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Client Name

Art Gallery of NSW

Date

2002

Project Description

The Art Gallery of NSW is the pre-eminent State Gallery located in the Domain in Sydney. It consisted of a significant heritage building plus two modern extensions undertaken in 1972 and 1988.

The Gallery required a major extension to their Asian gallery to house their growing Asian collections and to reflect Australia’s position in the Asia Pacific region. The new Asian gallery extension was intended to provide an architectural feature for the building complex. The Gallery also required a major extension and refurbishment to their conservation facilities, minor extension and reconfiguration of their administration offices, a new restaurant and functions space, an upgrade to their café and a reconfigured gallery on the floor above the entrance.

The substantial additions and reconfigurations to the Gallery building complex required a revision to the public and back-of-house circulation.

The budget for the project was initially $15 million, with additional funds added for the café upgrade.

The design was required to be identifiably modern compared to the previous two extensions, to reflect the Asian focus of the new extension yet still respond and relate to the original heritage building and the two previous extensions in terms of materials and massing.

The project was undertaken in three discrete phases, with a hold after each phase while the Gallery raised funds for the subsequent phase. Consequently the project extended from 1996 through to late 2003.

The architects, Johnson Pilton Walker, were commended in the 2004 Royal Australian Institute of Architects’ Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Building and won the NSW Public and Commercial Buildings Architecture Award for the design. The builder, St Hilliers, has been awarded the 2003 MBA NSW Award for Construction Excellence.

Our Role

RPA worked closely with senior Gallery staff to scope the project within the intended project budget, and to develop a concept for the location of the project spaces and a revised circulation.

RPA procured the project team and managed the design team initially to sketch-design and DA submission stage, then through two re-starts (design development/documentation followed by construction). RPA also managed the construction procurement process through a prequalification stage then a select tender stage. As superintendent for the construction contract we administered the contract through to completion and defects rectification.

During this process RPA delivered the project to the initial budget despite the extended and disrupted duration of the project.

Project value: $15.5 million