Naturally, we're delighted that glass from Wernberg is being spoken of so highly down under.
To tell the story of the new entrance hall you need to travel way back into the past – around 125 years. This is how long the museum has been wanting to relocate its entrance from College Street to Williams Street; where it actually was supposed to be from start. In the end the "provisional arrangement" on College Street has been in use for more than a hundred years. But such is life sometimes.
Now, in September 2015, everything is exactly how the original museum directors had intended - perhaps even a little better. The glass facade "flows" across the mighty museum edifice like a transparent veil. The elements correlate in a zig-zag pattern and serve as a harmonious bridge between the classicistic old building and the newer northern wing of the complex – an erratic cuboid composed of simple sandstone.
Insulating glass is used to precisely control the heat input to the Crystal Hall, totalling 450 sqm over 164 individual panes – developed and manufactured on time in Wernberg-Köblitz and brought to the centre of Sydney in top condition. The climatising effect of our insulating glass is supported by additional glass elements in various colours, four of which hang from each of the folds of the facade. They can be positioned individually to enable optimum filtering and scattering of light from the outside.
The Australian Museum is one of the central cultural institutions of the Antipodes and popular attraction for tourists in Sydney. Apparently, everything revolves around traces. The Aboriginal girl left some behind. The architectural heterogeneity of the museum shows traces of more than 100 years of history. And the Crystal Hall from Wernberg is certain to leave its mark in the memory of its visitors – for at least several decades.