Revamping the Bendigo Art Gallery will stop "gallery fatigue" at the city's most important tourism landmark, project backers say as they push revised plans through multiple planning processes.
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A more simple facade to allow heritage buildings to be the main event, tweaks to plans for a cafe and a sculpture park facing Rosalind Park are part of new thinking about not just getting visitors in, but keeping them there longer.
The current gallery's "convoluted layout" - the result of various areas added onto the historic building over the years - is undermining visitors' ability to move around, project backers say as they explain plans for the sweeping redevelopment at the View Street premises.
They say the new gallery should be laid out with the latest research on ways visitors move around buildings.
The observation comes as the council tries to shepherd revised plans through both its own planning department and Heritage Victoria's.
The revised plans do not deal with the overall layout but feed into a broader conversation the gallery and City of Greater Bendigo are having with Heritage Victoria about the high profile redevelopment.
Getting the mix of old and new right has become a major focus for a project that has already had cost blowouts even as the search for funding continues.
The budget has already ballooned from $28 million to $54 million, which the council has blamed on inflation and rising building costs.
The federal government is also yet to stump up $15 million needed to keep the project on track, though the council is preparing to make a fresh tilt when a Growing Regions funding round opens in the new year.
Simple facade set to let heritage shine.
Architects have been trying to get ahead of potential problems with the project, including Heritage Victoria's concerns about the white facade earmarked for View Street's historic streetscape which they described as 'a block like form'.
They have since resized the proposed facade and slightly reduced the gallery's size for better views of the heritage streetscape.
"We have adopted an approach where the facades are simple and recessive so that they sit quietly on View St and allow the heritage buildings to be the 'main event'," they told Heritage Victoria.
Architects have also tweaked plans for a cafe and a sculpture annex facing Rosalind Park.
"The design of the new building addition brings together heritage reuse and contemporary museum practice," they have told Heritage Victoria.
Heritage Victoria is now calling for public feedback on the latest versions of the gallery plans.
The council's planning department is also considering revised plans expected to be on display for 14 days.
Project backers want to start building in the second half of 2025 to avoid more of the cost blowouts that have plagued the process.
The council has declared the gallery revamp its top priority and says if it is successful it could boost Bendigo's economy by drawing in more international crowds to blockbuster exhibition spaces.
Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
