SANAA’s Sydney Modern Project set to transform The Art Gallery of New South Wales

Scheduled for completion in late 2022, The Sydney Modern Project will transform The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), one of Australia’s flagship art museums. The $344 million (AUD) project features at its core a new standalone building by Pritzker Prize-winning architects SANAA. The new building will sit in contrast to the Gallery’s main 19th-century neo-classical building, forming in the interstitial space a new outdoor public garden with views over Sydney Harbour.

Light and open to its surroundings, the proposed building responds to the site’s topography with a series of pavilions that cascade down the hill towards Woolloomooloo Bay and feature spectacular views over Sydney Harbour. The new space will double the AGNSW’s total exhibition area from 9,000 sqm to 16,000 sqm and feature gallery spaces designed to accommodate art of the 21st century.

The new gallery spaces include a vast underground art space repurposed from a decommissioned WWII naval oil tank that will display large-scale contemporary works, along with a 1,300 sqm (13,993 sq ft) major exhibition gallery with 5.5 (18 ft) ceilings to host national and international shows and a 1,160 sqm (12,486 sq ft) column-free contemporary gallery with 5.5 meter high (18 ft) ceilings and a glazed façade looking out to Woolloomooloo Bay.

Other programmatic elements include flexible spaces to support public programmes, including performances and lectures, purpose-built learning studios for younger audiences, smaller galleries and integrated indoor and outdoor spaces, including accessible landscaped rooftop art terraces and courtyards, as well as the art garden and civic plaza.

The project will also give prominence to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art.  In the SANAA-designed building, works by Indigenous artists will be the first to be encountered by visitors as they enter, installed in a dedicated 960 sqm (10,333 sq ft) gallery. Works from the Gallery’s internationally significant permanent collection will also be displayed as part of the curatorial narrative across the entire campus, celebrating Australia’s enduring cultural heritage and its myriad contemporary expressions.

Sustainability initiative will be present throughout, including water efficiency and rainwater harvesting, solar panels and green roofs. Setting a new benchmark, The Green Building Council of Australia has awarded The Sydney Modern Project a 6-star Green Star design rating. It is the first public art museum in Australia to achieve this highest environmental standard for design.