"The equilateral triangle is the nucleus of this structural code dictating the dimensions and character of the building and producing a desirable unity in all areas of the Gallery."
- Col Madigan, ‘Architect’s Statement’ 1976
The Architect's Statement explains the basic geometric unit - the equilateral triangle which extended into the third dimension becomes tetrahedral and octahedral crystals.
The primary and most obvious manifestation is the triagrid concrete space frame ceiling/floor systems of the small galleries and the steel space frames of the larger galleries. Here structure and accommodation of services are unified with form.
Following are some observations from the excellent collection of reflections in the recent book 'Falls the Shadow - From Idea to Reality The National Gallery of Australia', that go to the significance and ordering of the geometry and architecture.
Richard Goodwin - A Search for Order
The architecture is pure geometry 'growing' through triangles and intersecting diagonals 'with only the suggestion of architectural program'. The geometry is both 'a conversation with Griffin' being aligned to the Parliamentary Triangle within which the Gallery is sited and 'the DNA for the future growth of the building'. As with nature the geometry becomes more complex as you focus in, and also as it extends out into the landscape.
The drama of the architecture is through the monumentality and the light that enters in circulation spaces. The main circulation spines are defined by columns that rise up to clerestory windows. Unlike with Kahn, you can never stand within and experience the geometry as a room - the geometry as space is experienced at intersections and openings.
The galleries, essentially rectangular, are arranged in a spiral with smaller spaces on the upper floor somewhat like a nautilus shell. A centre is avoided, as is symmetry. Architectural order is developed through geometry and scale, and this is pursued in parallel to program and idea.
Madigan professed a commitment to form follows function and this 'identity' is most strongly apparent in the columns and the ceilings. The dominance of function is contained by geometry, material, metaphor and commitment to 'the idea'.
Layered, iterative development of geometry with multiple authors within the office contributing has led to intricate expressions of the geometry beyond function in moments such triangular fire stairs.
The only solid octahedron on site is the foundation stone.
Jenifer Taylor
Light enters in sharp shafts as opposed to John Andrews later extensions where the light is diffuse.
The galleries of varying proportion and character are spatially progressive and horizontal in contrast to the High Court - 'a complimentary pair of opposites'. The triagrid system and geometry liberates the otherwise orthogonal plan.
Col Madigan - A Shadow of History
The tetrahedron is the structural unit and the octahedron is the service unit, and together this is a 'molecule that self replicates in all directions' and turns corners easily. Solid walls are to hang art. The colonnades bringing light down to the bottom of the building are 'light paths'.
There is intentionally metaphor to capture the imagination of the visitor and the management. Some people see a likeness to a fort and others a cathederal.
James Sweeny the Director of the Guggenheim Museum who was brought in as an expert to develop the brief proposed the spiral circulation and that there be galleries of varying sizes and shapes to give a' fixed flexibility' for curation. Models of these galleries were developed before the plan (the original competition winning scheme was for a different site). Sweeny also believed that the Gallery should remain small housing only masterworks and that other lesser works including works from Australia should be housed in other galleries.
Daryl Jackson - Symbol and Substance
Spaces are grounded with density and mass, 'connection to terra firma' and euclidean geometric order. The image is of a 'treasure house' with protective value.
Robert Bell - Crystal Clear
The spatial arrangement is expressed in external forms. Turrets, oriel and slit windows, ramps and massive walls suggest a castle like drama, emphasised by soaring interiors (Terence Measham and others make a similar observation).
The sequential spaces 'effect changes in mood'.
There is controlled light in the galleries where art is to be exhibited, while paths, stairs and ramps and in between spaces are 'bathed natural light' and characterised by unexpected views to the landscape and the structure.
Terence Measham - A Complex of Identities (first published in Architecture Australia in 1982)
The gallery is richly programmed with architectural references to challenge the imagination and the eye is continually drawn from one feature to another. No associations are explicit - all quotations are understated and subtle. This historicist imagery ranges from recalling gothic (eg the 'giant order of piloti' at the entrance) to Corbusian (eg ramps and imaginative handling of daylight which falls in pools it's source not immediately obvious).
Illusion is key, with movable walls which reveal/conceal galleries, internal windows between spaces and architectural perspectives revealing structure and service passages which 'beckon invitingly' as 'forbidden spaces'.
Madigan's vision of beauty is linked to his conception of evolution - which must reach to the future and challenge. The architecture could never be a passive statement - it offers an experience that cannot be ignored and demands active responses.
