Architecture Australia

SANAA

Built on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation

Given the stature of SANAA, the significance of the Art Gallery of New South Wales in the nation’s cultural life, and the long wait for the institution’s much-needed expansion, the opening of Sydney Modern has drawn the attention of design and mainstream news media locally and abroad. Much of this coverage has been frothy and parochial. Readers of Dezeen differed, with some calling it confused and diluted, while others wondered whether SANAA’s vision had been compromised.1 (This is not the case. In interviews, both SANAA and the architects in association, Architectus, said they believe that the design process, including value management interventions, led to a tighter and better outcome.) There are also longer, balanced, comprehensive assessments – Julian Worrall’s elegant review for The Guardian, for example.2 In light of the redundancy of yet another fulsome account, I want to focus on four key moments of the building: the first, conceptual; the second, analogous; the third, found; and the fourth, operational.

So, first, the concept of overlapping, stacked boxes and terraces descending from

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