The Art Gallery of New South Wales today (3 September 2014) announced the jury for the national and international architectural competition as part of its Sydney Modern vision to significantly extend its contribution to the culture, social life and economy of Sydney as Australia’s leading global city.

Gallery Director, Dr Michael Brand, said announcing the jury and commencing the national and international competition process was a key milestone in the Sydney Modern Project. ‘We are seeking an architectural practice with extraordinary design skills and a matching sensitivity to the historical and cultural significance of our site to help us deliver our vision,’ Dr Brand said.

At the completion of the competition process an architectural practice will work with the Gallery to create an extraordinary new environment for people and art for the benefit of all stakeholders.

Mr Guido Belgiorno-Nettis AM, President of the Gallery’s Board of Trustees, said the jury members are internationally renowned leaders in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, cultural leadership and curatorship. 'The Gallery is very honoured such esteemed jurists have agreed to play a key role in the realisation of our vision.’

The jury members are:

• Dr Michael Brand (Chair) Director, Art Gallery of New South Wales
• Ms Kathryn Gustafson Internationally recognised landscape architect with over 30 years of distinguished practice with landscape architects Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (Seattle) and Gustafson Porter (London)
• Mr Michael Lynch CBE AM CEO West Kowloon Cultural District Authority
• Professor Toshiko Mori Robert P Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture Harvard University Graduate School of Design
• Professor Glenn Murcutt AO Internationally acclaimed Australian architect and recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2002
• Professor Juhani Pallasmaa Architect, professor emeritus and widely published writer
• Ms Hetti Perkins Member of the Eastern Arrernte and Kalkadoon Aboriginal communities and internationally acclaimed curator, filmmaker and author

Professor Murcutt stated about the Sydney Modern Project competition: 'Any work of architecture that has been realised – or any work of architecture that has the potential to exist – is there to be discovered and therefore architecture must be for me a response to the conditions and not an imposition.’

Landscape architect Ms Kathryn Gustafson said the project presents a unique opportunity for Sydney to connect the extraordinary Royal Botanic Gardens, vibrant central business district and surrounding neighbourhoods to create an oasis of art and nature.

The national and international competition is a two-stage invited process. Immediate Past President of the Australian Institute of Architects Mr Paul Berkemeier said architectural competitions are one of the best ways of developing outstanding design solutions.

'The Gallery has approached Sydney Modern Project competition in an exemplary way. They have sought the best advice from the very beginning; working with realistic timeframes and budgets, respecting the quantum amount of work that design teams need to commit to developing their schemes and recognising the creative effort and intellectual property embedded in the proposals. I am confident that the competition will deliver an inspiring winner,’ Mr Berkemeier said.

Dr Brand said the jury will select up to twelve architectural practices – to be announced in October – who will be invited to submit a high-level concept design. The jury will then select up to five finalists to proceed to the second stage of the competition in early 2015.

Based on these final submissions, in April the jury will select an architectural practice who will work closely with the Gallery and stakeholders to develop a detailed design.

The national and international design competition, brief development and feasibility studies are being funded through a $10.8 million contribution from the NSW Government, provided as part of the 2014–15 State Budget.

Jury members

Dr Michael Brand (Chair)
Michael Brand joined the Art Gallery of New South Wales as Director in June 2012. Prior to his appointment, he was consulting director of the new Aga Khan Museum under construction in Toronto and opening in September 2014. Previous positions include: director of the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles (2005–10); director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond (2000–05); assistant director of the curatorial and collection development at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane (1996–2000); curator of Asian art at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra (1988–96); and co-director of the Smithsonian Institution Mughal Garden Project in Lahore, Pakistan (1988–93). Dr Brand currently serves on the Visiting Committee of the Harvard Art Museums, the International Advisory Board of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and the Board of Trustees of the Australian Institute of Art History, and is a member of the Asia Society Australia Advisory Council.

Ms Kathryn Gustafson PLA, ASLA, HonRDI
Kathryn Gustafson brings over 30 years of distinguished practice to landscape architects Gustafson Guthrie Nichol. Her early work includes a widely known series of projects in France, and recently acclaimed projects are located throughout Europe, North America, Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. These civic projects range in scale from a tenth of an acre to 750 acres. Kathryn’s diverse portfolio is recognised for intuitively incorporating those fundamental sculptural and sensual qualities that enhance the human experience of landscape. As a partner in two offices, Gustafson Guthrie Nichol in Seattle and Gustafson Porter in London, she continues to evolve her design approach into new contexts of time, culture, and nature.

Mr Michael Lynch CBE, AM
Michael Lynch joined the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority in July 2011. He had a long and distinguished career in arts administration, serving as chief executive of the Sydney Opera House from 1998 to 2002, and then leading the rejuvenation of London’s Southbank Centre where he was chief executive from 2002 to 2009. He was a director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and a member of the Board of Film Victoria and the Myer Foundation while in Australia from 2009 to 2011. Mr Lynch was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List of 2001 for services to arts administration and as an advocate for Australian cultural life. In 2008, he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the Birthday Honours for his services to the arts.

Professor Toshiko Mori
Toshiko Mori is the Robert P Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she was the Chair of the Department of Architecture from 2002–08. She is the principal and founder of Toshiko Mori Architect and is a founder of VisionArc, a think-tank promoting global dialogue for a sustainable future, and Paracoustica, a non-profit to promote music in underserved communities. Her firm’s recent work includes the Cambridge Headquarters for the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, the School of Environmental Research & Technology for Brown University, and structures in the Hudson Park and Boulevard in New York City. Her work was represented in the last two Venice Architecture Biennales. Professor Mori has been honoured with countless awards, including the Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and with the American Institute of Architects’ New York Chapter Medal of Honor. She is a Master Jury Member for the 12th Cycle of Aga Khan and is the head North American juror for the 2013–14 Holcim Awards cycle. She is an advisor to A+U Magazine and a member of the Global Agenda Council on Smart Cities. As a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Design & Innovation, she recently organised a panel on Innovation Urbanism in Tokyo and New York City.

Professor Glenn Murcutt AO
The internationally acclaimed Australian architect Glenn Murcutt received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2002. He and his work have also been recognised with numerous other awards including the Alvar Aalto Medal in 1992, the Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1992, the ‘Green Pin’ International Award for Architecture and Ecology, Denmark in 1999, and the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 2009. He is an honorary member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Glenn Murcutt studied architecture at the Sydney Technical College of the University of New South Wales. In 1969, he established his own firm. Since then – while undertaking all the design-related tasks himself – he has created an impressive oeuvre of environmentally conscious buildings of exceptional quality and vision. Glenn Murcutt has shared his vision with countless students around the world. He holds a professorship at the University of New South Wales, and has been a visiting professor at schools such as Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Helsinki University of Technology, Aarhus University and many others.

Professor Juhani Pallasmaa
Juhani Pallasmaa, architect, professor emeritus, worked in urban, architectural, exhibition, product and graphic design from the 1960s until 2012. He has held several positions, such as Professor and Dean at the Helsinki University of Technology, Director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture, and Rector of the Institute of Industrial Arts, all in Helsinki. He has been Visiting Professor in several notable universities in the United States, and lectured around the world. Pallasmaa has published 45 books, and received several Finnish and foreign prizes and honours for architecture and criticism. He was selected as a member of the Pritzker Architecture Prize Jury for 2008–14.

Ms Hetti Perkins
Hetti Perkins is a member of the Eastern Arrernte and Kalkadoon Aboriginal communities and has worked with Indigenous visual art for 25 years. She is currently creative director of Corroboree Sydney (inaugurated in November 2013) and curatorial advisor to the City of Sydney on Eora journey. Hetti began working with Indigenous art at the Sydney gallery of Aboriginal Arts Australia and at Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative and until recently was the senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Among the major exhibitions she curated were Half light: portraits from Black Australia (2008); Crossing country: the alchemy of western Arnhem Land art (2004); and Papunya Tula: genesis and genius for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festival. In 1997, she co-curated (with Brenda L Croft) the exhibition fluent, to represent Australia at the 47th Venice Biennale. With Croft and Philippe Peltier, she co-curated the Australian Indigenous Art Commission for the Musée du quai Branly in Paris (2006). Hetti has edited a number of publications, including Tradition today: Indigenous art in Australia (2004) and One sun, one moon: Aboriginal art in Australia (2007). She is a former chair of the Charlie Perkins Trust for Children and Students, which she founded; a trustee of the Michael Riley Foundation; a member of the advisory group of Jarjum College, Redfern and of the Barangaroo Arts & Cultural Panel; a former board member of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory; and currently a board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia.