The Heide Museum of Modern Art is a unique cultural institute, housed in three stylistically distinct buildings within heritage gardens in an inner suburb of Melbourne Australia.
The face of the museum is a contemporary gallery building (Heide III) which was designed by Andrew Andersons. The building is sculptural and provides an urban realm interface for the museum complex.
The site of the museum complex was originally the residence of prominent arts patrons John & Sunday Reed, in a charming 19th-century farmhouse (now known as Heide I).
In the 1960’s, the Reeds constructed a new modern residence alongside the old farmhouse, which is now considered a seminal modernist work. Now known as Heide II, the house was conceived as ‘a gallery to be lived in’. Seeing this masterpiece was one of the highlights of my visit!
Set within expansive heritage-listed gardens with outdoor sculptures and a working farm, the intimate residential scale makes it an interesting typology for a suburban museum.
Images by Jonathan Choe
