Sydney Modern Project | Naala Badu

The Sydney Modern Project, part of the transformation of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), is a game-changing expansion that has redefined Australia’s cultural landscape. Designed in a joint collaboration between SANAA (lead design architect) and Architectus (executive architect), this stunning new wing delivers over 7,000 square metres of exhibition space, including a dramatic subterranean gallery repurposed from a former World War II naval oil tank. The project doubles the gallery’s capacity for art display, creating light-filled pavilions that cascade along the site’s natural topography, overlooking Sydney Harbour. While known officially as the Sydney Modern Project, it is also often referred to as the Art Gallery of NSW Expansion.

What sets this project apart is its seamless integration of art, architecture, and landscape — combined with a commitment to sustainability, making it the first public art museum in Australia to achieve a 6 Star Green Star design rating. The design champions transparency, connection to Country, and public accessibility, featuring extensive outdoor spaces, a public art garden, and collaborations with First Nations artists and consultants. As building certifiers, the challenge and privilege lay in enabling a project of immense technical complexity and delicate heritage context to come to life safely, sustainably, and with the excellence demanded of one of Australia’s most significant cultural institutions.

Group DLA were engaged to provide Building Code of Australia (BCA) consultancy throughout the design development phases of the project, including the provision of certification on behalf of the Crown (Formerly Section 109R of the EP&A Act). Our involvement also extends to the assessment of extensive Fire Engineering, Ergonomics and DDA Accessibility Performance Solutions, including liaison with Fire Rescue NSW (FRNSW) & Local Authorities.