A major expansion for the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), dubbed the Sydney Modern Project, is currently under construction in the heart of Sydney’s eastern cultural precinct.
As part of the $344 million project, a new standalone building, designed by SANAA, will be built and connected to the existing Gallery building by an outdoor public art garden. The garden will be accessible 24/7, creating a civic campus on its site overlooking Sydney Harbor.
The new building will sit in contrast to the Gallery’s 19th-century Neo-classical building. SANAA’s building will be light, transparent, and open to its surroundings, responding to the site’s topography with a series of pavilions that cascade down towards Woolloomooloo Bay. The building will feature galleries specifically designed to accommodate art of the 21st century and will almost double AGNSW’s total exhibition space from 97,000 sf to 172,000-sf.
Lower level 1.
Visitors to the new building will be met with works by Indigenous artists installed in a dedicated 10,333-sf gallery. Works from the Gallery’s internationally significant permanent collection will also be displayed. Large scale contemporary works will be displayed in a vast, columned underground art space repurposed from a decommissioned WWII naval oil tank. The space’s 23,700-sf gallery will 23-foot-high ceilings will be used for special commissioned installations and site-specific performances, providing public access to the unique space for the first time.
View from the entrance pavilion.
Other spaces in the new building will include:
· A 13,993-sf major exhibition gallery with 18-foot-high ceilings to host national and international shows
· A 12,486-sf column-free contemporary gallery with 18-foot-high ceilings and a glazed facade looking out to Woolloomooloo Bay
· Purpose-built learning and participation studios for younger audiences, school programs, and a variety of public programs, including a dedicated studio for creating multimedia works
· Flexible spaces to support public programs, including performance and lectures
· Smaller galleries, including a project gallery and a suite of spaces for multimedia works
· 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 will also give prominence to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and revitalize the Gallery’s existing building. The project is slated for completion in 2022.
Oil tank gallery.
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Nov 6, 2023
Top 60 Cultural Facility Engineering Firms for 2023
KPFF, Arup, Thornton Tomasetti, Tetra Tech, and WSP head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector engineering and engineering architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes revenue from all cultural building sectors, including concert venues, art galleries, museums, performing arts centers, and public libraries.
Giants 400 | Nov 6, 2023
Top 110 Cultural Facility Architecture Firms for 2023
Populous, Gensler, HGA, DLR Group, and Quinn Evans top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes revenue from all cultural building sectors, including concert venues, art galleries, museums, performing arts centers, and public libraries.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
Top 115 Architecture Engineering Firms for 2023
Stantec, HDR, Page, HOK, and Arcadis North America top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture engineering (AE) firms for nonresidential building and multifamily housing work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
2023 Giants 400 Report: Ranking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
A record 552 AEC firms submitted data for BD+C's 2023 Giants 400 Report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2023
Top 175 Architecture Firms for 2023
Gensler, HKS, Perkins&Will, Corgan, and Perkins Eastman top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture firms for nonresidential building and multifamily housing work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Architects | Jun 6, 2023
Taking storytelling to a new level in building design, with Gensler's Bob Weis and Andy Cohen
Bob Weis, formerly the head of Disney Imagineering, was recently hired by Gensler as its Global Immersive Experience Design Leader. He joins the firm's co-CEO Andy Cohen to discuss how Gensler will focus on storytelling to connect people to its projects.
Museums | Feb 22, 2023
David Chipperfield's 'subterranean' design wins competition for National Archaeological Museum in Athens
Berlin-based David Chipperfield Architects was selected as the winner of the design competition for the new National Archaeological Museum in Athens. The project will modernize and expand the original neoclassical museum designed by Ludwig Lange and Ernst Ziller (1866-1874) with new spaces that follow the existing topography of the site. It will add approximately 20,000 sm of space to the existing museum, as well as a rooftop park that will be open to the public.
Giants 400 | Feb 9, 2023
New Giants 400 download: Get the complete at-a-glance 2022 Giants 400 rankings in Excel
See how your architecture, engineering, or construction firm stacks up against the nation's AEC Giants. For more than 45 years, the editors of Building Design+Construction have surveyed the largest AEC firms in the U.S./Canada to create the annual Giants 400 report. This year, a record 519 firms participated in the Giants 400 report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Giants 400 | Feb 1, 2023
2022 Cultural Facilities Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. cultural facilities sector
Populous, DLR Group, KPFF, Arup, and Turner Construction head BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2022 Giants 400 Report. Building types include museums, public libraries, performing arts centers, and concert venues.
Museums | Jan 18, 2023
Building memory: Why interpretive centers matter in an era of social change
The last few years have borne witness to some of the most rapid cultural shifts in our nation’s long history. If the experience has taught us anything, it is that we must find a way to keep our history in view, while also putting it in perspective.
