NGA雕塑花园设计丨澳大利亚堪培拉

Winning design for NGA Sculpture Garden unveiled

A multi-disciplinary team has won a competition to revitalise the National Gallery’s three-hectare sculpture garden in Canberra.

A new garden room will include diverse Shrubland planting.

Image: Choirender, courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia

The National Gallery of Australia in Kamberri/Canberra has announced the winner of their National Sculpture Garden Design Competition, launched in April this year. Based in New South Wales, the winning team is made up of CO-AP, Studio JEF, Tarn and Plus Minus Design, under the name Co-Ap Holdings.

The winning design

concept replaces the garden’s existing marquee with a permanent stainless-steel and glass pavilion and creates seven distinct and interconnected gardens that showcase Australia’s rich biodiversity. In the proposal, the site’s existing summer, winter and spring gardens are transformed into eucalypt forests, a fern gully, casuarina groves and grassy woodlands.

The plan also introduces a

new promenade and multi-use campus square at the National Gallery forecourt for welcoming visitors and displaying art. The design team aims to embed First Nations principles and perspectives into the ongoing development of the design, and continued care of the garden.

The National Sculpture Garden competition winning team includes (left to right): Will Fung (CO-AP), Robert Champion (TARN), Phillip Arnold (Plus Minus Design), Johnny Ellice-Flint (Studio JEF) and Liat Busqila (CO-AP).

Image: Sam Cooper, courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia

“The original sculpture garden designed by Harry Howard and Associates is a profoundly beautiful and significant landscape, and our first principle was to acknowledge its importance,” said Robert Champion, founder of Tarn.

“We believe the site requires a gentle hand that can sensitively renew, edit, enrich and extend the existing garden, bringing it in line with current values and needs, and producing something that will remain significant for many generations.”

Founder of Studio JEF Johnny Ellice-Flint said that planting was an important part of the scheme. “[The planted landscape] will be an abstraction of the aesthetic and structural qualities of Australia’s rich and unique natural vegetation, but in a way that feels true to place,” he said.

“Fundamental to our proposal [is] the belief that gardens should not be grown to ‘completion’ and then maintained as a static product. Change is built into our approach, as is the act of care,” said Champion.

The new gallery forecourt and reflection pool is intended to create a welcoming space for arriving visitors.

Image: Choirender, courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia

The consortium was selected from a

shortlist of five teams

from Victoria and New South Wales by a jury comprising architect Philip Goad, National Gallery director Nick Mitzevich, Barkandji artist and curator Nici Cumpston, and Chilean landscape architect Teresa Moller.

First Nations consultant Bradley Mapiva Brown (Bagariin Ngunnawal Cultural Consulting), artist Leila Jeffreys, structural engineer PMI Engineers, lighting designer Arup, wayfinding consultant Studio Ongarato, heritage consultant CAB Consulting, art consultant Felicity Fenner and quantity surveyor Heymann Consulting also contributed to the successful proposal.

The National Gallery will begin working with Co-Ap Holdings and key stakeholders to develop the design in 2025.

Winning design for NGA Sculpture Garden unveiled

Winning design for NGA Sculpture Garden unveiled

A new garden room will include diverse Shrubland planting.

Image: Choirender, courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia

The winning design includes a new steel and glass pavilion that replaces the existing Sculpture Garden marquee.

Image: Choirender, courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia

The view from the new pavilion will look out to a landscape of seven interconnected gardens.

Image: Choirender, courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia

The National Sculpture Garden competition winning team includes (left to right): Will Fung (CO-AP), Robert Champion (TARN), Phillip Arnold (Plus Minus Design), Johnny Ellice-Flint (Studio JEF) and Liat Busqila (CO-AP).

Image: Sam Cooper, courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia

The new gallery forecourt and reflection pool is intended to create a welcoming space for arriving visitors.

Image: Choirender, courtesy of the National Gallery of Australia