GREENWAY AWARD FOR HERITAGE
AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM PROJECT DISCOVER COX ARCHITECTURE WITH NEESON MURCUTT + NEILLE
PHOTOGRAPHY BRETT BOARDMAN
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The Australian Museum complex, subsequently added to by successive colonial and NSW Government Architects into the late 20th century as the museum’s role and requirements evolved, is of state and national significance as the purposebuilt location for the nation’s largest natural history collections. Founded in 1827, it is the earliest and most intact cultural institution in Australia. Committed to igniting wonder, inspiring debate and driving change the Australian Museum continues to be, as it was at its inception, a symbol of the scientific pursuits of NSW and Australia. In addition to the technical significance of the Lewis, Barnet, and Vernon Wings – themselves from 1846 – the site contains
archaeological potential for cultural material relating to the occupation of the place from 1820 as a convict garden. The 2020 design overlay reveals a new way to experience the nation’s first museum. Sight lines across vast spaces are revealed making wayfinding easier while heritage sandstone, previously hidden, is unveiled alongside modern inclusions. The design is highly strategic. It prioritises changes that will sustain the Museum into the long term. It reveals and celebrates the Museum’s rich historic layering and creates legibility of movement – vertical and horizontal – while enabling universal public access throughout and enhancing the Museum’s engagement with William Street.
