Overview
The Art
The Gallery holds more than 15,000 works of national and
international art dating from the 12th century to the present day -
including such figures as Goldie, Lindauer, Hodgkins, Angus and
McCahon, together with Bruegel, Reni and Fuseli. This makes it home
to the country's most extensive and highly regarded collection,
particularly of New Zealand art.
These works - all of which are published on this site - are
continuously re-interpreted through an inspiring and engaging range
of collection displays and temporary exhibitions, publications,
public and education programmes. Taken together, they make the
Gallery one of the most active and highly regarded art institutions
in Australasia.
Yet the Gallery could only show 3-4 per cent of its collection
at any one time, and was often unable to accept large exhibitions
due to constraints in the scale and flexibility of its space. It
became evident that more space was needed if the Gallery was to do
more to meet changing community expectations and to build its
international standing for the benefit of Auckland.
The Heritage Building
The main gallery is housed in one of the city's oldest civic
buildings, a New Zealand Historic Places Trust category 1 building,
much admired for its beauty and timeless architecture. Originally
designed by Melbourne-based architects Grainger and D'Ebro, the
building has undergone numerous adaptations and transformations
since it opened in 1887. Among those, major space conversions,
re-fits and new additions were undertaken in the 1950s, the 70s and
the 80s.
Those developments responded to the pressing issues of their
day, including the demands of housing a rapidly expanding
collection, providing for a research library, or meeting the new
requirements of air-conditioning and lighting systems. The new work
was also a response to the emergence of new art forms requiring new
presentation strategies (e.g. installation works), or to changing
perceptions of the gallery's public role.
With the passage of time, therefore, the main building had
become a complex mix of the historic and modern, comprising six
conjoined buildings including 17 separate floor plates. While at
one level this created a rich palette of public spaces, at another
it created challenges back-of-house as the gallery endeavoured to
achieve the increasingly stringent art handling and installation
standards and functionality required of a public gallery today.
In 1995, the gallery expanded to enable it to meet an increasing
call for it to show more of its contemporary collections. Alan
Gibbs and Jenny Gibbs acquired a former telephone exchange that
would become the NEW Gallery, located on adjacent Khartoum Place.
Joined by a coalition of public and private funders, they
eventually vested the refurbished building into a trust for the
benefit of the Gallery and of its contemporary art programmes.
Apart from some minor refurbishment of the display spaces in the
main building in 1998/99, few changes have occurred in the building
since the major upgrade of 1984 - when the Wellesley Gallery opened
- and before it, the major extension of the Edmiston Wing in 1971 -
when new exhibition spaces and a library and administration wing
were added.
However, in 2000, a building condition report revealed that some
key parts of the Gallery's heritage fabric needed significant
structural work to ensure that the building met modern standards of
earthquake resistance and complied with the Building Code. Seismic
strengthening, similar to that carried out on the Town Hall, would
require the Gallery to close for about 18 months.
Following a series of discussions with its key stakeholders, the
Gallery undertook a feasibility study in 2003/04 to identify
opportunities presented by the closure and to understand the
potential for development on the current site. As part of this
investigative work, the Gallery consulted users and non-users to
determine the kind of gallery that Aucklanders wanted. The vision
for the development was based on these findings.
The Vision
- to create a world-class public art gallery that values its
architectural heritage and its unique site
- to create an iconic contemporary building appropriate to house
the country's finest art collections
- to create an enjoyable visitor experience that enriches the
understanding and the meaning of art
- to create a strong connection between the gallery, Albert Park
and the wider cultural precinct
The development is part of the former Auckland City Council's
Auckland CBD Into the future strategy to turn the city centre into
one of the world's most vibrant and dynamic business and cultural
centres.