Built on the land of the Wodi Wodi and the Yuin peoples
Near Nowra in the Shoalhaven River valley of southern New South Wales, two properties – Riversdale and the adjoining Bundanon – were the home of artists Arthur and Yvonne Boyd. In 1993, the Boyds donated both sites, including their substantial art collection, to the Australian government and the Bundanon Trust was established. The Boyd Education Centre (BEC) – the winner of the Australian Institute of Architects’ Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Buildings in 1999, designed by Murcutt, Lewin and Lark – is on the Riversdale site and was constructed to facilitate artist-in-residence programs.
In 2016, the Trust released a masterplan prepared by Tonkin Zulaikha Greer and announced a $28.5 million expansion plan for the whole property. The announcement was greeted with a terse open letter from a number of prominent Australian architects (Brit Andresen, Richard Leplastrier, Peter Stutchbury and Lindsay Johnston) questioning the respect shown by the masterplan for the wishes of the Boyds and the vision of the BEC architects.1
The announcement progressed to an invited competition, which was endorsed by both the Australian Deborah Ely – until recently, CEO of the Bundanon Trust – believed that this site orientation was a critical part of the entrants’ briefing. She did not want the architects telling the Trust what it needed; she wanted them to understand what was needed.
