Reimagining the Drill Hall Project #7 Madeleine Underwood

Image: Computer Generated Design, Madeleine Underwood, 2018

Join us on Sunday 21 October 3 pm as Madeleine Underwood explains her unique vision for a new and most innovative gallery space for the Drill Hall Gallery precinct.

Lumière Gallery collects people, water and art and holds them in a white vessel of diffused luminous light. The north side pulls water into the central void and the south side collects people from the city. From across the creek, its low-lying form sits in front of the Drill Hall and reflects against the water. On the inclined roof terraces overlooking Sullivan’s Creek, people can gather and experience the natural beauty of Canberra, while still connected to the Civic axis. Inside, natural light flows in through light wells creating gallery spaces diffused in luminous light. The diffused glow inside and the water in the central void creates an essence of stillness, a waiting canvas for the collected art.

In 2017 architecture students at the University of Canberra’s Faculty of Arts and Design were set a project, requiring them to design an extension to the ANU Drill Hall Gallery. Their brief was to enhance the precinct, to establish a dedicated space for storage and display of the University’s art collection, and to provide spaces for functions and educational activities.

studio overview

The Studio Program for the graduation semester of the University of Canberra Bachelor of Arts in Architecture 2017 is focused on the role of civic architecture and the value of transformative projects within the public domain of the city to enrich and extend the quality and experience of our urban realm.

The studio, entitled Collected : ness [vessel] seeks an urban intervention that responds to the cultural value of the Drill Hall Gallery precinct as a socio-cultural asset of collective significance – both in the value of the collections it holds and exhibits and in its role as an urban artefact within the collective memory of the city.

The studio focus considers the interrelated dimensions of social, cultural and public space and their scales of interface within the milieu of civic architecture. Relative to the interconnectedness of the urban/public realm, the architectural response strives towards an understanding of ‘connected : ness’ in time, place and context in which the proposed intervention contributes to the palimpsest of the city’s evolution and acts asa catalyst for future imaginings. The project entails a considered approach of spatial editing and spatial addition to enhance the legibility of the existing building and the creation of a second spatial volume or ‘vessel’ of collected [light], [white], [thought],[time], [art], [cultural value].

Ann Cleary, FRAIA Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Studio Convener