McGregor Coxall has been engaged to lead the landscape renewal of the National Gallery of Australia’s sculpture garden.
McGregor Coxall will develop a landscape design framework in collaboration with the Traditional Custodians of the Canberra region for the National Gallery’s iconic sculpture garden and landscape setting situated within Canberra’s National Parliamentary Triangle. The framework will include measures that aim to strengthen connectivity between distinct areas within the Gallery’s surrounds, creating a series of flexible, resilient public spaces and infrastructure suitable for a range of events, commemorative services, cultural appreciation, and visitor activities.
McGregor Coxall’s framework will explore the relationship between cultural, heritage, and ecological management, developing a holistic, multidisciplinary approach that ensures architectural integrity is maintained while achieving lasting social, economic, and environmental legacies for the site.
This is the second time McGregor Coxall is collaborating with the National Gallery, having previously worked from 2005 to 2010 to design the public spaces surrounding the Gallery’s new entrance and James Turrell’s Skyspace Within Without, culminating in the opening of the Australian Garden in 2010, all in collaboration with PTW Architects.
“The National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden is one of Australia’s most significant cultural landscapes. With careful consideration to National Gallery’s inclusion on the National Heritage List, we must ensure its future direction pays respect to its past, is Grounded in First Nations knowledge, and demonstrates national leadership by advancing representation of First Nations culture and women artists,” said project manager and landscape architecture associate for McGregor Coxall’s Sydney Studio, Fraser Halliday.
“Our approach will seek to enhance positive cultural, environmental and social outcomes for the National Gallery, creating a functional, aesthetic, and climate-resilient landscape that complements prestigious art commissions for the public to explore and appreciate.”
