Sydney Modern opens in Australia

(Image credit: Iwan Baan)

published 1 December 2022

Sydney Modern opens its doors this week, following its contemporary and considered transformation by Japanese architecture studio SANAA. In an in-depth story published in our November 2022 issue, curator Kate Goodwin reported from the site, offering a sneak peek at what the Art Gallery of New South Wales has been up to – namely, preparing for the launch of its brand-new Sydney Modern wing, which is now complete and ready to receive its first, art-loving guests.

Sydney Modern opens

Sydney Modern is, in the words of director Michael Brand, ‘a transformation and expansion’, adding a new wing and extensive landscaping, while updating the gallery's old structure, Goodwin wrote. The architects flagged the connection the new complex of volumes offers to its surrounding city and nature. ‘It is a building that breathes with the city, the parkland and the beautiful harbour,’ SANAA’s Kazuyo Sejima.

Inside, indoors and outdoors blend at many points, following SANAA's signature architecture approach of lightness and openness. Large openings and swathes of glass underscore this, helping connect the galleries with their context and crafting a unique site-specific approach. Meanwhile, the building's programme is updated too. There is a relocated Yiribana Gallery on the ground level, which places the deep continuity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture at the heart of the new building; and the extraordinary new Tank space, which will become the home of many future commissions.

The new expansion ‘is more than just a treasure house with collections’, Brand said to Goodwin. SANAA's ethereal addition, with its well-calculated architectural space and civic dimension, promises exciting times and immersive art experiences for years to come.

Sydney Modern opens, here seeing aerial shot

Sydney Modern opens seen here with glass roof

dark gallery with columns at Sydney Modern opens

Sydney Modern opens to the public on 3 December 2022

artgallery.nsw.gov.au (opens in new tab)

sanaa.co.jp (opens in new tab)

Our sneak preview into Sydney Modern was included in the November 2022 Art Special Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today (opens in new tab)

TOPICS

Australia Museum architecture

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020).