We all know that natural light and, indeed, sunlight, contribute to a sense of wellbeing. They have a very positive effect on us. And when you capture that inside a building, I think it certainly has an ability to create an environment that’s conducive to serious examination and study of art.
Richard Johnson, principal architect
Johnson Pilton Walker
Walter Burley Griffin Memorial Lecture 2006
The new National Portrait Gallery is the most significant building to be constructed in the Parliamentary Triangle for the last 20 years. Won through an open international design competition by Johnson Pilton Walker in 2005, the 14,000m2 building provides exhibition space for approximately 500 portraits in a simple configuration of day-lit galleries.
The external form of the building responds to its site by using the building’s geometry to connect with key vistas and alignments around the precinct. A series of five bays, each more than 70 metres long, are arranged perpendicular to the Land Axis referring to Walter Burley Griffin’s early concepts for the National Capital.
Despite the apparent simplicity of the plan, the National Portrait Gallery is a rich sequence of carefully proportioned spaces leading from the Entrance Court defined by the two large cantilever concrete blades on the eastern side of the building through the foyer to the gallery spaces. Each gallery enjoys controlled natural light from translucent glazed clerestory windows and views to the outside, reconnecting the visitor to the landscape. To celebrate Canberra’s unique light, reflectors that are visible inside and outside capture and control natural light. Within the galleries a blind system controls light levels down to the 50 lux required for the display of works of art such as photographs and other works on paper.
All aspects of the building are informed by the notion that the proportion of a building should correspond to that of a person. This is particularly relevant to a building for portraiture and for the scale of the works in the National collection. The building’s siting in the landscape and its relationship to its neighbours; the external form and the internal spaces; and the components and details are all based on the golden section, a ratio that prescribes a part’s proportion to the whole – creating a harmonious relationship between the visitor, space, material, light and art.