The Melbourne-based firm Kerstin Thompson Architects has made additions to the landscape of Bundanon, a 1,000-hectare property gifted to the Australian people by the artists Arthur and Yvonne Boyd in 1993, overlooking the Shoalhaven River, near Nowra in New South Wales. Buildings already standing there are incorporated into the new complex, including Glenn Murcutt’s Boyd Education Centre of 1999 and the original house and studio of the Boyds.

The new constructions are: a bridge, containing a creative learning facility with accommodations, suspended over a gully to avoid floods; and an art museum tucked underground to protect its collection from fires.

The bridge presents a steel structure – 165 meters long and 9 wide – that stretches between two mounds, offering spectacular views of the nature around. Clad in black corrugated metal sheets, it open out with areas protected by wire netting, ensuring uninterrupted vistas of the scenery.

The museum, for its part, being set underground, allows a stable microclimate and reduces the need for mechanical systems. The spaces for exhibiting and storing artworks are illuminated naturally through deep skylights.

These new works are designed to be both sensitive and resistant to the natural environment, guaranteeing that the artworks are safe and that the education hub can function as such.