Orange Regional Museum wins architecture prize

4 July 2017

The Orange Regional Museum, opened in November last year, has won the state’s top prize for architecture, the Sulman Medal for Public Architecture.

Orange Mayor John Davis OAM is delighted Orange now has two Sulman Prize winning buildings, right alongside each other.

“The Sulman Award is the prize for the building that’s judged to the best piece of public architecture in the state and for Orange now to have two Sulman price winners side-by-side, at the same location is fantastic,” Cr John Davis said.

“While the news of the award is a tremendous achievement for Crone Architects who designed the building and I congratulate them, it’s also a fantastic boost for the community of Orange,”

“The Orange City Library and Gallery building was designed by government architect Colin Still and won the Sulman in 1986.

“We’re looking forward to another Sulman plaque being added to the new museum building in the coming months.

“The Civic Square between the buildings has always been a great place for the community to meet. The quality of the design of both the new and older buildings make a big contribution to making it a place where locals want to be. Hundreds of people are using these buildings every day.”

The building was designed by Sydney architecture firm Crone which won the award along with the NSW Premier’s Prize at the 2017 NSW Architecture Awards, announced on 1 July by the Australian Institute of Architects.

“We are extremely proud to have won the Sulman Medal for Public Architecture, one of the most distinguished awards in the State, particularly as our mission was to create a forward-thinking design for the Orange Regional Museum that would contribute to the community and create a new destination for the area,” Crone Design Director, Niall Durney, said.

The judging panel found : “This bold, large-scale intervention re-organises a whole city block through the application of a combined landscape, architectural and urban solution. Simple, bold and confident moves have created a destination for locals and visitors which provide a clear and active address to the larger civic precinct.”

Crone began work on the 1,300 square-metre museum after winning a competitive tender process with the brief to strategically place the building to create a distinctive civic square between new structures and the existing Orange Library and Art Gallery.

Seating stairs create an amphitheatre and provide access to the sloping landscaped roof, a defining feature of the design that rises from the existing lawn to provide a public green space and vantage point across the City. Blurring the distinction between architecture and landscape, the grassed area was designed for flexible usage as an outdoor exhibition area or simply an area for visitors to relax.

Orange Regional Museum is Crone’s first cultural project, leading the Company into a direction beyond commercial buildings for which it is best known.

Orange mayor John Davis has also thanked community members for their input as the design concepts for the museum came together.

“One of the reasons for the success of the new museum building was the level of community involvement as the ‘building blocks’ of the design came together, “ Cr John Davis said. “Crone did a fantastic job, but the Museum Community Committee, worked with them to assemble a design they thought would be worthy of the space and it has certainly achieved that goal. “