Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Woods Bagot has won an international competition for the design of the Adelaide Contemporary art gallery in Australia. Offering a “dynamic people-friendly” space for Adelaide’s North Terrace, the scheme features a dramatic “Super Lobby,” sky galleries, and a suspended rooftop garden.
The Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Woods Bagot scheme was chosen from a strong design field including submissions by Adjaye Associates, Bjarke Ingels Group, David Chipperfield Architects, and HASSELL. The announcement follows on from our publication of details on the shortlisted schemes in May 2018.
Situated on the site of a former hospital, the scheme seeks to become one of the most significant new art destinations in modern Australia, with organisers Malcolm Reading hoping the gallery will offer a “national focal point for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and cultures…and the opportunity to unlock the hidden treasures of South Australia’s State collections”
The designers envision the scheme as a “charismatic soft beacon on North Terrace” reflecting the sky by day, and the glow of galleries at night. The visual connection formed between inside and outside, even beyond opening hours, speaks to an aim of giving art back to the city, resonating with Adelaide’s famous festival culture.
Once enticed inside, visitors are treated to dynamic, multipurpose spaces and a flexible gallery configuration organized on a nine-square model. Outside, a suspended roof garden displays the planting of a pre-colonised South Australian landscape, forming a connection between contemporary architecture and cultural history.
DS+R and our design partners at Woods Bagot are thrilled to be selected by the competition jury to design Adelaide Contemporary. The project will be a uniquely Adelaide but with a global reach, celebrating the city’s world-class cultural offerings – from its vibrant festival scene to its diverse art collection, distinguished by its outstanding holdings of Aboriginal work. Our approach will coalesce museum, city and gardens into a new arts centre that welcomes everyone, that provides a curatorial tool box which anticipates the future of culture.
-Charles Renfro, Partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro
The competition for the scheme’s design attracted over 100 submissions, formed of over 500 individual firms from five continents. Information on the finalists and winning scheme can be found in our previous article on the competition, and the official results page here. The full list of runner-up teams was as follows:
- Adjaye Associates and BVN
- BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group and JPE Design Studio
- David Chipperfield Architects and SJB Architects
- HASSELL and SO-IL
- Khai Liew, Office of Ryue Nishizawa and Durbach Block Jaggers
News via: Malcolm Reading
