The Gunnery Transformation Project

Artist Impression of The Gunnery

The Gunnery Building is located along the Woolloomooloo foreshore, and forms part of the cultural ribbon which links several cultural and art institutions in central Sydney. The heritage building is home to Artspace, a contemporary arts organisation and gallery.

The current refurbishment of the Gunnery Building aims to revitalise this important public building, improve its visibility and connection to the public, and provide enhanced amenity for Artspace to allow them to continue their important work in the contemporary art field locally, nationally, and globally. By increasing the buildings visibility and connection to the public domain, the project seeks to further engage with the cultural ribbon allowing Artspace to grow and have a broader outreach, and to fully utilise this important public asset.

The design removes layers of non-original, unsympathetic, and redundant building elements to bring the building back to a more original state. The building entrance will be reoriented to open onto Forbes Street Plaza and accessibility will be improved throughout the refurbished building.

The result of the transformation project will be a building that is welcoming, accessible, flexible, and supports Artspace to facilitate a range of artistic and community activities into the future.

Delivery of the Project is being managed by Create Infrastructure in collaboration with the Artspace and NSW Public Works.

FDC is the selected building contractor. Works are well advanced with construction scheduled for completion in late 2023.

Image: Dunn & Hillam Architects, Architect’s render of The Gunnery 2023. Image supplied