SANAA's sydney modern project at art gallery NSW to open in december

opening this winter in sydney

the Sydney Modern Project — SAANA‘s transformation of the Art Gallery of New South Wales — announces its opening to the public on Saturday December 3rd, 2022. The sweeping project will be perched atop a magnificent site overlooking Sydney Harbor, and will take shape as an expansion of the Art Gallery, one of Australia’s pre-eminent cultural institutions.

designed by SANAA, the japanese architecture firm led by kazuyo sejima and ryue nishizawa, the work will mark the most significant cultural development to open in the city since the Sydney Opera House nearly half a century ago. The transformation will create a new art museum campus with two buildings connected by a public art garden. See designboom’s previous coverage here in which the museum’s director discusses the project as of April 2021.

a celebration of aboriginal heritage

A key aspect of the Art Gallery NSW (see here) expansion will include the celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. These collections will be showcased both in a dedicated gallery, the first to be encountered by visitors on entrance level of the new building, as well as across the entire expanded campus.

The Sydney Modern Project almost doubles exhibition space and includes a spectacular new building designed by SANAA (see here), with Australian practice Architectus (see here) as executive architect; the revitalization of its historic building by Australian architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, including a complete re-installation of the collection; extensive outdoor art experiences, and a series of major art commissions across the campus by leading international and Australian artists.

image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA
 © Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2021

Inside the art gallery nsw ‘sydney modern project’ expansion

Light, transparent and open to its surroundings, SANAA’s Art Gallery NSW expansion responds to the site’s topography with a series of art pavilions that cascade down towards the harbor. The new building expands the formal exhibition space from 9,000 to 16,000 square-meters and will feature galleries specifically designed to accommodate art of the 21st century as well as special installations in circulation spaces.

The building integrates a vast, columned underground art space, repurposed from a decommissioned World War II naval oil tank, creating a 2,200 square-meter gallery with lofty, seven meter-high ceilings for special commissions and performances.

image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA
 © Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2021

image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA
 © Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2021
image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA
 © Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2021
image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA
 © Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2021

image of the Sydney Modern Project as produced by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA
 © Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2021

project info:

project title: Sydney Modern Project at Art Gallery NSW

architecture: SANAA

location: Sydney, Australia
client: Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW)
cost: $344 million AUD (approx. $246 million USD)
status: expected completion December 2022
previous coverage: April 2021, October 2020, November 2018, November 2017, May 2015