Bundanon’s New World-class Art Museum and Bridge by Kerstin Thompson Architects.

Bundanon Museum, designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects in collaboration with landscape architects Wraight Associates with Craig Burton, and sustainable design engineers Atelier 10. Photos: Courtesy of Art Museum, Bundanon.

The 160-metre-long bridge structure spans the existing gully in the sloping hillside, housing a world-class creative learning centre with guest accommodation, dining facilities and sweeping views over the Shoalhaven River. Photo: Zan Wimberley.

Bundanon Homestead. Photo: John Janson-Moore.

Arthur and Yvonne Boyd at Bundanon. Photo: Bundanon Archive.

Arthur Boyd Studio. Photo: John Janson-Moore.

Bundanon has opened the doors to its new Art Museum and Bridge for Creative Learning last month, set to deliver three exhibition seasons annually, with a dramatically expanded range of on-site events.

Embedded within the landscape, the new 500 square metre Bundanon Art Museum, designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA), includes a state-of-the-art storage facility that will house and protect Bundanon’s extensive $46.5 million collection of some 4,000 items. The design is a collaboration between KTA, landscape architects Wraight Associates with Craig Burton, and sustainable design engineers Atelier 10.

Kerstin Thompson, Director of Kerstin Thompson Architects comments: “The design is driven by Bundanon’s main imperative, as established by the Boyd family, to foster an appreciation for and understanding of landscape and art. We have placed the site’s ecology at the centre of the design with the new suite of buildings and landscapes responding to Bundanon as both subject and site of Arthur Boyd’s work, seeking to heighten the visitor’s appreciation for the sights, sounds, textures, and ecological workings of the landscape. Both the Art Museum and Bridge respond to current and future climatic conditions, with inspiration drawn from rural Australia’s trestle flood bridges.”

The Bridge is a 160-metre long, 9-metre-wide structure that spans the existing gully in the sloping hillside, housing a world-class creative learning centre. It offers accommodation for up to 64 guests, and café and dining facilities offering sweeping views over the Shoalhaven River.

These new additions to Bundanon incorporate radical solutions to a changing climate, being defensible against fire and flood and with a net-zero energy target. The Bridge is treated like a piece of flood infrastructure with the architecture supporting the natural system of water flow across the site. The Art Museum and Collection Store are subterranean, with precious artworks housed and exhibited in an underground building that protects the works from diverse climate conditions and offers thermal stability in the form of the reinstated hill. The Bridge encompasses Bundanon’s net-zero ambitions. Powered by solar panels it incorporates exemplary sustainability features including passive temperature management, black water treatment, harvesting and storing of rainwater, local materials throughout and reduced reliance on fossil fuel sources.

“This significant new architectural expansion will position Bundanon as a national tourist hub, expanding arts access in regional Australia,” said Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP.

Bundanon Chief Executive Officer, Rachel Kent said: “This expansion will widen public access, deepen engagement in creativity and the landscape, and position Bundanon both nationally and internationally.”

The Art Museum opens with the inaugural exhibition, From impulse to action, which draws on the creative energy of experimentation and runs from 29 January until 12 June 2022. For more information visit bundanon.com.au

Related: Interview with Melbourne-based Architect Kerstin Thompson.

The Art Museum opens with the inaugural exhibition, From impulse to action, drawing on the creative energy of experimentation by a younger generation of artists who explore the energetic, raw, and generous spirit of Arthur Boyd. Photos: Courtesy of Art Museum, Bundanon.

[Images courtesy of Bundanon.]