Museums are our society's keepers of tradition, history and culture, but few are likely to perceive these august institutions as bastions of environmental protection. Between the need to keep artefacts under strict temperature and humidity-controlled environments 24 hours a day, seven days a week; and the expectation that museums will share works of significant artistic or historical value with audiences in different cities and countries, any discussions that involve sustainable practices could well put museum management under stress, particularly when there are multiple stakeholders involved. This makes it even more critical for museums to lean into the direction of building design as a way to offset their carbon footprint and keep their green credentials intact.
Very few, if any of the museums established a century ago or earlier would have considered the environment when they first constructed the buildings seen as icons today – from the British Museum and the National Gallery in London, to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, The Smithsonian in Washington DC, and the Louvre in Paris. Those establishments were true to their time.
We want the building to have a relationship with its location - Kazuyo Sejima
Because many museums were built to impress, most of them were built with classic Greek temples in mind, with high, lofty ceilings, marble columns and statuary. Such was the case with the Art Gallery of New South Wales’s original building, in Sydney, Australia, which was constructed between 1896 and 1909. Like many museums of its time, the state’s public art gallery was built with an eye towards creating a “temple to art.” The original structure is described as neo-classical in style, divided into four grand halls which are connected by pillared archways. The last major extensions to the Gallery were a new wing in 1988 and new Asian gallery in 2003.
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