Site

The Sydney Modern Project has increased utilisation and helped reinvigorate the site to the north of the existing Art Gallery building comprising two concrete platforms – a land bridge (constructed between 1997 and 1999) over the Eastern Distributor and Cahill Expressway, and a concrete roof over two disused World War II oil tanks. The new building has been constructed primarily on top of the oil tanks and most of the land bridge remains open space with a new outdoor public art garden. The adaptive re-use of one of the tanks into a unique contemporary art space has provided public access to this significant State asset for the first time.

Historic photographs from the early 1940s onwards show the significant changes that have occurred in the local area. From construction of the oil tanks, extensive excavation through the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and The Domain for the construction of the Cahill Expressway and later the Eastern Distributor, a shift away from Woolloomooloo as a working port, through to construction of the land bridge, the project site has been at the crossroads of Sydney’s urbanisation and growth into a global city.

The new building maintains public access across the project site day and night. Following completion of the commission by Jonathan Jones in mid-2023, the public Art Garden will be accessible 24/7 incorporating landscape, public amenities, and outdoor art to create a new civic place for Sydney. Upgraded pathways and two new lifts will improve links across the precinct, better connecting Woolloomooloo with the CBD.

The Sydney Modern Project has resulted in 72% more trees than existed on the project site before construction, with the Art Gallery planting more than double the number of trees removed. Significant revitalised landscaping has used endemic ecological planting (Sydney Sandstone Woodland) and reinstated historic species associated with the ‘Governor’s Domain’, more in keeping with the original flora of the site.

The new building’s external façades of warm-toned limestone and the use of rammed earth complements the 19th century sandstone façade of our historic building as well as our parkland setting in The Domain. The Art Gallery expansion provides visitors with an architectural journey from the 19th to the 21st century, with beautiful indoor and outdoor spaces allowing us to show art on an even more ambitious scale.