Lighting Designers: Vision Design – Donn Salisbury & Katarina Verkic
Architect: Fender Katsalidis Architects
Images: All Images Courtesy of Vision Design & MONA
Located on the banks of the River Derwent in Hobart, MONA is a three-level museum on the 3.5 hectare Moorilla vineyard site 12km north of Hobart in suburban Berriedale. The 9,500sqm building comprises of 6,000sqm of gallery space on three subterranean levels, designed to display David Walsh’s eclectic art collection (the largest private collection in the southern hemisphere).
Over 35,000 cubic metres of rock were removed before the headland was ‘rebuilt’ with a combination of precast and in-situ waffle forms and corten panelling. The building, designed by architects Fender Katsalidis and structural engineers Felicetti, could be deemed an artwork in its own right with its three levels designed to create a captivating spatial experience.
Lighting was a crucial piece in the creation of the subterranean structure, guiding visitors through the heritage-protected courtyard house and deep into the museum, where the exhibition spaces are often illuminated by the artworks alone. The architecture, the revelation of the structural fabric and detailing of the natural rock, which forms a backdrop to the museum interior, all enhanced by a lighting concept that becomes part of the gallery experience. At times intense and at other times subdued, light has been applied as solicitously as paint to a canvas. The mood and atmosphere is unavoidably immersive, complementing both art and architecture.
The varied function spaces and external landscape are treated with as much consideration as the gallery areas, as all are part of the experience. Sometimes challenging conventional lighting ethos, the concept for this project was to be something new, different, intriguing, moody. The brief was so delightfully open, it allowed the designers to create a pure experience of light seldom seen. Much of the architectural lighting utilises LED strip from KKDC, carefully detailed into the structure so that light and architecture become one.
The design team worked in collaboration with various artists to create solutions for the many experiential art installations. Works such as Kryptos (Brigita Ozolins), Sternenfall:Shevirath Ha Kelim (Anselm Kiefer), Pulse Room (Rafael Lozarno-Hemmer) and Pausiris (a display space for the 2000- year-old sarcophagus), where the lighting design and application were a major contributor to the interpretation of the work and the visitor experience.
Vision Design / MONA won the IESANZ Victoria Chapter 2011, Award of Excellence for the Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania.
- Donn Salisbury