The Greater Shepparton City Council has announced the five shortlisted practices competing to design the $34.5-million new Shepparton Art Museum (SAM).
The shortlisted practices are:
- Denton Corker Marshall
- John Wardle Architects
- Kerstin Thompson Architects
- Lyons
- MvS Architects
In July 2016, the Greater Shepparton City Council called for expressions of interest for a two-stage competition to design the new art gallery for the regional Victorian town of Shepparton, located 190 kilometres north of Melbourne.
The new art gallery, to be located on a site adjacent to Victoria Park Lake and the Goulburn Valley Highway, will replace the existing art gallery in Welsford Street.
The competition attracted 88 entrants. A seven-member jury, made up of professionals from the arts, architecture/design, academia, Indigenous architecture and related industries, assessed the entries based on three key criteria:
- design approach (50 percent) – the quality and strength of the design teams’ ideas, approach and strategy
- capacity (30 percent) – the teams’ ability to deliver architecture and landscape design of a similar scale
- experience (20 percent) – the teams’ skills, experience and qualifications.
Each shortlisted practice will receive a $7,000 honorarium to further develop its designs. The shortlisted design concepts will go on public exhibition from 16 January to 17 February 2017.
The winning entry, which will be awarded a $10,000 prize, will be announced on 27 April 2017.
The $34.5-million project is funded by local, state and federal governments, each of which has committed $10 million. The remaining $4.5 million is being contributed by the SAM Foundation.
