Competition to design regional art gallery

The Greater Shepparton Council has announced a design competition for the new Shepparton Art Museum (SAM).

The competition seeks an outstanding example of best-practice contemporary museum architecture for the regional Victorian town of Shepparton, located 190 kilometres north of Melbourne.

In January 2015, the Greater Shepparton Council commissioned a feasibility study, prepared by tourism and business development consultants Simon McArthur and Associates, that looked into the benefits of a new facility for SAM. The study included architectural visualizations produced by Minifie van Schaik.

A key finding of the study was that the existing museum was constrained by its current location away from a major thoroughfare. The study recommended the museum be relocated to a new site on the Goulburn Valley Highway, which would provide a sense of arrival when approaching Shepparton from the south. The findings of the feasibility study were adopted by the council in May 2015.

The existing museum has a notable collection of ceramics as well as Indigenous art from around Australia, historic Australian paintings and a growing collection of contemporary art.

The $34.5 million new building will be located adjacent to the Victoria Park Lake in Shepparton.

A 2015 feasibility study for a new Shepparton Art Museum recommended relocating the existing museum to a site by the Goulburn Valley Highway and Victoria Park Lake.

A 2015 feasibility study for a new Shepparton Art Museum recommended relocating the existing museum to a site by the Goulburn Valley Highway and Victoria Park Lake.

Image: Greater Shepparton Council

“We want the SAM building to foster a strong sense of engagement, ownership and pride for visitors and local audiences alike,” said Rebecca Coates, director of SAM. “This is an opportunity to celebrate and enhance the rich and diverse Shepparton community, which includes the largest Aboriginal community in Victoria outside Melbourne and people from many parts of the world.”

The council is inviting expressions of interest from architects in a two-stage competition to produce a concept design for the building. In the first stage, the council is looking for a range of responses from interested architects. A seven-member jury, made up of professionals from the arts, architecture/design, academia, Indigenous architecture and related industries, will select five teams to develop concept designs in stage two of the competition.

Each shortlisted team will receive an honorarium of $7,000 and the overall winner will receive $10,000. The successful entrant will be appointed to work with the Greater Shepparton council and the museum’s stakeholders to further develop the designs.

The local, state and federal governments have each committed $10 million to the project with the remaining $4.5 million contributed by the SAM Foundation.

Expressions of interest will open on Friday 29 July and close at 4pm, 31 August 2016. To submit, click here.

Related topics

More industry news

See all
The proposed Gurrowa Place designed by NH Architecture, Kerstin Thompson Architects, 3XN Australia, and Searle × Waldron Architecture. Queen Victoria Market towers approved

The Victorian Department of Transport and Planning has approved a $1.7 billion project to create three towers adjacent to Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market.

The building’s design incorporates elements to reference both Vietnamese and Australian culture. ‘Nationally significant’ cultural museum on its way

Brimbank City Council in Melbourne’s north west has agreed to sell a parcel of land to the Vietnamese Museum of Australia, paving the way for …

Most read

Latest on site

LATEST PRODUCTS