Images have been unveiled of the museum that New York-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro has designed for the city of Adelaide in collaboration with the Australian firm Woods Bagot, having won the 2018 competition for the chance to build this facility whose mission it is to showcase the past, present, and future of the country’s native cultures.

Inspired by the traditional temporary shelters – with names like wurlie and humpy – of the indigenous people of Australia, the 11,500-square-meter AACC harbors a combination of exhibition galleries and event venues within a facade of superposed layers that evokes woven fabrics, on a transparent base with slanting columns. Devised with input from members of the aboriginal communities presented by the institution, the design embeds in the heart of the building a three-level flexible space that visitors traverse in a spiral to get to each floor. Construction work is expected to be completed in 2025.

Aboriginal Arts and Culture Centre