The final design of the National Gallery of Victoria’s contemporary arts space has been unveiled, with the state’s creative industries minister, Danny Pearson, describing it as Melbourne’s equivalent to the Eiffel Tower.
Pearson on Tuesday announced the winning design, by Angelo Candalepas and Associates, which includes 13,000 sq metres of exhibition space, a rooftop terrace and restaurant with CBD views, a 40-metre-high spherical entrance hall and scientific laboratories for the conservation of art.
NGV Contemporary will look out onto new public parklands connecting St Kilda Road in Southbank to Melbourne’s riverfront.
“This is going to be an absolute gamechanger for our state. It’s going to put us on the world map as being a destination for great creative and cultural events,” Pearson said.
“As the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, the NGVC will be to Melbourne.”
NGV director, Tony Ellwood, said the building would create a cultural legacy that will resonate for generations.
“We’ve often said we need something that defines our city, architecturally – I think this is the building,” he said.
Pearson said more than 11,000 jobs will be created over the life of the project and the gallery will generate hundreds of ongoing creative sector jobs when it opens in 2028.
Construction work is expected to begin next year.
Plans to build the gallery and redevelop the arts precinct were first announced by the state government in 2018, after it bought the Carlton and United Breweries building at 77 Southbank Boulevard for about $95m.
The state government committed $1.46bn for the first phase of the work in the 2020/21 budget, with an additional $241m announced for restoration works to the state theatre in November last year.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy said he was supportive of the precinct’s redevelopment.
