As it approaches its 150th anniversary in 2021, the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) is undertaking a major expansion, the Sydney Modern Project, which will transform one of Australia’s flagship art museums. The project will bring together art, architecture and landscape with a public art garden and landscape.
With construction underway and scheduled for completion in late 2022, the $344m (AUD) transformation includes the development of a new standalone building designed by SANAA. It will be connected to the existing Gallery building via an outdoor public art garden accessible 24/7, creating an onsite civic campus overlooking Sydney Harbour. The Sydney Modern Project will also give prominence to art by indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, as well as revitalising the Gallery’s existing building with its signature collection of Australian art.
AGNSW is located in the heart of Sydney’s eastern cultural precinct, adjacent to the Royal Botanic Garden and overlooking Sydney Harbour. The new building will sit in contrast to the gallery’s 19th Century neoclassical building, with a public art garden connecting the two. Light, transparent and open to its surroundings, SANAA’s building responds to the site’s topography with a series of pavilions that cascade down towards Woolloomooloo Bay with impressive views over Sydney Harbour. The new building will almost double AGNSW’s total exhibition space, from 9,000 to 16,000 sq m and will feature galleries specifically designed to accommodate art of the 21st Century.
The gallery is setting a new benchmark for cultural institutions as the first public art museum in Australia to achieve the highest environmental standard for design. The Green Building Council of Australia has awarded the Sydney Modern Project a six-star Green Star design rating. This ‘world leadership’ rating is a testament to the gallery’s commitment to sustainability and SANAA’s innovative design. Sustainability initiatives include water efficiency and rainwater harvesting, solar panels and green roofs.
In the building, works by indigenous Australian artists will be the first to be encountered by visitors as they enter, installed in a dedicated 960 sq m. Works from the gallery’s internationally significant permanent collection will also be displayed as part of the curatorial narrative across the entire campus.
The new building will incorporate a vast, dramatic, columned underground art space repurposed from a decommissioned WWII naval oil tank that will display large-scale contemporary works. The 2,200 sq m gallery, with seven-metre high ceilings, will be used for specially commissioned installations and site-specific performances, providing public access to this unique space for the first time.
Other spaces in the new building will include a 1,300 sq m major exhibition gallery with five and a half metre high ceilings to host national and international shows and a 1,160 sq m column-free contemporary gallery with five and a half metre high ceilings and a glazed facade looking out to Woolloomooloo Bay; purpose-built learning and participation studios for younger audiences, school programmes and a variety of public programmes, including a dedicated studio for creating multimedia works. Additionally, flexible spaces to support public programmes, including performance and lectures. Smaller galleries, including a project gallery and a suite of spaces for multimedia works. Finally, integrated indoor and outdoor spaces, including accessible landscaped rooftop art terraces and courtyards, as well as the art garden and civic plaza.
The Sydney Modern Project is the largest government and philanthropic partnership of its kind to be achieved to date in the arts in Australia. The NSW Government, as part of its COVID-19 response, extended construction hours for significant infrastructure projects so work could continue safely; this has helped ensure the construction of the Gallery’s new standalone building remains on schedule for late 2022 despite the pandemic.