In 1993, the renowned Australian artist Arthur Boyd and his wife Yvonne donated their spectacular 1,100-hectare property to the Australian population.

Located in southern New South Wales, on lands surrounding and including the Shoalhaven River, its layered history includes First Australian as well as settlement and farming activities amidst native vegetation and wildlife habitats. Buildings on the Riversdale site include the 1866-built Bundanon Homestead, an 1870s-built Singleman’s Hut and a number of cottages and other buildings – all in a traditional rural Australian vernacular – to which Arthur Boyd had a studio designed by Sydney Architect Andre Porebski built in 1981. While in 1997 a number of 20th-century farm buildings on another site were modified into an artist-in-residence complex that accommodates over 300 artists every year, in 1999 the Riversdale site saw the opening of a new addition, the award-winning Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre – designed by Glen Murcutt, Wendy Lewin and Reg Lark.

Situated higher on the hill and in close proximity to the already significant arts and culture ‘campus’, the Art Museum and Bridge make it more substantial on a number of levels, including that they “create a holistic public realm experience together with the existing buildings,” says Project Lead Lloyd McCathie.

Most recently, in March of this year, the Riversdale property officially launched another architectural wonder, the Bundanon Art Museum and Bridge designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA). Situated higher on the hill and in close proximity to the already significant arts and culture ‘campus’, the Art Museum and Bridge make it more substantial on a number of levels, including that they “create a holistic public realm experience together with the existing buildings,” says Project Lead Lloyd McCathie. By pulling the cultural institution together physically they also do so aesthetically, framing views of the earlier buildings as well as key aspects of the landscape – such as Arthur’s Hill – that inspired Boyd and his art.

The site for these new buildings was proposed and endorsed after KTA reviewed and tested the client’s existing masterplan. Where the Art Museum is now had been a car park, and by being above the 100-year floodline and built into the now reinstated hill that sits on top of the museum – so it is literally embedded in the landscape – it is resistant to bushfire and other natural disasters as well as climate conditions. The part-subterranean precast concrete structure provides a stable internal thermal environment that is pressure balanced. This reduces energy consumption and enables the museum to safely store and exhibit more of the 3,800 items in the Bundanon art collection at any one time, as well as host touring exhibitions and workshops.

While offering forward-thinking solutions for ways that architecture can deal with the environment, climate change and natural disasters, the Bundanon Art Museum and Bridge highlight the wondrous experiences and views of landscape, sky, the art collection and numerous aspects of the property.

The four ‘white’ galleries (in contrast to the ‘black’ galleries for moving image works) within the museum – the Studio Gallery, Project Gallery and the North and South Galleries – have varying dimensions and contiguous walls of differing heights (between four to seven metres) due to the museum’s sloping ceiling – indicative of the slope of the hill above it. Their access and configurations have been designed to be flexible. Gallery lighting is also adaptable. They all have Bluetooth-controlled track-mounted LED wall washers, and while natural light enters the South Gallery – the most set back and deepest under the hill – via two overhead skylights, the Studio and North Galleries have two large bay windows at the front of the museum with solid sliding screens that can be closed for light-sensitive works.

As the museum windows frame views of the landscapes beyond, the Arrival Hall and the external forecourt – situated at the point where the museum and the Bridge abut – form the physical and conceptual ‘heart’ of the campus while framing views of both the landscape and the older Riversdale buildings. Setting out at an approximately 80-degree angle from the partly underground Art Museum, the 165- metre-long and nine-metre-wide Bridge is, in complete contrast, above-ground and highly visible. Straddling the reinstated wet gully from ridge to ridge, the ground falls away again and down to a creek at its northern end. A breakout terrace at this end – which is also accessible from the hill – offers further views of the landscape to the north, east and west.

The physical structures that support the Bridge are built in the manner of traditional Australian flood ‘trestle’ bridges to enable its resilience to flooding. The building itself – housing accommodation (32 rooms with their own ensuite bathrooms and striking views) and dining and creative learning spaces as well as a breezeway with views of the gully and across to Arthur’s Hill – is clad in radially sawn, locally sourced blackbutt timber. The corrugated iron roof has deep grooves to harvest rainwater that is stored in a 300-kilolitre tank – supplying the entire building – and also supports a 100 kilowatt solar system. And where the museum is temperature controlled internally, the Bridge is ‘open to the elements’ but controllable with adjustable timber louvres, sliding screens and ventilation panels above entry doors to assist the cross-flow of air.

In considered and clever responses to the site, the Riversdale property as a whole, its history and its climate, KTA’s Art Museum and Bridge have enhanced Bundanon’s becoming a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. While offering forward-thinking solutions for ways that architecture can deal with the environment, climate change and natural disasters, all wrapped up in an Australian vernacular, the new structures highlight the wondrous experiences and views that are available – of the landscapes, the sky, the art collection and numerous aspects of the property. In doing this, KTA has absolutely succeeded in assisting the Boyds’ vision that their property, their legacy, exists to emphasise the integration and connectedness of nature, culture and art in the landscape.