Bundanon’s New Art Museum and Bridge Are Built to Endure Climate Disasters

The 160-metre-long Bridge is designed to allow floodwaters to flow beneath it, while the Art Museum is concealed inside a hill to protect against heat and wildfires.

The Bundanon art destination in New South Wales, Australia, will open the doors to its new Art Museum and Bridge for Creative Learning from Saturday 29 January 2022.

Bundanon was gifted to the Australian people in 1993 by painter Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne. It sits on 1,000 hectares of bush overlooking the Shoalhaven River, two and a half hours south of Sydney.

The new 500 square metre subterranean art museum will present three exhibitions each year as well as housing Bundanon's existing collection of 4,000 items. The destination's 160 x 9m Bridge contains a creative learning centre, accommodation for up to 64 guests, and café and dining facilities to support educational programming and artist residencies.

The buildings' unusual designs are an attempt to 'foster an appreciation for and understanding of landscape and art,' said architect Kerstin Thompson in a statement.

'Both the Art Museum and Bridge respond to current and future climatic conditions, with inspiration drawn from rural Australia's trestle flood bridges,' she said.

The new museum's inaugural exhibition, From impulse to action, runs from 29 January to 12 June. It features works by Arthur Boyd and 12 new commissions by Australian contemporary artists including Dean Cross, Izabela Pluta, and Rochelle Haley.

An official opening ceremony for the new buildings is scheduled for Saturday 5 March 2022.

The AU $34 million Bundanon development was supported by $22.5 million from the Australian Government and $10.3 million from the NSW Government.

Bundanon CEO Rachel Kent said, 'this expansion will widen public access, deepen engagement in creativity and the landscape, and position Bundanon both nationally and internationally.' —[O]