MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

Sydney's newest landmark is an arts space that sheds light on Aboriginal culture and Asian art to a greater degree than ever seen before in Australia

- Zabrina Lo

When the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Art Gallery of NSW) finally opened its doors in December 2022 after a transformation project that took ten years to plan and build, Sydney Harbour had a new landmark: a modern, sleek building with white frames, glass walls and a glass atrium, which stands out from the museum’s existing 19th-century, sand-coloured, neo-classical structure. This new North Building is part of the A$344-million-dollar Sydney Modern Project, the city’s biggest cultural development project since the Sydney Opera House opened 50 years ago.

The expansion has almost doubled the size of the museum; the centerpiece of the Sydney Modern Project is a new standalone building, designed by Japanese architects and founders of Sanaa Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, which is connected to the art museum’s original building by a public art garden. The new building also includes an abandoned Second World War naval fuel tank that was repurposed as a subterranean gallery on the lowest level of the building.