12/1/07

Australian National Gallery Makeover

Andrew Anderson was effectively the rather notorious architect of the block of apartments that sprang up on the approached to Sydney Opera House. As a former government architect, he seemed to have an entrée there and got away with the blot, parodied in a graphic print by artist Ken Done at the time in 1978. Now, guess who is the eventual architect for a makeover for Australia's National Gallery, a 1970s landmark by the lake in Canberra? The Australian government will provide $92.9 million for an extension to the existing building. In 2001, the Sydney firm of Tonkin Zulaikha Greer had come up with commissioned designs for a new front entrance. Tonkin Zulaikha were designers of the superb space lighting scheme for the main boulevard for the Sydney Olympics. It would have been more than just professional antagonism that saw their scheme for the Australian National Gallery gunned down by the local architectural community, one that is notoriously argumentative. So Andrew Anderson gets a clear run. Unfortunately, the scheme is notoriously cluttered, obstructive and, whatever the hanging advantages, less than of international standard.