LIKE ALL THE GREAT ART GALLERIES in great cities of the world, Sydney’s latest cultural destination couldn’t exist anywhere else. The Art Gallery of NSW’s new building, opened to the public in December just north of the original building – itself revitalised with every exhibition space reimagined – is deeply rooted in its place: on Gadigal Country overlooking Sydney Harbour. “We want to be as MoMA is to New York or the Louvre is to Paris,” gallery director Michael Brand told Australian Traveller upon its launch. “I think, and hope, that’s what we’ve achieved with the historical building and new building. It’s very Sydney and a unique experience for the city.”
The Sydney Modern Project has been a decade in the making. The biggest cultural development undertaken in NSW since the sails of the Sydney Opera House took shape on the other side of the Royal Botanic Garden 50 years ago, the vision for an expanded gallery was launched in March 2013. In 2015, Pritzker Prize-winning architecture practice SANAA won an international
