Heide Museum of Art, Bulleen
The Project
Heide Museum of Modern Art is one of Australia's premier venues for the presentation of twentieth and twenty-first century artworks. Originating as the home of John and Sunday Reed and the centre of a vibrant artistic community in the mid-twentieth century, Heide is now an art museum that perpetuates their memory as well as engaging with contemporary art practice on all levels.
The process of redeveloping and expanding Heide began in 1999 with the appointment of O’Connor and Houle Architecture. Electrolight was appointed in 2004 to design specialist lighting to the redevelopment and was involved in the lighting of both redeveloped areas of Heide III and the new Tucker Gallery.
Lighting Design Concept
In consultation with Heide’s curatorial staff, it was decided that artwork would be lit using wallwashing and spotlighting, allowing the contrast between the artwork and the walls to be varied as required on a show by show basis.
The challenge in providing this scheme was posed by the architecture which constrained the available positions of lighting track to lines that were neither parallel with the walls nor horizontal. The resulting track positions follow the ridge and valley arrangement of the ceiling and run diagonally across the room, creating major challenges in achieving consistent wallwashing and ideal angles for the lighting of artworks.
The external sculpture courtyard accommodates a number of sculptures and water features and connects to the car park located beside a landscaped embankment, featuring the sculpture by Inge King visible from within the gallery.
An external landscaped embankment is visible from within the gallery. This space has been lit with a series of glowing spheres which allude to the satellites of the Rings of Saturn sculpture by renowned Australian artist Inge King. The overall effect is subtle and avoids floodlighting.
Lighting to the sculpture courtyard was achieved without the use of poles by fixing lights into a nearby eucalyptus tree. Atmospheric shadows are cast through the boughs and foliage, creating a dappled light effect across the space with a strong distinction between the daytime and night time appearances of the space.
Design Development
Detailed computer models of the room were generated to determine the implications of mounting luminaires in the constrained positions and the ideal luminaires were selected to work with the track locations.
The skewed sawtooth roof allows daylight to enter the space from the south, creating a pleasant environment for the viewing of exhibitions. Comprehensive daylight studies were performed in order to control the amount and quality of natural light entering the space. The end wall of the gallery features a large window which allows views of the garden to the south west and Inge King’s large sculpture Rings of Saturn. This window is fitted with blinds to control the ingress of daylight.
The sawtooth roof is fitted with xenon strip lighting to activate the ceiling during night time, casting a subtle warm glow onto the angled soffit and creating a dynamic between lit and unlit surfaces.