Art Gallery of NSW

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Lower level 3 of the 1988 wing of the Art Gallery’s South Building has been refurbished to accommodate the largest art museum library in Australia, including the National Art Archive, and the country’s first Children’s Art Library. The project’s aim was to refurbish this area of the Art Gallery’s original building to the same standard as the upper levels including reimagining key aspects of the Sulman Award-wining design to create a high-quality space that included a bespoke brief for the interior joinery and furniture. By continuing the gridded ceiling and extending the polished concrete floors the spaces are united architecturally with the original building. A key design strategy was the inclusion of the unused winter gardens to provide much-needed additional floor area, without an increase in the built volume. Used throughout the library and extending to the Domain Theatre foyer and Members Lounge, the colour palette of tan and green leather, light grey bouclé and rich spotted gum recalls the area’s original forests. Sustainably sourced timber was a key part of the building work. The project features key inputs from Australian designers. The specialist lighting by RDO and the bespoke furniture by Tom Fereday, developed in tandem with the architecture, makes a major contribution to the interiors. In contrast to the warmth and depth of the library design, TZG chose white steel to connect the higher spaces of the spectacular double-height reading room to the sky. Re-use of the building footprint reduced the need for demolition and new material, and the original building envelope’s thermal and moisture performance were upgraded with low energy services used where possible. The project, which accommodates the expected 25-year expansion of the library and archive, was completed on budget, and with significant added functional, educational and public improvement to the Art Gallery’s operations.