diller scofidio + renfro and woods bagot to build adelaide art space

a team comprising new york-based studio diller scofidio + renfro and australian practice woods bagot has been chosen to create a dynamic new art space on adelaide’s north terrace. in winning the international design contest, the team held off competition from adjaye associates, bjarke ingels group, and david chipperfield architects, among others. the landmark destination will combine exhibition, research, and education spaces with a public sculpture park and community meeting place.

all images © diller scofidio + renfro and woods bagot

diller scofidio + renfro and woods bagot’s concept design reconciled the brief for a dynamic people-friendly new place with a skilfully-organized gallery, while also incorporating a performance lab, a dramatic ‘super lobby’, floating top-floor sky galleries, and a suspended rooftop garden. the garden, inspired by ‘minkunthi’, the kaurna word meaning ‘to relax’, displays the planting of a pre-colonized south australian landscape, linking the idea of the contemporary to kaurna ecological and cultural history.

the building has been designed to reflect the sky during the day

the building was described by the team in their presentation as a ‘charismatic soft beacon’ on north terrace that would reflect the sky by day and, at night, glow with galleries — allowing visitors to glimpse the art collection as they passed the building outside formal opening hours and, in this sense, ‘giving the art back to the city’.

the landmark destination will combine exhibition, research, and education spaces

‘DS+R and our design partners at woods bagot are thrilled to be selected by the competition jury to design adelaide contemporary,’ says charles renfro, partner at DS+R. ‘the project will be a uniquely adelaide but with a global reach, celebrating the city’s world-class cultural offerings – from its vibrant festival scene to its diverse art collection, distinguished by its outstanding holdings of aboriginal work. our approach will coalesce museum, city and gardens into a new arts center that welcomes everyone, that provides a curatorial tool box which anticipates the future of culture.’

the venue comprises a public sculpture park and community meeting place

the announcement follows a seven-month search for a team to design a new cultural destination on part of the former royal adelaide hospital site. the competition attracted submissions from 107 teams made up of circa 525 individual firms from five continents. see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here, including the other shortlisted proposals.

the scheme also features a suspended rooftop garden