The Japanese firm, which is led by architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, saw off competition from 11 established studios to win the commission for the new landmark building at one of Australia's most important art galleries.
Art Gallery of New South Wales Director Dr Michael Brand said the international jury unanimously selected SANAA, an architectural firm based in Tokyo, Japan, founded twenty years ago by internationally renowned and highly respected architects – Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa. SANAA’s body of work includes art museums in Japan, France and the United States.
In 2010 Sejima and Nishizawa were awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, architecture’s highest honour. Of Sejima and Nishizawa the Pritzker Prize jury said, “The architects hold a vision of a building as a seamless whole, where the physical presence retreats and forms a sensuous background for people, objects, activities and landscapes.”
Dr Brand said SANAA has vision, expertise and a passion for art and architecture and that the Gallery was looking forward to working collaboratively with SANAA to deliver an exceptional design for the Gallery’s ambitious and transformative project.
“The SANAA concept is at once subtle and spectacular in its design. It responds to and respects the extraordinary beauty of the competition site through a series of pavilions that reach out to the Domain, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney Harbour and Woolloomooloo."
The new building will take over two sites to the north of the existing Art Gallery NSW building – one that overlooks a motorway and one currently occupied by second world war oil tanks.
Set to open in 2021, in time for the institution's 150th anniversary celebrations, the structure is envisioned as a series of pavilions that cascade towards Sydney Harbour and frame a new public plaza. The competition organisers said;
"The subtle profile of the pavilions complements and preserves the dignity of the existing gallery building, creating spaces to bring people together and foster a sense of community, imagination and openness," and they added "The concept looks towards the future, thinking about how audiences will experience art in Sydney as we transform the gallery for the 21st century."
The expanded facility will more than double exhibition space for the gallery's permanent collection, which includes contemporary art from Australia and abroad, historical art from the Asian Pacific region, and Aboriginal art and artefacts. It will also create temporary exhibition space, education rooms, an expansive research archive, and cafe and restaurant facilities.
The winner was selected by a jury including Art Gallery NSW director Michael Brand, and architects Toshiko Mori, Glenn Murcutt and Juhani Pallasmaa.
Sejima and Nishizawa will now spend 12 months developing a detailed design, with the aim to submit a planning application in mid 2016.
