competition is Monday April 7.

The 2014 National Architecture Conference will be held at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre from May 8 to 10.

For further information on the competition go to use http://wp.architecture.com.au/making/news/.