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stabs at cultural architecture since Jørn
Utzon's Sydney Opera House—was
frequently uncertain, even beleaguered.
The dramas that inevitably accompany a
project of this magnitude, however, are a
distant memory in the face of the sparkling,
glass-walled result.
One has learned to expect nothing less
from SANAA's Pritzker Prize-winning part-
ners Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.
Under their leadership the practice has
produced a litany of landmark works. Yet
even among a group that includes the New
Art Museum in Manhattan, the Louvre-
Lens in France, and the Factory Building
on the Vitra Campus in Germany, Sydney
Modern Project stands as one of SANAA's
ew to the local landscape but
long in the making, the $344
million, recently arrived Sydney
Modern Project, a sprawling
cultural campus overlooking
Sydney Harbour, has captured
the eyes and admiration of the world.
Designed by Tokyo-based architecture
practice SANAA, this standalone extension
to the 19th-century neoclassical Art Gallery
of New South Wales marks a major capital
and cultural investment for Australia's
largest city, with $244 million funding from
the NSW government and $100 million in
private donations. It is something of an
emotional investment, as well, given that
the road to the project—one of the biggest
Above: The Tank space in the Art Gallery of New South Wales' new SANAA-designed building, 2022, photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Jenni Carter
50 DIGS.NET
| 5.19.23
