Art Gallery of NSW – Sydney Modern Project
Art Gallery of NSW – Sydney Modern Project
Client:
Art Gallery of NSW
Location:
Sydney, NSW
Status:
Construction
In Association:
SANAA
Contact Person:
Luke Johnson
Architectus is working on the Art Gallery of NSW Expansion – Sydney Modern Project as Executive Architect in support of Pritzker prize-winning Japanese architectural and design firm SANAA. SANAA was awarded the project following a two-stage invitational design competition.
The Sydney Modern Project will create a global art museum for a global city with new and expanded spaces for art, live performance and film along with spaces to study and participate in cultural programs.
Landmark Sydney Modern Project building
Designed by SANAA, the new building will create expansive indoor and outdoor spaces and significantly increase the Gallery’s capacity to share art with the many audiences it serves by day and by night.
Revitalised existing building
To ensure the existing building can continue to serve and inspire audiences throughout the 21st century, significant enhancements will be made including the reintroduction of natural daylight to the original 19th century galleries.
Cultural plaza
A new plaza linking the expanded Gallery with the Royal Botanic Gardens will be a place to experience and engage with art, live performance and other events within landscaped outdoor spaces.
Art collection display
- More than double the space will be created for displaying the Gallery’s collection to the public:
- Double the area for the display of Australian art
- The nation’s most innovative display of Aboriginal art and culture including multimedia access to the artists and their stories
- The nation’s most comprehensive display of modern and contemporary art – both Australian and international – from the past 50 years
- Specialised spaces for works on paper, photographs and the moving image with flexible spaces for new and emerging art forms
- Expanded spaces for historical works of art from the Asia Pacific region.
Temporary exhibitions
A second, larger state-of-the art space to attract a greater number of major national and international exhibitions to Sydney.
National Art Archive
A creative hub for research, scholarship and the exchange of ideas giving access to the Gallery’s unparalleled archives of Australian art.
Lifelong learning
Multiple venues for learning including lecture theatres, creative studios and artist workshop spaces with digital capabilities to expand online engagement with regional communities and other off-site audiences.
Social spaces
New cafe and restaurant facilities and a lounge for Gallery members along with special event spaces and conference facilities for Gallery and commercial purposes—all with expansive views of Sydney Harbour and the Domain.
A sustainable art museum
The incorporation of the latest building and operational technology to allow the Gallery to achieve maximum possible environmental and economic sustainability.
The concept
The concept responds to the extraordinary beauty of the site with a series of pavilions that reach out to the Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens, as they cascade towards Sydney Harbour and Woolloomooloo. The subtle profile of the pavilions complements and preserves the dignity of the existing Gallery building, creating spaces to bring people together and foster a sense of community, imagination and openness.
The project site
The Sydney Modern Project will transform the underutilised site to north of the existing Art Gallery of NSW, comprising two grassed concrete platforms – one over the Cahill Expressway and the other over disused World War II oil tanks – and help revitalise the city’s eastern cultural precinct. By building to the north the project will preserve one of the two 19th-century facades, protect heritage trees, and retain the Domain’s much-used playing fields.
The project will be undertaken as a State Significant Development.
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Client:
Art Gallery of NSW
Location:
Sydney, NSW
Status:
Construction
In Association:
SANAA
Contact Person:
Luke Johnson
