Bundanon

2022 National Architecture Awards: The Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture

Bundanon | Kerstin Thompson Architects

Traditional Land Owners: The Wodi Wodi and the Yuin peoples of the Dharawal country

Gifted to the Australian people by Arthur and Yvonne Boyd, Bundanon’s purpose is to foster an appreciation and understanding of art and environment.

The new works enable expanded programming towards this and open up this extraordinary place and its $46.5M collection to the public with an art museum of national significance. Developed as a rich ensemble of distinct periods in Bundanon’s evolution, the new site wide works are equal parts subtle and dramatic, preserving and transforming. They incorporate radical solutions to a changing climate with a net zero energy target.

Defendable against fire and flood which for millennia have shaped this landscape, The Art Museum, embedded in the landscape, is resistant to fire. By contrast The Bridge for creative learning is resilient, and allows flood waters to flow through it unimpeded. In the spirit of painting en plein air climate and its vicissitudes are felt and central to the experience.

JURY CITATION

In what is becoming a reference for the holy grail of Australian architecture, Bundanon adds to the next chapter of the Arthur and Yvonne Boyd estate. With a vision of supporting art, visitation, accommodation and design education, the new museum and “bridge” respond to the site’s natural and culturallandscape with practicality and instinct.

Bundanon’s relationship with the built environment and its landscape reference the ideals of Boyd’s mantra that no man canown a landscape. As the visitor weaves their way up from the remote carpark to the arrival hall, views and vistas suggest what is to come.

A mature, restrained architectural approach to the design allows the landscape to remain the primary focus of this work. From bunkering the art museum into the hillside to bridging the valley in the most light-hearted and delicate way, the composition is a delight to the senses, respecting Boyd’s ideology and skilfully embroidering-in Kerstin Thompson Architects’ narrative and vision.

Like the original studio and homestead, and the Boyd Education Centre (Murcutt, Lewin and Lark, 1999) this next iteration of the Boyd estate is to be celebrated as a progressive and multi-layered dialogue between generations of architects. Bundanon is a layered work that has been sensitively handled and respects the original vision for the estate.

Client perspective:
How does the design benefit the way you live/work/play/operate/educate/other?

Bundanon is the only national Art Museum in regional Australia. Bundanon’s history and legacy of the Boyd family is ever present. Today it’s many things: an art museum embedded in the landscape; wildlife sanctuary on 1000hectares; and a gift to Australians. This new chapter invites artists and visitors – to respond to the collection and surrounding landscape.
Bushfire resilience and flood mitigation were driving forces in the design. With the current climate crisis, it was vital net-zero energy targets were actively sought.
This expansion will widen public access, deepen engagement in creativity and the landscape, and position Bundanon nationally and internationally.

Practice team:

Sam Ellis, Architecture Workshop, Architectural Graduate
Nigel James, Architecture Workshop, Architect
Christopher Kelly, Architecture Workshop, Architect
Tamsin O’Reilly, Visualisation Specialist
Thomas Huntingford, Student of Architecture
Darcy Dunn, Graduate of Architecture
Margot Watson, Graduate of Architecture
Audrey Shaw, Graduate of Architecture
Henry Russell, Project Architect
Kelsey Jovanou, Project Architect
Tobias Pond, Senior Associate, Architect
Claire Humphreys, Associate Architect
Michael Archibald, Senior Architect
Lloyd McCathie, Project Lead
Kelley Mackay, Director of Projects
Kerstin Thompson, Design Architect

Builder:

ADCO Constructions

Construction team:

Maat Studio, Wayfinding/Signage Consultant
UFD, Food Services / Kitchen Consultant
Renzo Tonin, Acoustic Consultant
Gaia Research, Flora and Fauna Consultant
Suzanne Feary, Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
EIS, Soil Contamination
Advanced Bushfire Performance Solutions, Bushfire Assessor
Inclusive Places, Access Consultant
Steve Watson & Partners, BCA Consultant
PSM, Flood Analyst
Woodlots & Wetlands, Hydrologist
JK Geotechnical, Geotechnical Engineer
Steensen Varming, Lighting Consultant
Wraight & Associates with Craig Burton, Landscape Architect
WT Partnership, Quantity Surveyor
Innova Services, Fire Engineer
Warren Smith and Partners, Fire Services Engineer
Atelier Ten, ESD Consultant
Warren Smith and Partners, Hydraulics / Fire Services
Steensen Varming, Services Engineers
Irwin Consult (WSP), Structural / Civil Engineers
Locale Consulting, Planning Consultant
Capital Project Control, Project Manager
Ethos Urban, Project Manager