ARM Architecture has delivered a new gallery exhibition space and a children’s play space as part of the $250 million National Museum of Australia (NMA) Masterplan of 2019. At $34 million, the revitalised gallery exhibition and play spaces represent the Museum’s largest redevelopment since it opened its doors in 2001.
Spread across 2,500sqm, the newest redevelopment of the renowned social history museum follows ARM’s initial building design in 1997 and subsequent extensions over the past 20 years including the addition of a café and workplace in 2013, and forecourt in 2017. It is also the latest stage delivered in ARM’s renewed 2017 Masterplan, which is set to double the size of the Museum precinct by 2030.
Designed by American firm Local Projects, the group responsible for delivering the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York, NMA’s main exhibition space is based on the ARM Masterplan, with the design dramatically opening up the interior volumes to improve the layout and wayfinding.
The latest redevelopment delivers NMA’s largest gallery space to date, The Great Southern Land, as well as the Tim and Gina Fairfax Discovery Centre, an immersive play space for children. Integrating innovation and technology, these two interactive spaces make way for 2000 traditional and digital objects to be displayed.
“The new exhibition design now realises the original intent for the Museum, with the layout leaving room for the form of the building to be seen and experienced. The design now allows for spectacular views over Canberra, while the Discovery Centre opens a part of the museum not previously accessed,” says ARM founding director and NMA’s original architect, Howard Raggatt.
“The redevelopment fulfils a key step in the overall vision for the Masterplan and we look forward to the unveiling of remaining stages over the coming years.”
NMA director Mathew Trinca said, “The way the museum has changed and developed over time has kept pace with the changes we’ve seen in Australian life. We’re a different Australia now than we were 20 years ago, and we’re a different Museum now than we were when we opened in 2001.”
Observing that NMA represented the many and untold past, current and emerging stories of Australia as a nation, ARM project architect Jessica Heald said that it was a near impossible task to represent the identity of the country as a whole.
“However, the design for NMA actively engages with this idea of complex and tangled histories.”
The Great Southern Land and Tim and Gina Fairfax Discovery Centre are now open to the public.
Images: Anne Stroud Photography
