2022 Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture

Jury citation

In what is fast becoming an exemplar for Australian architecture, Bundanon adds to the next chapter of the Arthur and Yvonne Boyd estate. With a vision of supporting art, visitation, accommodation and design education, the new museum and “bridge” respond to the site’s natural and cultural landscape with practicality and instinct.

Bundanon’s relationship with the built environment and its landscape reference the ideals of Boyd’s mantra that no man can own a landscape. As the visitor weaves their way up from the remote carpark to the arrival hall, views and vistas suggest what is to come.

A mature, restrained architectural approach to the design allows the landscape to remain the primary focus of this work. From bunkering the art museum into the hillside to bridging the valley in the most light-hearted and delicate way, the composition is a delight to the senses, respecting Boyd’s ideology and skilfully embroidering-in Kerstin Thompson Architects’ narrative and vision.

Like the original studio and homestead, and the Boyd Education Centre (Murcutt, Lewin and Lark, 1999) this next iteration of the Boyd estate is to be celebrated as a progressive and multi-layered dialogue between generations of architects. Bundanon is a layered work that has been sensitively handled and respects the original vision for the estate.

— Bundanon was reviewed by Andrew Nimmo in Architecture Australia May/June 2022. Read the review here.

Project credits

Architect Kerstin Thompson Architects; Project team Kerstin Thompson, Kelley Mackay, Lloyd McCathie, Michael Archibald, Claire Humphreys, Tobias Pond, Kelsey Jovanou, Henry Russell, Audrey Shaw, Margot Watson, Darcy Dunn, Thomas Huntingford, Tamsin O’Reilly, Christopher Kelly, Nigel James, Sam Ellis; Landscape architect Wraight and Associates with Craig Burton; Project management Capital Project Control; Builder ADCO Constructions; ESD consultant Atelier Ten; Structural and civil engineers Irwin Consult (later WSP); Planning consultants Ethos Urban, Locale Consulting; Services engineer and lighting consultant Steensen Varming; Hydraulics and fire services engineer Warren Smith Consulting Engineers; Fire engineer Innova Services; Quantity surveyor WT Partnership; Geotechnical engineer JK Geotechnics; Hydrologist Woodlots and Wetlands; Flood analyst PSM; BCA consultant Steve Watson and Partners; Access consultant Inclusive Places; Bushfire assessor Advanced Bushfire Performance Solutions; Soil contamination EIS; Aboriginal cultural heritage Suzanne Feary; Flora and fauna consultant Gaia Research; Acoustic consultant Renzo Tonin and Associates; Food services/kitchen consultant Universal Foodservice Designs; Wayfinding/signage consultant Studio Maat; Photographer Rory Gardiner

Bundanon is located in Illaroo, NSW on the land of the Wodi Wodi and the Yuin peoples of the Dharawal nation.