Commendations

Top: Entry. Above: A basement gallery.

The Art Gallery of South Australia’s extensions are intended to answer the gallery’s growth into the next century. The new wing provides a variety of galleries, a library, bookshop, café, lounge, information area and function spaces opening to a large sculpture court. A grand staircase in the main lobby connects the existing Lloyd Dumas Gallery on the first floor with temporary exhibition spaces on the lower ground level. The interior is illuminated with diffused daylight and flexible artificial lighting. Unlike the existing building, the new wing provides strong connections between key interior spaces and outdoor terraces.

The extension carefully relates to the surrounding buildings and external spaces and responds to the nature and scale of the existing buildings.

Also, the organisation and quality of the interior spaces is most impressive—particularly the light-filled, three-level entrance lobby which provides legibility, accessibility, a sense of occasion and a focus for formal and informal gatherings.

A diversity of gallery spaces have been created providing neutral settings ensuring art works are not upstaged by architecture.

The whole of the complex, with its difficult level changes, has been made accessible for the elderly and disabled. Informal verandahs and courtyards provide relief for families from the demands of the more formal gallery interiors.

The simple detailing, high quality and robust finishes ensure that this important public building will stand the test of time.

Photography John Gollings

A view of the atrium.